2019 four corners - part 4, Utah: first look at Monument Valley - Travel With Us

You know how you’ve heard of places but don’t know anything about them? That’s what Monument Valley was to me—but not to Barney! I assumed that this area was a national park, but he knew it was the location of movies he had loved from his childhood and that I had seen bits and pieces of. The reality is that Monument Valley is located in the heart of the Navajo Nation just inside Utah from Arizona in the middle part of the state.

In this post we’ll share with you the movies filmed here; some of the views of the mountains that we loved (including some sunsets); our campsite, some great neighbors, and a happy ending; and finally a local who helped us out.

In the next posts, we’ll show you some of the drives we took and the scenery they provided, history of the area, and the couple who put Monument Valley on the map for us and why.

movies

While we’ll show you more about the movies filmed here (including Forest Gump) and how producers and directors started coming here, we first wanted to show you a list of movies that call this area home.

views of the monoliths and pinnacles

Our sunsets were amazing. Campers who had been inside their rigs or outside talking with family came to the edge of the campground to take pictures, even though we knew we could never capture the beauty we were seeing. No, I don’t have any pictures of sunrises.

campsite

We stayed at a KOA campground, which is usually nicer and more expensive than we choose. But it’s a campground that has been built out of the area and is still pretty primitive even though it has full hookups and space for large rigs. WiFi was spotty, the welcoming spirit of the manager overcame that downside.

Headquarters is a prefab building that works well and has a great laundry room.

This is the view from the headquarters warning us about nasty snakes and insects; we took their warning to heart and didn’t venture out.

A little bit of nature came our way so we used it to decorate our RV. Let me tell you, the ends of the tumbleweed are really sticky! I still may have some on my hat.

neighbors

Roger and Jessica were our great next door neighbors for a couple of nights.

The second night they used their wood to make a fire, and I brought out my marshmallows and collapsible sticks for toasting them. They had the graham crackers and chocolate. Later on we found out that the area had a no-fire policy in effect, but we never saw the signs notifying us. It was a *small* fire.

Rog and Jessica met while in the Coast Guard. While she left to be a mom, he’s 2 years from retirement and the next phase of life. They were driving in a new trailer to their final location in Astoria, Oregon, where Barney’s sister lives. He’ll be a trainer at the Coast Guard station there because they have to train men and women how to navigate the Columbia River as it connects to the Pacific Ocean. We’ve been to this area and that river can get wild when the storms come through.

While staying here, we just had to celebrate National Hot Dog Day.

Our last night we were sandwiched between 2 really large rigs: a big 5th wheel and a long motor home. Our truck and RV combined were shorter than the motor home.

happy campground story

We did have a happy story the last night. In the afternoon, one of the campers found a small puppy hiding under the front porch of the KOA headquarters. He took it into the manager who gave it some water and love. Then he got into his golf cart and drove around trying to find the owners. The puppy had a collar but no identification; he wasn’t afraid of people so we knew he had been well treated.

No one claimed the dog and one couple wanted to adopt him but weren’t able to because of how they were traveling.

That night the large motor home drove in and the couple and their middle school age son joined in the conversation just outside of our RV. Long story short, the son and the mom in this new family wanted the puppy and the dad gave in. They already have 2 dogs at home, and she has a dog grooming business.

We knocked on their door the next morning before we left to make sure they made it through the night okay, and they were happy campers. The puppy slept with the boy all night and didn’t have an accident. Isn’t that a great end to the story?

helpful local

Before starting out one morning, we had to get gas first. At the gas station we both heard a sound from the location of a tire. Yes, it was going flat. We made it back to the campground (just 1 mile away) and checked with the office about a recommendation for fixing the tire. We called the repair placed and said we were coming, Barney put on the spare (luckily he had bought a full-size tire to use as a spare), and we took off on a main road, a dirt road, and then a very narrow and bumpy dirt road to the repair shop.