hey y'all good morning it is another day here in arizona and another video if you missed
some of the recent videos i've put out we have been traveling through arizona and we're about
to head into utah we've already seen the grand canyon and horseshoe bend and antelope canyon in
paige arizona be sure to check those videos out i'm going to put them in the description below
today we are headed on up into utah hopefully we're going to check out monument
valley and we're going to see forest cup hill we're going to be staying in a really really
really cool place tonight so i'm excited to show you and then tomorrow we're going to head on out
into moab see arches national park um and then we're going to rent a side by side on sunday
so if any of that interests you be sure to subscribe so you don't miss those videos
okay so this absolutely was not planned but aren't those kind of the best kind of travel days we are
here in cayenne arizona we're about 30 minutes away from a monument valley so we're still going
there it's not off the table but on the week here we were listening to a podcast and learning about
fry bread and navajo tacos and amigo cafe has fry bread and navajo tacos so we thought why
not stop in and try one they also happen to have a full coffee bar here with espresso so
if you want to maybe get a latte on your way to monument valley you can do that too
so we got one navajo taco to split it kind of looked like it was the size of a plate so i
thought we might just split that and then we'll have a good dinner tonight when we get into moab
we did get the chips and salsa as well and if you're spicy you know i love spicy things i put
hot sauce on everything but it is get me in the face it's a little spicy but i really like it it's
delicious so from what we learned from the podcast the story behind fry bread is kind of a sad one
whenever the tribes were kind of sequestered they were given three things they were given wheat
salt and lard and that's it and so from those three things that they were given
they created fry bread so it is a very sad part of the navajo history but fry bread has also become
a very central part of the navajo culture and diet so we're excited to come here and try the
navajo taco the navajo taco does of course have that base of the fry bread ground beef and beans
lettuce cheese onions and tomatoes even though it's called a taco i know you know we're from
texas so we're used to tacos that maybe are on a corn tortilla or rolled up in a flour tortilla
this isn't one that you would roll up and eat like we would eat tacos it's more of a fork and knife
situation definitely more of a doughy texture like butter cake that was delicious oh my gosh and i'm
going to tell you you've got two people just split it uh it is bigger than your head and she was kind
enough to split it for us and put it on she's ever played it was so delicious highly recommend coming
to amigo cafe if you are in kyenda arizona on your way to monument valley top notch so now seriously
this time we are going to monument valley i believe it's 20 a car up to four people and
then it's four dollars a person if you've got more than four people in your car but i'm definitely
gonna put a link in the description below so that you can go check out that and also to see if maybe
they've opened up online uh pre-reservations because that would be pretty handy um i did
juice up the coffee i don't know if you know this but if you're interested in helping support
this channel and my travels i do have a buy me a coffee link down in the description obviously
a coffee helps keep me and jeff caffeinated on these trips i would greatly appreciate it if
you would buy me a coffee also another way you can help support this channel is just by hitting that
pretty little like button down there underneath the video one big tip that i failed to mention
in my previous videos make sure if you're going to kind of do this same trip that we've been doing
between flagstaff the grand canyon page moab you are dancing all around different time zones
and different communities that do not um acknowledge daylight savings time so
you may find that you know your phone or your watch whatever keeps flipping back and forth
between time zones because it doesn't even know what the right time is a lot of the time so
just keep that in mind especially if you're making appointments um reservations to go do things you
need to really lock down what the correct time is in the time zone or the town that you're in
we have made it to monument valley
oh this is so cool i knew that they had a scenic drive most of this is something that you just
stay in your car and drive and we'll do that here in a minute but they actually have some
trails that you can walk as well so that's pretty cool um of course as of april 2022
like we said in the videos before this is navajo land uh travel land your masks are still required
now i believe that when you're in your car driving scenic drive you can take them off
um but of course when you're out here amongst others and when you're in maybe like their
gift shops or anything you definitely need to have them on so just keep that in mind
it is gorgeous out here cannot wait for us to do the scenic drive you can bring your pets
they need to be on a leash yeah let's get started let's show you what monument valley is all about
monument valley might be the most well known from all of the movies and tv shows that have been
filmed here it started back in the era of john wayne and western movies some of the more recent
films that you might have seen are ones like easy rider transformers back to the future and mission
impossible of course if you're a harry potter fan like i am fantastic beasts and where to find them
has a big section of the movie that is set here speaking of transformers we went to another
place where one of the transformers movies was filmed and that is to white sands national park
you need to check that place out it is like stepping out onto another planet
i'm gonna put a link in the description below as you're driving the scenic drive
loop you will see signs that kind of tell you what monuments to look for and their names
this one for instance over here is called the three sisters jeff said it's the sanderson sisters
one thing we learned while we were here is that the navajo people have such a complex language
they ended up taking this language and using it via the code talkers to turn it into a secret code
so that they could transmit messages during world war ii
okay so we've made it out here to code talker point now i'm not sure if this is kind of the
turn around spot because we haven't been paying attention how far we've gone
but it looks like this might be the point where we turn around and go back this is crazy beautiful
and i know that my zooming will not be able to kind of give
you a good idea but it it seems as if i could probably see far more than maybe 50 miles easily
definitely bring a you know maybe a car with some ground clearance or maybe four-wheel drive before
you come out to monument valley um i think we knew it was going to be uh not a paved road i
don't think i expected anything different but it's very bumpy and there are a lot of areas where if
you don't have ground clearance your car is going to drag so just keep that in there oh i didn't see
that rock i missed that rug jeff said big rock and i thought he was talking about like one of
these rocks and i'm like yeah it's pretty big and then he turned the corner where i could actually
see and i'm like oh you mean this big rock the one standing up on its own wow called the thumb
that is crazy i'm telling you i'm looking at it in the viewfinder it doesn't look as large on camera
as it does in real life it's ginormous so when you come to the navajo nations monument valley
navajo tribal park you are going to be seeing lots of sandstone masterpieces that tower at heights of
400 to a thousand feet in the air this valley looks beautiful any time of day but i highly
recommend maybe coming closer to sunrise or sunset you really start to get a lot of beautiful shadows
cast i feel like those two times a day really help accentuate the beautiful colors that you're seeing
out here i mean the kind of orange clay colors of the formations and then you've got the beautiful
green grass and shrubs and trees on the scenic drive tour there is a vast landscape of rocks
trees mesas buttes shrubs and windblown sand all comprising the magnificent colors of this valley
at the back of the gift shop they even have this beautiful view
it says it's called photographers point and throughout the years countless photographers
have taken some of their most coveted photos from this spot this sign says that uh it has
been said that john wayne's favorite place to enjoy beauty and serenity of monument valley is
here and if you're going to stay at the view hotel here this is your view these are your
balconies so if you stay here let me show you what you get to wake up and see every morning
and what sunset you're gonna see every evening
they also have walking trails a couple of them if you'd like to do that
um just be sure to talk to the information station so you can get a little bit more information about
where each trail goes and how long it's going to take maybe what kind of supplies you need to
have before you start that journey on the other side of the gift shop they do have a restaurant
dining room now it's not open right now it says it opens up at 5 00 pm for dinner so i
think during the day time you're probably gonna have a better bet coming back into the gift shop
and getting other things like pre-made sandwiches chips and bottle
are about drinks head on towards moab but first on our way we need to stop by a little place
it's pretty here it's a scenic lookout area they've got lots of them so definitely take
the time to pull off the road uh take some pictures but also just maybe get away from
the crowds and soak up these natural wonders without a ton of people around what is it
there's nothing written on it it's heavy there's nothing written on it i don't know what it is
i thought that there would be like some sort of wording on it it kind of looks like it's made out
of fiberglass to be fair if you know what this is me what it says it's underneath the street
i don't know put it back where i found it there we go
we made it to forest gump hill i thought there was a sign somewhere
if you don't know why they call it this there is a scene
in forrest gump where he's been running for forever and eventually he stops and he's like
tired and this is the part where he did it that's where he stopped
because you can actually see monument valley that's what is in the back of this shot where
we just were at monument valley let's get back there so let me give you some tips if you want
to come take your picture here when you're kind of getting within a mile marker of force appeal
there are a lot of slow down traffic signs which is good because obviously they know pedestrians
are going to be in the road we're all there taking our picture i personally recommend there's there's
three different turn off spots let me kind of show you so there's one way down there where
those cars are way down there and then there's another one where this car is right over here
and then where we're at is at the top of the hill there's a turn off here and i recommend personally
this is where we parked there's a turn off over here so if you're coming up from monument valley
you're going to come up this stretch of highway and you're going to turn left into this parking
lot i just like it because you can actually get your vehicle off the road there are some
people that are kind of parking on the side of the road i don't recommend doing that
for most of the stretch there's pretty well no no shoulders so definitely park your car in one
of these pull offs near the top if you can't fit at the ones here in the bottom because the one
at the bottom is pretty small please please please please please if you're going to come here and get
your picture taken you have got to pay attention to the traffic now one way down the monument
valley side you can pretty well see for a long ways for at least a few miles but up here where
is it this is the top of the hill so people are supposed to be paying attention for pedestrians
but you got to do that for yourself there's not always going to be a ton of pedestrians
like there is right now to probably warn you or something especially if you're here by yourself
now luckily with jeff and i because he was taking my picture and i was taking his picture i was
looking for traffic his way and he was looking for traffic my way so i would really recommend that do
the buddy system so that you have somebody else another set of eyes to help you look for traffic
and the last thing i want you to do is to come here because stacy said this was a cool
picture spot and get hit by a car so please pay attention it is a beautiful beautiful and pretty
famous especially if you're an american you love forest gum even if you don't watch forest gump
it's a beautiful scene and i will have some pictures on my instagram so definitely come
check me out over there but it's gorgeous just be very careful be very very very very careful
oh and another tip as far as time of day so right now it is 4 45 here um it's april the sun doesn't
go down here until about seven ish maybe even kind of closer to eight but i think it goes behind the
horizon at seven so honestly you want to be able to take a picture like this like you're the camera
really um because you want monument valley and stuff in the background but do you see now here
how the sun is like behind me and it's casting a shadow so honestly the better time of the day
might either be sunrise because that way the sun will be looking at you sorry jeff is trying to
warn some people about a car maybe sunrise would be a better time of day because that way the sun
would be hitting you here in the face and shine a light on you or you might want to wait until later
in the day maybe like seven or so that way the sun can go down below the horizon and it won't cast as
much of a shadow on you but yeah definitely keep that in mind when you're coming out here but again
just please please be very very careful yeah yeah it is more of a forest gump look than the beanie
oh that's cool so next stop we are actually gonna make it to moab now
we are staying in such a cool place tonight and i cannot wait to show you i can't wait to see
it myself really so let's forge on we've got about two and a half more hours of drive time
what i don't notice
space between us now it's just like miles
all i'm saying is if you don't come to arizona and utah and leave here with some teensy interest
in geology i don't know what to do it's called mexican hat rock get it uh looks like a sombrero
but also it's a big rock balancing on a tiny rock on top of a collection of other rocks
i mean hello this stuff is cool
i'm so excited to show you where we're staying i'm only going to give you like a little
glimpse because i'm doing an entire video about this place it's called under canvas i've wanted
to stay at some of their um facilities in other places that we've vacationed but i
just haven't been able to and we finally pulled the trigger this time and i can't wait it's like
glamping so camping but gracefully so basically this accommodation is glamping so we'll have our
own tent here and then look at what we get to wake up do you look at those beautiful mountains
they've got places out here with hammocks they've got places for you to like real s'mores
um it's supposed to be beautiful i cannot wait to show you so yeah definitely subscribe that
video should be coming out after this one cannot wait to give you a full review of
this place because like i said we're in moab now but they've got under canvas at other locations
um at least i know around the united states so definitely check them out if you're in any other
locations um hit that like button and i will see you in the next video safe and beautiful travels