Before we left for the Bernalilio KOA Campground, we took a hike to Church Rock which is in the Navajo Nation.
Arrived at the Bernalilio Campground, set up and went to Kaktus Brewery. This Brewery is at the edge of our campground, has good beer and where we learned ( many years ago) to make Frito Pie.
We were amazed that they had Helles beer. That’s what we mostly drank in Germany.
Very early tomorrow we go to watch the balloon ascension.
Before we left the campground for our next stop, we hiked the White House Ruins trail from the top of the canyon to the bottom. It was a 2.5 roundtrip trail that zigzagged down along the cliff walls.
Fairly easy going down with the switchbacks but coming back up the trail was mostly in the sun with a lot of stops to catch our breath.
We pulled in to tonight’s campsite at Red Rock Park.
Before we left Sand Island Rec Area, we walked the Petroglyph Trail.
We left Sand Island early morning to drive south on Route 191 to Canyon de Chelly. For the past several nights in Utah, we have stayed in the Navajo National lands. Now we will still be in Navajo National land in Arizona.
Our campground for tonight is in the Canyon de Chelly National Monument - no hookups but there is water available and a dump station. We are in among cottonwood trees.
People have lived continuously in Canyon de Chelly for nearly 5,000 years
We drove the southern rim route and stopped at all the lookouts
The above is the floor of the canyon and the bottom photo is the rim it’s all rock.
With our second day at Sand Island, we decided to drive back to Canyon of the Ancients to view a couple Pueblos and Kivas. The first one was Escalante Pueblo, a historic 9 room ancestral Puebloan Village in Colorado. This was the first recorded archaeological site in Colorado. Quite impressive
The Kiva was where the community met for ceremonies. 
Next we drove to see Lowery Pueblo. We were able to walk in and look around.
Tomorrow we keep moving south to another historic site at Chinle.
Before we left Sleeping Bear Campground, we drove to Forest Gump’s famous scene.
It was hard to get a shot without people. Very popular spot.
Drove to our next campsite at Sand Island Rec Area. Nice site along the San Juan. No hookups but clear skies at night to see the Milky Way. The river was high and muddy.
We hiked a short trail to see petroglyphs
With blue skies all around, we finally made it to Monument Valley.
We drove the loop road twice because we didn’t want to miss anything.
When you start the loop road, the first monuments you see are the East and West Mittens Monuments
Elephant Butte is one you really need to use your imagination
Three Sisters Monument
Camel Monument
View of the North Window Overlook
There were vendors at a lot of the stops selling jewelry and other items made by the Navajo.
We bought fry bread at John Ford’s Point where several John Wayne movies were shot.
John Ford’s Point.
The next 2 were taken at Navajo Code Talker Outpost. More on that when we get to the Tribal Center.
The Tribal Center had a museum. The one exhibit that interested us was about the Code Talkers. This exhibit highlighted the legacy of the Din’e Cose Talkers who used their unwritten native language to create an unbreakable military code during World War II. This code was critical to winning the war in the South Pacific.
The exhibit was created in 2001 by students at Wingate High School called “Our Fathers, Our Grandfathers, Our Heroes.”
After lunch at the Tribal Center, we drove to Goosenecks State Park to see the San Juan River meander through tight loops 1,000 ft below the rim.
It was so hard to capture it all. There were 4 loops
Back at camp, we had a fire and watched the sky perfect dark sky spot.
As we left Cottonwood Campground, the clouds and fog were hanging low.
As we got closer to Mexican Hat, blue skies started to appear.
Here’s the famous Mexican Hat rock formation.
We had wanted to boondock in Valley of the Gods but the road was quite rough so we are staying at Sleeping Bear Campground which is a boondocking site near Monument Valley.
We were hoping to go to Monument Valley today but the road was closed because of the rains they’ve had the last 2 days.
Decided to drive to Natural Bridges National Monument.
We took Moki Dugway road which is a gravel road that winds up the mountain with several switchbacks. Yes, that is the road.
Natural Bridges was established in 1908 as Utah’s first national monument to preserve massive, stream-carved sandstone bridges. It’s hard to pick them out unless you know where to look.
From here we drove another dirt road through Valley of the Gods. Glad we didn’t try to bring Belle on these roads. Too many ditches and rocks but beautiful rock formations.
I call this one Santa Claus with his pack
It is so dark here at the campground that we were able to see the Milky Way and lots of stars
Lenny was with us the whole day and didn’t get any naps. He’s so tired he went to sleep with his chewy ball beside him.
