4 Parks, 4 States in 4 incredible days!!

We continued to follow Interstate 40, which was also part of historic route 66. A 6hr drive to our next stop (Gallup) we left Texas and drove across New Mexico, passing through some of the route 66 towns along the way. The drive was really different as we passed many small towns and sandy rocky landscape.

 That night we arrived in Gallup and stopped at an RV park. It was a nice place to stop, but unfortunately we discovered that a large container of water in the back had sprung a small leak and we had water all trough the back seats. I was really annoyed at the whole situation and spent most of the evening rearranging our stuff to let everything dry out… not fun, I even missed the sunset Marc was trying to get me to watch.

Day 1: A little bit of a smelly sleep last night with the wet seats but with the heat during the day it should not take to long for it to dry out. We left the RV park and started to drive North towards Moab that was 5hrs away. The drive up through New Mexico was really cool, about 30 min into the drive we entered Navajo Indian reservation. The landscape was really different to anything that we had seen before with no trees only grasses and big rock mountains. The reservation was scattered with little houses and the occasional cow or horse. 

Just before we reached the border between New Mexico and Colorado we decided to stop at a trading post to look at some Indian artwork. We didn't find anything to buy but the owner asked us if we were on our way to Mesa Verde; we had not heard about it before and the owner suggested that we should check it out. We had a bit of time before we needed to be at Moab for the night so decided to stop off at the Mesa Verde National Park on the way.

The drive to Mesa Verde was a little longer then we were expecting as the road into the park curved up and around the mountains. We stopped in at the visitor centre and organised to go on 2 tours of the cliff dwellings of the Pueblo people. It ended up being a really nice place to stop especially by chance.

The first tour was of the Cliff Palace; a large mud brick village built into the cliffs edge. There were multiple buildings with small windows and doors, also large kivas in the ground. It was really interesting to learn about the Pueblo people and what little was known about their culture and architecture. The tour guide was disappointing as he mainly spoke about the same topic over and over again, conservation about the dwellings as they are cracking and moving slowly. The National Parks were trying different methods to keep the historic site in one piece but this was proving more difficult then expected (and on and on and on the guide would go).

 The next tour was of the ‘Balcony house’; this tour was a lot more enjoyable and educational then the first. We had to climb down into the dwellings and then make our way through the little village and then back up through the other side. It was rad as you could see remnants of people in the village with black smoke marks on the ceiling and even a hand print on one of the walls. The reason it was called Balcony house was because one of the little houses had a small balcony, pretty cool for 2000 years ago. We also learnt that the Pueblo people would climb up and down the cliff walls with baskets on their heads and children on their backs, a pretty amazing feat. 

 








After the tour had ended we did not have any more time to see anything else so we continued on our way back to Moab. The rest of the drive was in the dark, we ended up stopping for some dinner at a place called ‘Dove Creek’ not the greatest place to eat, but we had some wedges and wings for dinner which filled a hole. We continued to drive just over an hour before stopping at a rest stop just outside of Moab for the night.

 Day 2: We woke up at the rest stop in the morning to find huge red rock mountains surrounded us; a bit of a surprise especially when we arrived in the dark and could not see anything. Had some breakfast then made our way into Moab, filled up the car with gas, and drove 10 min down the road to ‘Arches National Park’.

The park was unlike anything we had ever seen before, massive red rock mountains that had been eroded away into amazing shapes and arches. During the day we saw; Balanced Rock, Devils garden, and hiked up to the famous delicate arch (amazing)










 We had one final hike for the day (before it got too hot) out to Landscape arch and Double O arch. It was a really long and hard hike, but totally worth it as it was one of the most amazing places we had been. During the hike we met a guy called Courtney who hung out with us while we exchanged stories. Courtney had been ridding around the USA on his dad’s bike sleeping in a hammock on the side of the road… this made sleeping in Hank sound like a luxury RV. On the way back it was getting pretty hot, we even passed a guy who was suffering from heat exposure who was being helped by the park rangers.

After our last big hike Marc and I were pretty tired so we made our way back into Moab for a late lunch, stopping in at the Moab brewery. A nice place to stop, we enjoyed some great food and even better beer.
We left Moab mid afternoon and made our way to Monument Valley for the night (a 3hr drive). Another amazing drive especially as the sun was setting the colour of the red ground, mountains and valleys just glowed.

That evening we made it to the RV Park across the road from Monument Valley, it was a great place to stop, just a bit pricey. Marc cooked us up some dinner, made friends with a local dog and then we crashed out for the night.

Day 3: BIRTHDAY!!! Woke up this morning really early and watched the sun rise on Monument Valley, a great way to start the day.  After breakfast in bed we made our way to see the famous valley.

You had to pay to enter the park, which was not too bad; the best part was being able to drive Hank around to all the sites along the crappy gravel roads, a very bouncy, bumpy experience. The valley was sweet to see, my favourite was the mittens and the three sisters. We were able to take some great photos and I even picked up some local Indian Jewellery. Such a cool place you could see why so many cowboy movies used the location as a set.

 We had finished seeing all of the sights before lunch, so stopped off at an Indian market for a look around before continuing on to the Grand Canyon (another 3.5hrs down the road). Marc found a sweet decorative tomahawk and was stoked with his purchase. We were going to wait around the market for some lunch but we were a little early so decided to stop for lunch in another town on the way. Most of the drive was through the Indian reservation, we ended up stopping in Tuba City for lunch. After visiting another trading post we were told that a small market down the road would be a good place to get some authentic cuisine. At the market and found a couple of food tents, so we bought a couple of different dishes, they were horrible; A dirty water dumpling soup and a burger taco thing… never again.

The rest of the drive was very scenic, it did not take too long before we had arrived at the East entrance of the Grand Canyon. We stopped in for our first look of the canyon, both very excited we got our first look. Boy was it amazing, there was a little bit of cloud around but you could still see into the canyon and just make out the Colorado River down the bottom.

Late afternoon so we kept moving to the other side of the park; we had decided to stay just out side the park in a place called Tusayan for the night in an RV park. For my birthday we picked up some expensive (everything was really pricey as we were so close to the national park) pizza for dinner then took it back to the car to eat. Marc had also surprised me with some champagne and a birthday Danish complete with 28 candles. It was an awesome birthday dinner.

As we were finishing up dinner we started talking to a guy staying at the park. The guy ended up being a famous entrepreneur who helped start ‘Trek America’ and travel writer, Mark Sheehan. We ended up talking for hours, which was awesome; he gave us lots of tips for traveling and inspired us with his life stories. All in all a pretty amazing birthday!

 Day 4: After a little bit of a sleep in we were up and back at the Grand Canyon. We went for another drive stopping at the different viewpoints, taking in the view and snapping some photos. Before leaving the park we contemplated hiking down into the canyon but most of the hikes took the whole day and as it was lunchtime we did not have enough time.

New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona were 4 amazing states that we got to see and will definitely be back again one day to see even more then just the small parts we got to see.