The Monument - Sue

I have a dream that Phyllis and I will visit Monument Valley. Back when a real man knew how to wrastle a rattlesnake and a real woman knew how to boil up a pot of lizard stew, there was a land in Utah called Navajo Nation. Monument Valley is where I've been hankering to leave some hiking boot tracks. Going by the flickr.com photos and satellite images on maps.google, it looks like a heaven where a lady can hoot, holler and spit all she likes and all who hear her are the sage brush and cactus, and maybe a lonesome pinon pine. I'd sure like Phyllis to go with me, but she's pretty particular about how she spends her valuable vacation time. I don't know as she's got the Monument Valley yearning the way I do.

Maybe I can describe for her the star-studded cast we'll meet on the way there, like Landslide Peak and Elephant Mountain, not to mention Mesa Verde National Park, which features the ancient cliff dwellings of the Anasazi. Hello? Are you kidding me? People come from as far away as Cincinnati to go see that! And those prized archeological ruins are practically right in our own back yard, right behind the useless brick barbecue that was sealed off back in the 20th Century!

Of course, once we reach our destination, we'll see the majorley huge cliffs that upstaged John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara and Gregory Peck. We'll breathe in the crystalline oxygen and gaze at the sparkling sprinkles of the Milky Way in the blue-black night sky. At sunrise, we'll watch the panoramic vistas fill with liquid, golden light, and we'll burst into the first verse of This Land is Your Land, by Woodie Guthrie (even though we'll be singing on the Navajo Nation).

According to the movie at http://www.desertusa.com/monvalley/, "Visiting Monument Valley gives you a spiritual and uplifting experience that few places on Earth can duplicate... An 18 mile dirt loop road takes you through the heart of the park... You can also explore the monument by horseback." I don't know about Phyllis, but I could sure use a spiritual and uplifting experience. I was thinking that if we went in January, right when Denver was having its crappiest weather, it would make a great winter get-away. There wouldn't be many daylight hours, I concede, but let's not get greedy here. The angle of the sun will be great for low-contrast photos, and there may even be a dusting of snow to create a unique desert portrait. Also, the tourists will be fewer and let's not forget we won't have the summer heat to contend with. All in all, that will be the best time to go.

After I convince Phyllis that this will be the road trip of a lifetime, making unforgettable memories and stuff like that, I just have to figure out what to do with these animals who rule our lives. That could be the biggest monument of all.

Monument Valley... you may always be a dream to me, but I will always love you!