SW Utah Mini Tour – Day 3

Today’s drive was planned for Mexican Hat, UT to Kanab, UT with stops in Monument Valley, Page, AZ and Marble Canyon/Navajo Bridge. On top of what promised to be another long driving day we decided to leave the motel by 6:00am and loop back and see the Valley of the Gods and Moki Dugway which we had to skip yesterday due to the tire issues.

On top of Moki Dugway as the sun rises and the Valley of the Gods below. The Moki Dugway was constructed in the 1950s by the Texas Zinc mining company, and it was initially used to transport uranium ore from the Fry Canyon mines on top of Cedar Mesa to a processing mill near Mexican Hat, 1200′ below.
Valley of the Gods in morning light.

Our next stop was Monument Valley.

Jenifer reenacting the famous Forrest Gump scene.
Artist Point Overlook
Steve still has his sense of humor!
On the entire 1400 mile roadtrip we saw one yucca plant that was in bloom – all the others we saw had bloomed last year and were dried up. This one was on the north end of the driving loop in Monument Valley. We watched at least one other vehicle do a second-take and make a U-turn to come back and photograph it.

We stopped briefly in Kayenta to get gas and then headed to Page, AZ and the Glen Canyon Dam over the Colorado River.

We then drove to Marble Canyon, hoping that we would see the California Condors that were sometimes sun bathing on the Navajo Bridge. We were not disappointed! We saw an adult and a juvenile on the girders below the new bridge and then 3 – 4 more adults ended up flying overhead. We were so excited to see them and watch them flying so close overhead that we didn’t even attempt to take photos!

We only had our cell phones with us when we walked across the bridge so not the best of photos but you can see the two California Condors sitting on the bridge structure.

We finally made it to Kanab, UT where we stayed at the Red Canyon Cabins, had a great dinner at the Rockin’ V Cafe and then took Jenifer and Steve over to the Little Hollywood sign and the white stallion for the mandatory sac shot. We have a record of 6 for 6 now …

Red Canyon Cabins with the mighty white steed.

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