Patty’s Epic Trip To The US. Part 7. Indian Monument and Monument Valley

After Bryce Canyon, we were up for a big drive, from Bryce Canyon to Monument Valley, slightly complicated by the fact that up until now, the directions had either been clear or we’d used Google Maps.

Uhm.

No reception.

AAAARRGGH. Technology.

So we’re at this big intersection, and the option is left or right. Which way to go? No idea. I looked it up on the map the previous night, but can’t remember. I’d have expected there to be signs to the, y’know, major tourist attractions in the area.

So we went into a petrol station. It’s that way, the attendant said. By the way, what’s up with the fact that you have to pay for your petrol before you can get any. Yeah, I understand, but our non-US credit cards don’t work in the machines, so we have to go inside, give them twenty bucks, then get the petrol and then go back inside to get the change. What a nuisance.

OK, back on the road, and we spot this sign “Indian Monument” and get a spidey sense. Maybe that’s what they’ve directed us to. So we decide to have a look. Surely there will be a map or someone to ask.

There was. And what was more, there was a gorgeous little walk to a lookout where you can see a cave where people used to live.

And after all that, we finally made it to Monument Valley.

We booked a 4WD tour and would be looking at those wonderful rocks the next day.

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Patty’s Epic Trip to the US. Part 6. Bryce Canyon

We stayed in Ruby’s Inn at Bryce Canyon National Park for two nights. Being January, there was almost no one in the entire hotel, and OMG, it was cold.

We walked the entire rim trail, and took hundreds of photographs of the snow and the weird rock formations below.

The deer were curious, but despite many signs not to feel them, didn’t come close.

Patty’s epic trip to the US 3. When in Vegas…

I have to admit that I don’t like cities, and so we left LA as quickly as possible (and I don’t like LA in particular), and had no great desire to go to any more cities, except Las Vegas was on the way, and a friend here in Sydney said: you have to go to Vegas, even just once, because Vegas is ridiculous.

And it is.

This replica of Venice is quite something. Well done.

This canal is actually inside a building, on the first floor (for you ‘muricans out there, that’s the floor *above* the ground floor)

All I can say is that the real Eiffer Tower is bigger than this 😛

Fountains set to music. Hate to think of the power bill. Hate to think of the power bill of Vegas in general. LOL.

We were staying at the north end of The Strip and I think we walked about 18km that day, seeing that the previous post in Death Valley was on the same day. So this was the obligatory Vegas visit. The pizza was good.

We were ready to hit some bush and see some rocks.

Patty’s Epic Trip To The US part 2. Death Valley 2

In the previous post, I already said that we enjoyed Death Valley a lot. We stayed overnight in Beatty, just outside the park boundary, and when we got the park ticket, they said it was valid for three days. We were not meant to be in Las Vegas until in the afternoon, so why not go back?

Pretty much nothing grows in Death Valley.

But the rocks are of all different kind of colours. We learned that people used to mine borax there. To be honest, I wasn’t even sure what borax is. Apparently, you can use it to get rid of ants nests.

This picture doesn’t show how windy it was here. The little silver speck in the middle is our rented Toyota Corolla, when it was still clean LOL.

On the salt flats. The ground was actually a bit wet here.

The lowest point of the valley.