BBQ/NATIONAL PARK TOUR DAYS #8/4 “Christ the Redeemer Revisited?”

Today was our day to visit the classic formations known as Monument Valley.  Those of you who have followed my blog might remember that we recently traveled to Brazil and wanted to see Christ the Redeemer.  Unfortunately when we got to Rio the weather was awful and we could only view the statue from below the shoulders.  Well when we awoke this morning with saw this:

IMG_4590
Monument Valley or Christ the Redeemer?  Your guess is as good as mine.

Our tour guide, John, tried to encourage us.  “Let’s go see some additional ruins, some other peaks and hopefully the skies will clear”.  We did see numerous interesting sights around the park and managed to do some walking and climbing that I didn’t think this old body could still do.  When we returned to the main attraction the weather had cleared somewhat and we did get a better view.  We left our guide and went for a late lunch.  After leaving the restaurant we noted it was much warmer and the skies had cleared significantly.  When we returned to the park we saw this:

IMG_4642
The Classic View of Monument Valley.  The picture doesn’t do it justice.

After lunch we also saw this from the parking lot well above the valley.

IMG_4643
Monument Valley view from the parking lot at Goulding’s Hotel.

We also saw this:

IMG_4644
You are at the Arizona – Utah border.  This isn’t California buddy.

Tomorrow we leave for Moab, Utah.