Page, Arizona to Bluff, Utah

A longer travel day with two important stops. After a visit to the Carl Hayden Visitor Center at the Glen Canyon Dam we hit the road across the Navajo Nation. First stop was Navajo National Monument. The Monument preserves and protects several incredible Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings. A 1.3-mile walk takes us to an observation site of Betatakin, the remains of a 1270-1300 A.D. community nestled in an alcove under a  high arching rock cliff.

The other major stop for the day was scenic Monument Valley Tribal Park straddling the Utah, Arizona border. The buttes, mesas and spires appear familiar to movie and television viewers. Photography opportunities abound. We’re amused at the enthusiasm of a bus load of Japanese tourists as they pose with abandoned gusto.