Sept. 22, 2016 leaving Page AZ and going to Durango CO with a stop in Monument Valley

Nice weather today which which means good conditions for photos and visit at Monument Valley. I cannot wait. This is one place I really wanted to visit and on my bucket list.
Many western movies made here and Kanab UT.

The distance from Page to Durango is about 290 miles and 5 hours by car. The route will take us into and across the Navajo Reservation.

Our first stop was at a Burger King that had a Navajo Code talker exhibit.

Across from the BK was a Navajo museum which was very interesting. A lot packed into one small room.


There was also an actual Navajo hogan and we were able to go inside to see how traditional Navajos lived.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2901

Some businesses and stores were also located here. First town we saw on the way here and after we left here until we reached Cortez, CO.

Left BK at 11 am and arrived at Goulding's in Monument Valley at 11:40 am. We have to be on the bus at 1pm so we have to have a quick lunch and do our souvenir shopping, take pics and see the beautiful rock formations in 90 mins. Not enough time to do the place justice.

Sightseeing tours to the monuments are available and if I ever come back plan to take the trip out to see the famous monoliths here that have been featured in many movies and tv shows.

 Sleeping Indian

 typical landscape on the reservation

The cabin from John Wayne's movie She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is here with some items from the movie.

There is also a museum with a display of costumes and paraphernalia from the movies filmed here.

Joann Dru's costume from She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

We had lunch at the restaurant at Goulding's and it was very good. Great view of the valley too.

At 1pm sharp we left and headed to our next stop at Cortez, CO to go to the CO visitors center.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortez,_Colorado

The visitors center had a good selection of goods relating to Mesa Verde since it is close by. One can buy Mesa Verde stuff here or the visitor center in the Park.

Nice center with some exhibits and souvenirs. Got there at 3pm. 2 hrs travel time. Once we entered CO we had to advance our watches one hr. since AZ does not observe Daylight Savings time.


Therefore we got to the center at 4 PM DST and left for Durango 30 mins later.
Two hours later 6 pm we arrived at the Best Western Rio Grande hotel in the center of Durango. The hotel was really outdated, swimming pool in the center atrium and no restaurant/dining room. Our room was really dark due to dark painted walls and window facing no.
Only positive about this place it is very close to the historic downtown. We have 2 nights here.

We ate the Palace Hotel-recommended by hotel clerk- and the food was good but the service very slow especially considering the dining room was 1/4 full.