Day 5 - Monument Valley/Moab
Sad to leave the Grand Canyon, but we loved that we would be seeing more natural wonders in a few hours. We left directly from El Tovar after breakfast and started the 3 hour drive to Monument Valley. Casey kept us entertained with games and movies. I played a lot of solitaire on my iPad, watched the ever-changing scenery roll by, and took sporadic naps. There were charging outlets at each seat; some outlets were less powerful than others so you might need to try different ones to get a full charge on your electronic device. The bus also has wifi so I connected to it and saved on my data plan.
When we got to Monument Valley, we could not stop staring out the windows. The monuments are extraordinary. We arrived at Goulding's and took a restroom break. We boarded an open air vehicle for a dusty road tour through some of the valley. We saw a couple of dirt devils sprout (look like mini dirt tornadoes). Thankfully, we were supplied with bandanas to cover our noses and mouths. There were a few tourist stands selling jewelry. I looked but made no purchases here. We had a lot of time to take and pose for photos as seen here:
After riding around in the valley, we returned to Goulding's restaurant for lunch. There is also a hotel nearby, and we both thought it would be awesome to spend the night here to watch the sunset and sunrise.
Before boarding the bus for the next 3 hour segment of our journey to Moab, my husband posed for Casey as he is a big John Wayne fan.
This was the longest day of the entire trip, and I give Courtney kudos for all of that driving. More fun and games took place during this leg; they helped the time roll by until we reached our final stop--Moab.
Here's a good stopping place for now. I probably won't have an opportunity to post updates until tomorrow evening after the gym/dinner. I don't think I will complete this before the next tour kicks off.
Regarding what to pack, I have posted in other threads in this forum the types of items we brought. We packed fleece jackets, jeans (2 pairs each), shorts, t-shirts that can afford to be ruined, nicer shirts for me, one nice outfit each, 2 pairs of athletic shoes, casual sandals for me, water shoes for me, a cotton jacket for me, two thin cotton sweaters for me, bathing suits for rafting (a tankini top, board shorts, and a UV protection shirt for me; bathing trunks and a UV protection shirt for him), and a hat for him. I also packed my lightweight scale in my suitcase because I weigh myself every morning, even on vacation. Once the trip started, the first opportunity we had to use self-laundry was not until we reached the Red Cliffs Lodge in Moab.