Day 20 of our 30-day Southwest Grand Circle Caravan – Activities around Bluff (Part 2)

We had some of those monsoon rains we have been hearing so much about, but have yet to see, last night. We can't complain, it is really, the first rain we have had on our 30 day adventure! We departed early in the morning in a convoy of cars and headed to Four Corners. 

It was an overcast morning and it looked like it was threatening rain all the way to the monument. Once we got to the monument, it remained overcast but never did rain.However, the parking areas were feeling the effects of earlier rains. The red clay was just as slick and mushy as I have ever seen! Thank goodness, all of our convoy found suitable parking without running through the muck!

Four Corners is not much more than a marker, a small visitor center, tiered seating, and Native American artisans and vendors. The original marker, erected in 1912, was a simple cement pad placed after government surveys showed the location of the terminus of the four state boundaries. 

The monument was refurbished in 1992 with a bronze disk embedded in granite. Each of the state boundaries radiate from the disk and each state's seal rests within that state's boundary.

We took a group picture, and many couples got individual and group pictures. Some were serious and others just really had fun with it! 

Charlie and I started the couples kissing in 4 states photo … you can tell no one expected it … because they are all laughing in the background! But, it caught on and many other couples did it! 

Clowning around, is the name of the game for some of the caravaneers, Charlie, and our wagonmaster, Rod Coe!

Our convoy broke up at Four Corners, our vehicle and another vehicle decide to drive over to Monument Valley. Naturally, it is in the opposite direction from where we are currently. But since we left early to hit the Four Corners, it was only 10 am, when we decided to head to Monument Valley.

We traveled by the Mexican Hat rock formation and into Mexican Hat, the town. Outside of town, you cross over the San Juan River.

The trip over was very overcast and rainy. But some of the pictures we captured were amazing! You always see pictures of the sun shine, etc ... but these pictures give it a whole new look!

On the way to Monument Valley, we saw one rock formation that we are calling praying hands ... because that is just what it looks like!

Monument Valley is located on the Navajo reservation on the border of Utah and Arizona. The entire Navajo reservation covers one third of the 130,000 square-mile Colorado Plateau. The people who live inside the “Tse-Bii-Ndzisgaii” (Navajo for ‘the valley within the rock) have long sustained life through simple living. The land is their canvas to the great circle of life. The absorbent sandstones hold underground aquifers which give moisture to crops and adequate grazing for the livestock.

However, Monument Valley is not really a valley but a wide, flat, desolate landscape punctuated by towering spires and buttes. Monument Valley covers about 92,000 acres. Millions of years ago, layers of sandstone, silt, and shale were alternately deposited up top of each other. A catastrophic event then lifted the entire region and folded it back on itself. Relentless winds over the centuries, continuing today, carved and shaped the stone sculptures. Which themselves are over hundreds of feet in the air. Scuttling clouds frame the panoramic landscape, the shadows they cast roaming the desert.

Many movies have been filmed in the area around and at Monument Valley. John Wayne calls Monument Valley, “Gods Treasure.” The first was Stagecoach (1939); John Ford was a veteran director who had worked in many genres, but Stagecoach was the beginning of the career for which he is remembered. It was the first of 10 films Ford shot in Monument Valley, Ford's first western since the introduction of sound in films, and featured John Wayne in his breakthrough role. 

My Darling Clementine (1946); Henry Fonda starred as Wyatt Earp in this Ford-directed western. The story is said to take place in and around Tombstone, Arizona, which is actually some 500 to the south of Monument Valley.

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949); The structure used for the exterior of Captain Brittles' headquarters is still standing; it was actually a storehouse for vegetables and is now part of the museum attached to Goulding's Lodge. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon was another John Ford-John Wayne collaboration.

The Searchers (1956); The only Western made by Ford during the 1950s, The Searchers was named the greatest western of all time by the American Film Institute in 2008. How the West Was Won (1962); John Ford was one of three directors who worked on this five-part epic -- but not, ironically, the segment that used Monument Valley was shot by Henry Hathaway.

Easy Rider (1968); Billy (Dennis Hopper), Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and a hitchhiker cruise into Monument Valley at dusk, and spend the night in the ruins at Wapatke. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); When Dave (Keir Dullea) goes through the stargate during the film's enigmatic final segment "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite," shots of Monument Valley (among other places) are used to create a trippy extraterrestrial landscape. The Eiger Sanction (1975); Star/director Clint Eastwood and co-star George Kennedy shot a memorable scene atop the "Totem Pole" rock formation and they were among the last people allowed on it. It's now off limits to climbers.

National Lampoon's Vacation (1983); Family man Clark W. Griswold (Chevy Chase) and his brood are lost in the desert when he blows through a ROAD CLOSED sign and the Family Truckster launches off a ramp. "Dad, you must have jumped this thing about 50 yards!" his son Rusty (Anthony Michael Hall) says. Clark replies, "That's nothing to be proud of, Rusty," then mutters under his breath, proudly, "...50 yards..." Back to the Future Part III (1990); A full-scale drive-in theater used in the movie was built solely for the filming, and demolished after the movie wrapped. Too bad no films were ever shown on it.

Forrest Gump (1994); After a three-year, coast-to-coast run, the titular character (played by Tom Hanks) stops running in Monument Valley, leaving a pack of followers stranded and befuddled. The last movie filmed at Monument Valley was The Lone Ranger (2013); Johnny Depp... Tonto... bird on the head... who doesn't love the Lone Ranger?

We had a light lunch at the The View Resturant, hoping that the clouds might lift. Besides, we did not drive all this way to turn around and head back to Bluff! The food we had at the restaurant was amazing! Both Charlies had soup, a few people had the Navajo Taco sampler appetizer and a few others had the chips, salsa and guacamole.

Picture of mittens, before lunch

Pictures after lunch, were a bit better, the weather had cleared a bit. 

Picture of mittens, after lunch

However, the self-guided driving tour was still closed to non-four-wheel drive vehicles, because of the monsoon rains they had the day before. The drive through, would have been cool …. But we still had over an hour drive back to Bluff.

When we got back to Bluff, one of the last things to do on our list was the Fort Bluff Historic Site. So, we headed over there. We had heard good things about it and everything we heard was right! It is more than just a little bitty historic site! It is manned by volunteers in period attire, the movies and videos you see are factual and the fort is amazing!

We learned how Bluff was first settled by the Mormon pioneers. A “mission call” in 1878 selected numerous Utah families, many of whom gave up fine homes to move with all their possessions to the remote San Juan area.  Seventy families consisting of around 250 men, women and children, left Escalante in south central Utah in October 1879 intending to establish the mission at Montezuma on the San Juan River. They used a route selected by a previous scouting party known as the “Escalante short cut.” The pioneers expected the 125 mile trek would take 6 weeks.  Instead, the journey extended 260 miles over 6 months via the Hole-in-the-Rock-Trail in grueling, winter conditions. TheHole-in-the-Rock Expedition one of the most extraordinary wagon trips ever undertaken in North America and a fine example of pioneer spirit.  Many sections of the trail were almost impassable.  To allow wagon passage, the men spent 6 weeks blasting and chiseling a path through a narrow, 1,200 foot drop in the sandstone cliffs known as the Hole-in-the-Rock, which is still visible at present day Lake Powell. I wish I had known this story while we were at Lake Powell, I would like to see that!

All of the “homes” at the fort have been restored, except the original Joseph Barton family cabin, which shows you the true craftsmanship they had!

The highest rated restaurant in Bluff, is the Cottonwood Steakhouse. We had to check it out! They offer outside or inside dining. The inside walls are adorned with movie memorabilia and the outside boasts old time western items and cars! The ratings were very accurate! If you asked everyone what was the best, I am sure you would get many different answers! The ribs … the chicken … the steak …. But there is no denying that the homemade desserts stole the show! Apple pie, blueberry pie and fresh peach cobbler, yum, yum, yum! We had two tables of 7 dining with us. 

The first table ordered 5 peach cobblers, an apple pie and a blueberry pie. We got our desserts and were enjoying them when we heard the second table order … only to learn we had eaten all the peach cobbler! The next set of cobblers had not come out of the oven yet! Ooooppps!

The night was capped off with our road log briefing, some trivia and a whole lot of laughter! Onto Mancos Colorado tomorrow!