Saturday, June 18, 2011

Leaving Utah

On whatever day this was (I've completely lost track of time now!), we said farewell to our new bestie, the state of Utah, and headed south to Arizona. The red cliffs of Moab gave way to the vast deserts of the Navajo Nation, the area of southern Utah, Arizona and New Mexico governed by the Navajo Nation Council. 




Along the way, we stopped in the town of Mexican Hat - so named because of the above sombrero-wearing rock formation.


A little baffling, but I guess technically yes, eagles are wireless.

After an hour or two of desert, the cliffs of Monument Valley suddenly loom on the horizon.

You may recognise this landscape from the many John Ford & John Wayne westerns that were filmed here. There are a couple of towns out here where almost every member of their small populations between the 30s and the 70s worked on these films, either as extras or crew.


After soaking up as much as we could handle of the desert ambience (ie, insane heat), we fled to Flagstaff, Arizona, a hip little college town (a little bit like Corvallis, with a bit more California-style hippy-ness thrown in - ie, hacky sack seems quite popular here).

Historic Route 66 passes through town.

The unofficial grilled cheese tour of the West continues apace.

We retired to Rendezvous for whiskey-infused chai teas to digest our dinner and catch up on some correspondence.

I sure am going to miss the cafes of America when I return home.

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