Today is a day of putting my car to the test. A Honda Prelude takes on a 14-mile desert off road course. It was the Monument Valley tour. See, you can either hire a tour guide and ride the jeep, or just drive your car onto the beat up road and hope you don’t have to call for help. My Prelude handled it like a piece of cake, over taking those pretenders and off-road wannabies like cross overs and the terrified family sedans.
So how was the valley? Well, it was the valley, big ass plugs that stood there to be seen. Yes it was big and grand, but somehow, it just wasn’t as impressive as how I expected it to be. I don’t know why. May be it’s because along the 14 mile restricted road was peppered by Indian craft stands and house rides. May be it’s the awkward porter potties that stood along with the natural monuments like as if they have equal right and appropriateness to be there. It felt a bit like…. A circus.
At the visitor center was some history of the Navajo Nation. One of the displays basically listed some stats of the Navajo Nation demographics. It basically said something along the line of “we are poor, but we are strong and proud of our culture”. Culture? What I saw was nothing but Indian arts and crafts stands. The only business I have seen so far along the trip, other than the arts and craft stands are hotels and gas stations. Of course, there’s the farming and ranching, but there’s awfully few opportunities given the way they life their lifestyle. Sure, they have the right to retain their traditional lifestyles which is very important. Sure it is not exactly appropriate to judge them using the standard measures of modern society to determine the quality of life ( not everything can be translated into numbers), but it is also a fact that high unemployment, lack of education and resource is a huge problem that pretty much defines the Navajo Nation. I don’t see the native Indian philosophy or culture. What I saw was more like an excuse not to move forward, exploiting nature’s offerings and not establishing a way for future generations to find their future.
The Monument Valley therefore seemed that much less meaningful. Nothing but a bunch of rocks that I had to pay to see.
Talk about big ballzzz...
Any how, we were on the road again heading to Moab where the Arches National Park awaits. As we arrived, we decided to head right to the national park as this will be the only chance to snap some starry night shots. And we did, walked into the pitch-black trail not knowing what’s going to happen. It was more enjoyable than I expected mostly because the walk was simple and the temperature was much more comfortable. The stars were there for us, and the canyon, being in the dark, provided much anticipation for what we were going to see in the day since all I could experience were silhouettes of strange looking objects. I could already feel the rock party that can’t way to start.
"Mexican Hat"
Prelude to Arches. An Arch along the way before we arrived at Moab, just as impressive.
Best of Moab
Arches at night
Few more photos here!!!
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