Monument Valley - Kingman

In the morning I could have a better idea of where we were, as the area was explored by my running shoes and a camera!

Running: 10k - 42 min

The "Ratón" from yesterday was never seen again, and Florencia and I were delighted of being in that beautiful place, so we checked out the later we could, taking advantage of the confy cabin! 

Back in the Isuzu we decided to head straight to the Grand Canyon, seeing only by far the famous sculptures of the Monument Valley National Park.

During this drive we also have decided not to go through Las Vegas (originally in our plans), because we would go there anyway in a couple of weeks for a triathlon race. This choice saved us a day or two to get to our final destination, Los Angeles.

We had 177 miles to the Grand Canyon, but we didn't do it in a straight shot. On the way we streched legs at the Najavo National Monument, where indians used to live in this hole in the wall, literally! #veryinteresting!

Next stop was in Tuna City, where we filled the tanks, food or fuel respectively, before heading down to another sightseeing. On the top of the Little Colorado River, this was not a national or a state park, instead it was a Native American owned area, where they encourage visitors to leave donations as an entrance fee.

There is also a beautiful variety of native artcraft. Enchanted by the colors, Florencia got two bracelets. It was totally worth a 30 minutes stop!

A few more miles and we were there . . .  The Grand Canyon!

Just one pic say it all!! #Hugeness

The Grand Canyon was the #1 on our trip list. When we started the drive we weren't sure about doing the South or the North Rim. We ended up choosing the South one, as it has a much more convenient route.

We were worried about the crowd, and as everybody warned, it really had tons of people in there. But with an adventurous spirit, you can find some pretty empty and amazing spots to get great views and pics! 

Can't remmeber why, but we both got in a bad mood right after leaving the park! This was the most boring part of the trip... another 170 miles with no rest!

Late in the night we stopped to sleep in Kingman, close to the border with California.

Click here to go to our final day on this Journey . . . 

Still in Monument Valley . . .

Oh! I have forgotten to tell you about what have happened in that hotel we found in the middle of the night, somewhere at Monument Valley . . .

Desertic area and in the dark we found this mini city called Gouldings Lodge, everything is named the same: Goulding's Hotel, Goulding's Restaurant, Goulding's Gas Station, Goulding's Museum, Gouding's Souvenir Store, Goulding's Camping, Goulding's Tour, in the end it was only missing Gounding's Police Department! Lol

The recepcionist offered the most economic room at 130 dollars, and when we hesitated about leave, he offered a cabin for 80 bucks. We got it  right away!

We were celebrating in the Isuzu while following a truck that was showing us the way, as our Goulding's cabin was located 2 miles from the entrance. 

In a total darkness, we saw our room lighted only by the two vehicles lights. It seemed a small duplex, encircled by a metal fence my height and it was three foot raised, maybe to protect against coyotes!?  

Scary! We hesitated while still in the Isuzu, but it was so late, and it was so hard to find a hotel in that road, that we decided to take a look on the inside. 

I stepped in ahead and did a disappointment face. It was just to scare Florencia, as the room was awesome! It was not a duplex, but a whole unit, a big room for both of us, it had a huge living room with three couches and a big TV screen, besides big kitchen, bedroom and bathroom.

Happy, we stayed, and made sure all windowns and doors were locked! 

Rooms explored, we prepared a fast snack on the kitchen, unpacked some stuff and I went to the bathroom ready for a relaxing shower. Suddenly Florencia screamed and I heard her fast steps into the bedroom. Damn! Chilled to the bone I threw my towel on the floor and put my shorts on as fast as I could.

The intruder was in the kitchen she screamed from the bed: UN RATÓN, UN RATÓN EN NUESTRA HABITACIÓN!!

It was so late, I called the front desk, just to calm Florencia down, I did the complain, and received two mouse traps that instead of cheese were filled with peanut butter! Flor was afraid to find myself trapped in there before the mouse! Lol We locked ourselves in the bedroom and Flor could only sleep after closing the gap under the door using a big towel...  

Next post then, we continue our trip until Kingman, AZ!!

Click here to go to the 5th day of our Journey . . . 

Moab - Monument Valley

In the early morning I discovered the best bike path ever!!

Very true! With no crossing roads, the path goes close to The Arches National Park and pass nearby the canions,  revealing fantastic views!

It was an easy workout, with only twice 10 minutes on a faster pace, just to stimulate legs a little bit.

Bike: 38km - 1h12min

On the GPS, there was no more swimming pools on the way until Los Angeles, so I hopped in the pool while in Moab, before getting behind the wheels again . . . 

The swim was really easy, so I focused on technic exercises. I also did some under water shots to have an idea of my stroke efficiency . . .  Lots to improve!! 

400y warm up, 4x100y drill, 200y kicking, 8x25y building, 4x100y drill, 400y pull, 4x100y aerobic @1'40", 200y warm down.

Swim: 2.600y - 50min 

With no monster training during this trip, the only scary stuff we saw, was at the Dinossaur museum at Blanding, UT!! Lol

It was very cool to see the exhibition, specially the idea generated by some fossils that would suggest dinossaurs had not scaly skin, but they were actually covered by feathers, like giant birds!

Back to the Isuzussaur, we kept in big steps towards the south. The next stop was another national park, it was actually the first national park of Utah, founded in 1908: The Natural Bridges National Monument.

It is featured by three natural bridges, carved by time by the action of the Colorado river. We did a hiking that took about 1 hour to the base of the first one, called Sipacu, named in Navajo's language, the indians who used to live in this area. The greatness of this rocks are impressive, and we took hours imagining the river action around this million years. It was the river who went down or the rocks that went up!?? Lol

Not far from there, it was time for the Isuzu to get into the trail again, and we went down Moki Dugway, a tiny rustic trail road with about 3 miles plenty of switch backs and amazing views.  

During the trip, we also saw two other formations:

Gooseneck State Park (imagine a river that has decided to make a turn!)

Shaped while it was a plain surface, the San Juan river, with no rush, molded by the years more than goose necks, one of the world's most famous meanders.

And the Mexican Hat (how come that rock ended up in that top!?)

Shaped by nature miracle, or it could be Medusa that seducted a Mexican fellow with his hat! Lol

With the sun close to the horizon, and fulfilled with awesomeness, we decided to go forward. We were too late to visit the "Monument Valley" (central right pic) so we left futher expeditions to the next day!

A little hard to find hotel in that county, we ended up almost on the Arizona's border, a few miles after the park, but still in that region called Monument Valley.

Click here to read more about this night at Monument  Valley . . .