The Great American Road Trip

Today we traveled south from Moab, Utah to Gallup, New Mexico. We’ve been to Gallup before, but three years ago, we went to Mesa Verde National Park (one of my favorite National Parks!) and Four Corners (which is a tourist trap, but cool to say you’ve been). This time we wanted to try a different route, and I’ve always wanted to see Monument Valley. As a kid I loved watching westerns, and Monument Valley was the backdrop for many of those films. Then, of course, a famous scene from Forrest Gump was filmed there, so we had to go!

On the way, we passed through a little town called Bluff. There we stopped to take in a place I had heard about called Fort Bluff. Actually, I guess they call it Bluff Fort, which sounds weird. That wasn’t the only thing I didn’t expect.

When you hear “Fort” you think military. Wrong! Bluff Fort was actually an early settlement by some Mormon pioneers. This was not nice country to plant yourselves, but they were some plucky people. Just getting there was treacherous. The rocky landscape, the incessant heat, and natives angry that the white man was once again infringing upon their lives (my words, not theirs) made this a rough place. We met a nice elderly couple who seemed to be running the place, but they were NOT tour guides! “This is a self-guided tour,” said the old man. “You go around and listen to all the stories.” Ok…so we walked down the path and…guess what! There were little buttons at each entry way, that when pressed, began a pre-recorded narrative about what we were seeing. There were actually several buttons. We pressed each one. Turns out they played the same narrative, but in different languages. The boys thought it would be great if we listened to each new exhibit in Italian, German, Japanese, and Dutch (?). The boys also panned for gold (no luck). It turned out to be a very interesting place, and both boys were glad we stopped.

We continued down the road to Mexican Hat (actual town name). Named after a rather distinct rock formation, we had to go off-roading to get a good look at it.

Finally, we made it to Monument Valley. It’s really hard to describe the landscape in this part of the country. I guess I could say that the mountains give a stark contrast to the surrounding scrub lands and open range. The pictures tell a better story…

Some random thoughts from today:

• It is absolutely amazing seeing people stand on a highway to recreate a scene from a movie and take a picture. Mind you, the speed limit here is 65 mph! Cars, trucks, and RVs come hurtling down the highway, and tourists scramble off the road, only to race back to strike a pose. No tourists (including us) were killed while we were there, but a Japanese couple came really close…

• The best time to fart in a car full of people is when driving through agricultural regions. Nobody ever says anything because they can’t tell if it was the “natural” fertilizer aroma, or you.

• Nathan and I were treated to a complete dissertation on the geology of the Mexican Hat region by Nolan. Apparently, you take one undergrad course and suddenly you’re an expert!

Well that’s quite enough for now. Tomorrow we travel to Roswell, New Mexico with a stop in Socorro to see the VLA (Very Large Array) of Radio Telescopes. If you don’t know what that is, you’ll have to come back tomorrow! Adios!