Monument Valley 11/9

Another long drive which included varied scenery from the Dixie State Forest to desert & views crossing of the Colorado river/far east end of the Grand Canyon before arriving in the mesa scenery of the Monument Valley. We stayed at Gouldings Trading Post a hundred year old ( at least part of it was) place founded by the couple who were responsible for convincing John Ford to make 7 movies e.g. She Wore A Yellow Ribbon in Monument Valley. A 6.30 start in the morning for me produced what I think are stunning results of sunrise in the valley. Unfortunately the weather did not hold out for our guided trip into the canyon as it started raining at lunchtime & continued to pour for the duration of our 2 & a half hour tour although this did produce a strange chocolate coloured waterfall as a biproduct which our Hopi guide had never seen before. Never mind onward towards Grand Canyon  via the Navajo Tuba  City ( not very exciting as it is a dry area) . On our way to the Grand Canyon the following day we did see a very large collection of dinosaur tracks from plesiosaur to tyrannosaurus rex via some other large vegetarian beasts & their eggs.