We are making a quick pass thru Monument Valley. We managed an early start to the day to cover the 140 miles to Monument Valley in time for Dang, Jeap, and Noi to do a Jeep tour of the valley. Ron and Ton stayed behind as the women decided Ron’s ribs were not up to a rough road.
On the way in we swung thru Gooseneck State Park which is a famous place where the San Juan river makes several 90 degree turns in a short area.
The tour was a great success and lots of pictures were taken. The guide was a Navajo women named Hope which was interesting as almost every other guide is male. She brought a different experience to the tour.
After the tour we were sitting on a balcony in the visitors center waiting for sunset, when a couple of small birds landed in a bush in front of us. Dang said that they were sparrows, and Ron with great confidence told her it was not a sparrow. About the same time a Navajo sitting next to us said that it was not a sparrow. He had been there for a few minutes doing pencil drawings of the valley. After a couple of minutes of looking at the birds I saw him take out his phone and open a bird app. After a couple of minutes he smiled looked up and said it is a sparrow, a Barrel Sparrow to be exact. Chock one up to Dang and Thailand over an American and a native living in the valley!
Darrin told us he was a guide and asked if he could answer any questions. We spent an hour or so talking to him about the Navajo, Monument Valley, and the surrounding area. He was a fountain of knowledge and clearly incredibly proud of his tribe, and heritage. On top of that his sister is a graduate of Oregon State living in Eugene with her husband a graduate of University of Oregon, so as he said his nephews are platypuses. For non-Oregonians that means a product of parents of the two universities whose mascots are the ducks and the beavers.