May 17: SW Road Trip Day 8

We are leaving the Grand Canyon. We don’t feel really sad because there is so much more to see on this trip. The immediate concern, however, is that the Grand Canyon has exactly one gas station, which is 35 miles east of us, and we have maybe 30 miles of range. Oops, a mistake. But it is easily rectified by a 45 minute detour to Tusayan, about 8 miles down the road to Williams, just outside the Park. And maybe we can get some coffee and a pastry while we are there?

We pack the X3 and check out of the hotel. We also get explicit directions and set “Tusayan” into the GPS. Should make it easily. Then we head south. There is a lot more traffic entering the Park than leaving. We find the Texaco, gas up (Acckk!, Premium is $3.79/gal.) and clean the windshield as thoroughly as possible. We try to find some coffee, but the only place open has a long, slow line, so we decide we can do without.

We head for our next stop, Monument Valley (179 miles east of the El Tovar Hotel). We head back to the Park and continue on Hwy 64 toward the East Entrance. Along the way, we stop at the Tusayan Museum and Ruins. This is an archeological site of a Pueblo that was occupied around A.D. 1185. Though few definitive answers exist, the site suggests how many people lived here (16 to 20), what they ate and how they lived.

We retrace our path from Lake Powell to the Grand Canyon back to Hwy 89, turn north for a few miles, but then turn right onto Hwy 160, which we haven’t yet been on. We drive through Tuba City and continue another 99 miles through Kayenta and onto Hwy 163 toward Goulding’s Lodge.

I first got close to this place in 1999, when Kevin and I took a trip to the Grand Canyon. After the Canyon, we were on this same road, headed for 4 corners, and got glimpses of the fantastic rock structures that were visible from Hwy 160.  But we didn’t have enough time for a side stop. It’s been in the back of my mind to visit here since then and M.V. was one of the first sites I considered during initial planning for this trip over a year ago. Finally, we are here:

Monument Butte in the Valley

We make our way to Goulding’s Lodge, a Trading Post first established in 1923. There is Red Rock everywhere and spectacular buttes and mesas.

Wall Above Goulding's Trading Post

We visit the Dining Room for lunch. Amy has beef stew with Navajo Fry Bread and I have a Rez Bah’ Roast Beef Sandwich (sliced roast beef served in fry bread; tasty, but too much food). We check in and find that our room is next to the landing strip across the road from the main lodge. We don’t know if this is a good thing or not, but when we enter the room, we find that it is huge and has a sizable kitchen area. It is also about a half mile from the next nearest room. I wonder how we won this particular lottery.

I lay down and very quickly fall asleep, probably due to the exertions of yesterday. After a long rest, and considering our experience at lunch, we decide to grab dinner from the freezer case at the nearby market, along with a chop salad. While we are on the short drive to the market, the heavens open up and we get our first serious rain of the trip.

Rain!

Perhaps you cannot see the rain, but you can tell how low the clouds are by looking at the monuments obscured in the distance. The rain continued the rest of the day and into the night, turning to snow with huge flakes. We headed over to the John Wayne Theater to see a documentary on Goulding’s and a free screening of a John Wayne western that was filmed in the Valley. Tonight’s is Stagecoach. The documentary was interesting, but the projector’s lamp gave out before the movie, so we went back to our room.

Tomorrow’s activity is the Deluxe Tour of Monument Valley!