Day 15 - Grand Canyon to Monument Valley

Breakfast was served nice and early at 6.30.  This is the first decent breakfast we've had since we started our trip.  It was really tasty too and consisted of sausage patties, 'biscuits' which were very fresh and were like a cross between a muffin and a scone and were really tasty, accompanying this was small chopped potatoes and 'breakfast' gravy which I have no idea what was in it but was a bit like a plain white sauce. 

There was also a chef custom making omelettes to order and the obligatory waffle maker and fruit and cereal.

We checked out and stopped off at a few viewpoints on the Eastern side of the south rim before starting the journey to Monument Valley.

Utah is on a different time zone so we lose an hour on the journey.

As soon as we arrived in Monument Valley we bought a permit into the park and drove around the 17 mile scenic drive - sounds familiar.  You could either go on an organised tour or if your car was up to it you could drive yourself.  We opted to drive ourselves as we had a 4x4 Jeep.  It was great fun driving around to the different monuments and jumping in and out to take photos.

It was one of the most surreal locations we have ever been and really good to be able to visit this location that is used in so many movies and music videos.  Such as Metallica's 'I Disappear' used in Mission Impossible 2 along with Tom Cruise's rock climb scene.

Forrest Gump

We spent a good couple of hours or so exploring the monuments then we checked into our hotel.  We stayed at The View Hotel, this is the only hotel within the park and each room is guaranteed a good view.  We had booked early back in January to ensure we had a good room.  We opted for one of the rooms on the top floor with an open view to the sky.  Well, what can I say, this is honestly the best view we've ever had from a hotel room, the view was absolutely stunning and you just couldn't stop looking at it.  We enjoyed a meal in the hotel restaurant and then went back up to the room to gaze at the stars with a glass of wine that we'd bought in Yosemite.

WOW just WOW!!

Surreal... are we on Mars?