Sanders LaMont: Part Two -- Travels with Snowflake

Day Five began on the road from Great Basin National Park in Nevada, driving east across Utah and then south through Moab and on to Blanding, a small town in the middle of some of the prettiest country you will ever see. And it ended in the stupendous collosal Monument Valley

To get there we started east along Highway 50, joined Interstate 70, and then turned south on 191.

The western side of Utah starts out in dry brushy rolling hills, then comes into large dry valleys and finally through farming towns like Hinkley, where we finally saw some green, and through the little farm town Delta. Breakfast in the cafe there included a conversation overheard that ranged from the Mormon church leadership's recent pro-mask announcement for Covid prevention, to one farmer telling another to never quit his job working for someone. Let them fire you, and you can either collect benefits or sue, he said.

Very few people in rural Utah towns wear masks.

(Note: I read that every town and county in Utah except Salt Lake City has a large majority of Mormons in residence, including places like Hinkley and Delta. Probably true, but for they seem to have the same concerns, manners and politics as almost any other rural areas.)

A word about the Interstate 70 route across Utah. It has to be one of the most beautiful stretches of Interstate Highway in the nation .

Hidden back in the canyons are miles of off-road trails, and you can see evidence in hundreds of off-road vehicles with roll-bar cages and open sides at a scattering of towns and trailer parks. The roads follow the old Pony Express route, and some places brag about that brief moment in Western history. Mostly it is seen through a series of "historical markers," several pointing out that just over the hills the intruding pony riders encountered hostility from the natives.

Also off the road a few miles are major fossil sites, where dinosaur bones can be seen if your vehicle can handle the back roads.

Once we left the Interstate highway, where the speed limit was 80 mph, traffic slowed slightly as we drove south by Arches National Park where cars were backed up waiting to get in, through Moab which is always jammed with tourists and four-wheeled contraptions of every kind.

We landed for a couple of nights at an older motel in Blanding, Utah, just north of the Navajo Reservation and near Bear's Ears National Monument,

Blanding is a comfortable town, with a large Native American population and a couple of good places to eat, and a laundromat where we refreshed our limited clean clothes.

We discovered a wonderful museum at the Edge of the Cedars State park, right on the edge of town. The park has an excavated pueblo dwelling site, complete with kiva, but it was the collection inside that was so fascinating. They had Anasazi pottery and basketry, some items a thousand years old, and all found nearby, all of them very rare. The displays contained a lot of information, interestingly presented. It is a must-see museum if you travel that way.

Pat taking in some of the upper floor exhibits.

A native flute, a woven water jug and what have been children's arrows.

And Kiva to explore.

We ended the day at our cabin at Monument Valley. The Navajo Nation's Monument Valley. It looks and feels like a national park, but is located on and run very well by the Navajo Nation. The series of photos below are all from our first afternoon. We arrived too early to check into our cabin or take the long car tour through the valley so we rode around, checking out Goulding's Trading Post a few miles away, the only open place to eat, a gas station and the gift shop. The pictures are mixed due to editing problems but you can tell that once we got into our cabin we were more than happy with the view right out the front window. The cabins are located on two rows, ours in the back but at a higher elevation, so every cabin has the spectacular view of the Valley spread out below. The giant monuments, buttes and mesas, dominate everything. At the time it was sunset so the colors were even more fantastic. The "resort" is called "The View" and is operated by the Navajo. Normally it has everything you would need: hotel, cabins, RV park, Visitor Center, a choice of tours (guided or not)cafe and gift shop. Due to Covid the only things open were the tours, gift shop, hotel and cabins. The cabins where we stayed are modern and clean, have a refrigerator and microwave, good beds, and a tiny extra room with two extra (bunk) beds. It is not cheap (about $200 a day) but you get a thousand dollar view plus comfort.