November 5th, 2022
We had a busy day wrapping up everything we wanted to see while we were staying in Monument Valley. First, we headed east to see Hovenweep National Monument. It ended up being a fantastic area to visit, even though it's a bit off of the beaten path.
It has a great visitor center, and lots of opportunities to hike and explore. Unfortunately, it was pretty chilly, and we weren't wearing the right shoes to do the full loop around the Ancestral Puebloan buildings, but we saw quite a bit of it by doing half of the hike. There are signs pointing everything out, and the canyon is small. So, it was easy to see everything. And Lacey could come with us on the trail, which is rare for a national park.
After we saw most of Hovenweep, we headed northwest to Natural Bridges National Monument. That park is set around three, big bridges of sandstone. If we had more time, we would have hiked down into the canyon to see one or all of them up close and from underneath, but we didn't have the time. We still enjoyed going to each of the overlooks to look down at the bridges from above.
We spent our last evening there enjoying the sunset. One place we saw frequently was Forest Gump Hill, the location where Forest stopped running in the movie. It is a highway, and there are pullouts that are always filled with people. Then, people run out to sit and stand in the middle of the highway to take the iconic picture. It was a bit obnoxious, but we got some great sunset photos there.
Monument Valley, we miss you already!
