Three Sisters

After filming for the day, director John Ford used to take his director's chair out onto this promontory where the horse and rider are standing and relax with his cigar.

It's called Ford Point

What a beautiful, mystical place

Hole in the Rock

Petroglyph

Hole in the rock

On top of this spire--called Totem Pole--Clint Eastwood filmed a scene during the

movie "Eiger Sanction". The top measures 20 ft. by 20 ft. Not very big.

More desert-like in the backcountry. In the foreground is all a very fine sand dune.

Gouldings Monument Valley RV Resort, UT: A beautiful, sunny morning. Last night the stars were amazing. I walked over to the office this morning and booked us on the 3:30 tour. It’s a 3-1/2 hour tour that takes you to some restricted places so we decided to do it instead of driving ourselves. Came back and got talking to the guy in the motor home behind us. He has the cutest Westy. He mentioned a canyon he had just come from--Canyon de Chelly (pronounced Canyon de Shay)—which is a National Monument about 3 hours southeast of us. We may do that before we leave. Relaxed outside reading for a while and then decided to hike the little trail going up the big rock formation in the campground. It winds around through this beautiful rocky area to a natural arch. I took pictures with my cell phone camera. Didn’t want to lug my camera up there. A couple pulled into the site next to us from Holland. They’re on a four-week trip in a rental RV. They are also going on the 3:30 tour. At 3:30 we all gathered for the tour under a cloudless cerulean sky. Loaded up and off we go. The first part of the tour we could have done in our own vehicle, but the second part went into the back country and was well worth the extra time and money. We saw some amazing cliffs, bluffs, and rock formations. And it was very desert-like with rippling hills of sand. They have sidewinders up there. We were hoping to see one. We stopped several times for pictures and at several places with holes in the rocks and petroglyphs. An amazing place. Even with four-wheel drive, the going was very rough. We were bitching about the speed bumps in the parking lot, but after that tour they were nothing. And by the end of the tour we were all covered in a fine layer of ocher dust. How earthy. After the tour we went to the Lodge restaurant for dinner. We both had the beef stew with the Navajo fry bread. Delicious!