Don & Carolyn wrote:
THANK YOU for all of the wonderful information! We will be in the Monument Valley area around September 10. Did you all stay in the area for about two days?
We stayed one night and felt it was plenty. We drove down from Mesa Verde(with a brief stop for a photo at Four Corners)and arrived mid-day. At Gouldings' campground office, we booked a late afternoon open van tour for that same day. The van picked us up right in front of the campground office, very convenient.
By going late afternoon, we had wonderful light on the red rocks. Our guide was not particularly forthcoming with any information, perhaps because all the other passengers spoke Italian and French (probably not will be the case in mid September.) But the scenery speaks for itself, and the guides know the ideal stops for great photos.
A tip - Bring water and be sure to hit the restroom before the tour. There were none down in the valley except a "last resort" portapotty, and that was a couple of hours into the tour.
The next morning before leaving, we stopped at the little Gouldings Museum over near the hotel. This was the original hotel and it has movie memorabilia, especially about John Wayne. Worth an hour or so. We went on up to Blandings, which has a great small museum of Ancestral Puebloan artifacts at Edge of the Cedars State Park. From there, a straight shot on up to the Moab area.
