Monument Valley and Canyon de Chelly Sep 30, 2004

So we were driven out of Monument Valley because of thunderstorms last night, and we stayed in the small town of Mexican Hat — in probably the most 'budget' motel room we've had so far. The 'door' was a sliding glass door, locked via a pull-chain. Hmm. On the other hand, it had the best view and was the highest point in the surrounding landscape.

We were heading to Canyon de Chelly today and our route passed back through Monument Valley — which was now enveloped in very low lying clouds and mist, and it was incredible.

The first photo shows an entire mesa surrounded by a blanket of clouds — incredible. The mesa in the photo is probably 1/2 a mile long. The clouds seemed so low here, but really I guess it was a case of us being at an elevation of 6000 feet.

The second photo additionally shows some other mesas and rock formations, but what I find interesting is the weird force-field-like cloud envelope. It was really, really strange.

Finally, about 3 hours later we reached Canyon de Chelly and I'll just post one photo from here for now. The bottom photo is showing an Anasazi (prehistoric Indian culture I believe?) community — built into the side of a mountain. Crazy. What you see is a number of buildings, an they extend back into a cave recess in the mountain side. That's a lot of effort...