Head To St. Louis, Turn Left: Day Ten - Part 2 Monument Valley

And now we are off to dinner at Goulding's Lodge and Dining Room. It is a short drive from the campground. The only problem is that the dust storm is still going on. It's blowing across the road and through the air. If you've ever had your teeth cleaned and feel a bit of grit in your mouth, it's the same feeling as being in a dust storm. You'll also find sand in your hair, shoes, and clothing.

The lodge sits on a hill and has a gift shop, museum, restaurant, and movie theater. The one really cool building there is John Wayne's cabin. He didn't stay in it, but it was used in filming "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon." Now it's filled with items from the movie and has pictures from filming inside.

We went to dinner and enjoyed a great steak dinner. We've been followed by two bus loads of Japanese tourists and they also enjoyed the dinner. It was fun to hear the menu and drink options in Japanese and English. Some words are the same in both languages.

After dinner, we visited the gift shop. Found the perfect t-shirt. It's a "dyed in the dirt shirt" and was a deep orange. The front features a small logo of Monument Valley. The back features the road into Monument Valley with the words "GUMP SHIRT - and one day I just stopped running." Saw it and immediately thought - Jen-nay! Didn't take a picture of it, but I've worn it since.

It is also the place that vertigo struck again. There was a strange tread pattern on the stairs up and down into the gift shop. Had the worst feeling I would fall down the stairs. David grabbed me and I sort of went up and down the stairs with eyes open and then closed. It passed once we got away from the stairs. Very strange.

At 8:00 p.m. each night, they show a John Wayne movie. Being a John Wayne fan, I had to see it. The movie being shown this day was "Stagecoach." They feature movies he filmed in Monument Valley. There were about 20 people watching the movie this night. It was funny to see how many times the riders in the stagecoach circled Monument Valley while they were supposed to being going to a nearby town. Still it was vintage John Wayne.

We got back to the campground about 10:00 p.m. The wind had died down and the dust was settling. The stars were out and gorgeous. There is little artificial light there, so it was easy to see the stars. GORGEOUS!

Here is a picture of a camper in the campground. We saw it on the way to dinner. More about it in the next post!