Day 5 Monument Valley and Winslow, Arizona

We can't lie, it was cold without our little space heater!  To be fair, the sleeping part isn't cold at all. We have those nice foam cushions and the foil-lined ones we bought on our trip to Alaska in 2016.  BUT the tent cube was cold in the morning, complete with sparkly ice crystals!!  We just moved a little faster to get our stuff packed up!  


Our goal was to get to Monument Valley when they opened and we got there just at 8.  It is officially called Monument Valley Navajo Park and there is a lodge, restaurant, gift shop, vendor areas, tours, the whole gamut!  We opted to do the drive through tour and we could drive and hop out when we wanted to.  This area was very popular back in the day for filming westerns!  The rock formations were massive and you really just have to experience them, Mittens West and East, Three Sisters, Camel, Elephant, Thumbs Up, Totem Pole, all AMAZING.  It was snowy and icy in many spots yet and some parts were starting to melt so it was muddy. All red, the roads, the off road areas, the rock formations, everything!  We hopped in and out and took tons of pictures.  Some of the vendor areas had vendors setting up and some looked like they weren't going to open today. We could have ridden horses too and that may be something we will have to try sometime in the future.

We finished our big drive loop and decided on a hike around Mitten West and finished up a little over 4 miles.  This formation looked even bigger when hiking around it!  








We wanted to get to Winslow before dark as we had a camp reservation at a nearby state park.  Winslow was featured in a song by the Eagles, "Take it Easy". 

Take it easy, take it easy
Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy
Lighten up while you still can
Don't even try to understand
Just find a place to make your stand
And take it easy

Well, I'm a-standing on a corner
In Winslow, Arizona
Such a fine sight to see
It's a girl, my Lord
In a flat-bed Ford
Slowin' down to take a look at me

We opted to eat in town before heading out since we'd had such a long day, and it was tasty. 



 The camp site was a state park and flat.  You could again see for miles and miles and miles! There were a few campers there, and it was an easy set up--NO SNOW!!  We discovered these last snowy days that if you set your tent up over snow it makes it slippery to walk IN your tent too.  :)

A sign on the bathroom door made me so glad we were winter camping!  And we had electricity so our tent cube stayed much warmer!!  It is so much easier to get ready for bed and get up in the morning when that area is warmer!  



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