Sedona and Monument Valley.

We set off again along the Sedona scenic highway and this time we were able to really appreciate the amazing scenery. The rock is a deep shade of red which has been worn smooth over time. Mae said it reminded her of the scenery in Wyle E. Coyote cartoons. We also passed through a town, which was built in a typical Wild West style. This was clearly a resort built for tourist as none of the surrounding towns bear any resemblance to this. This also seems to be the place where Americans come for a crash course in roundabouts which we have to say most of them fail. We then drove through Oak Creek Canyon where we discovered that you have to pay if you want to stop at the side of the road!! The change in scenery was quite dramatic as we crossed a high bridge over the canyon itself and plunged from the desert like scenery into a forest. We finally arrived in Flagstaff at round midday, where we went into the tourist information only to discover that the Grand Canyon refused to give them any information at all about the national park. However we discovered that Monument Valley was not that far away so we decided we would head up there first before doubling back to the Canyon itself. On the way we made a slight detour to see the sunset volcanic crater and the Wapiti national monument, however we turned back after discovering they wanted $5 each just to drive around the road. About 200 miles later we arrived at Monument Valley which is a vast, almost desert area where the huge rock formations appear to form shapes in a similar way to how we see shapes in clouds. Presumably at one point they were all part of the same formation but gaps have been eroded between them so that now the rock stand alone with shear faces on all sides as if they don't belong to the surrounding area. Since there is no loop in the road it becomes necessary to turn round unless you want to end up in Salt Lake City, this gave us an opportunity discover that although still beautiful the road isn't nearly as impressive going south. We then drove back to the Grand Canyon National park, unfortunately just missing the sunset. As is usual after dark we found the gatekeeper had gone home so we got into the park for free, saving us $25! We drove over to the visitor centre where we found a huge empty car park to sleep in. At this point we were doubly rewarded for coming at night when we discovered that there are almost no lights in the entire park. This mean that you can see the stars in all there glory and far more impressively than anywhere we have been in the UK. We star gazed for about an hour before finally going to sleep at about 10 ready for an early start the next day.