Today’s Highlights:
Navajo Pizza at Twin Rocks Cafe in Bluff, Utah, driving off-road to see Mexican Hat, making up names for the rocks in Monument Valley, seeing the Grand Canyon!
We got up around 7am and cooked breakfast with the “oldest” food from the cooler, then packed up and said goodbye to Mesa Verde. Instead of taking 160, back we decided to take the “slower” road and drive through Bluff, UT and Monument Valley. In Bluff, we stopped at the Twin Rocks Cafe and ordered two Navajo pizzas for us to share.
The drive then took us past Mexican Hat where we drove off-road to get a closer look. Also along the road, we got to see Valley of the Gods and Monument Valley.
We arrived at the west entrance to the Grand Canyon around 5pm and stopped first at the Desert View Overlook and then three more stops before arriving at the Mather Campground. Our tent site has a terribly warped picnic table, but otherwise is in a nice location near the showers and the HUGE market. At the market, we bought food for dinner and breakfast as well as firewood. Back at the campsite, we worked on getting settled and making dinner, then the girls toasted marshmallows once again.
My Yelp review of the Twin Rocks Cafe.
My Trekaroo review of camping at the Grand Canyon.
Trip Stats:
Roadside Attractions: None. (Total: 10)
States: Arizona, Utah, Colorado. (Total: 9 – GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, CO)
State Plates Spotted: 4 (Total: 45)
Miles: 324 (Total: 3118)
Gallons of gas bought: 16.4 (Total: 204.1)
Poptops Spotted: 2 (Total: 6)
National Park Stamps: None. (Total: 5)
Miles walked: 1.5 (Total: 22)
Dollars saved with NP pass: 25 (Total: 85)
Continental Divide Crossings: None. (Total: 3)
Time Zone Changes: 2 (Total: 6 – EDT, CDT, MST, MDT, CDT, MDT, MST)
[…] Best scenery while driving: back roads around Four Corners in the area of Valley of the Gods and Monument Valley. Amazing view of red and colorful sandstone mesas and rock formations for over an hour of driving. It is kind of like the inverse of the Grand Canyon. Some of the drive is also along the San Juan River, which drains some of the mountains of SW Colorado into Lake Powell from the east. How: From US 160 in Colorado NW of Four Corners, travel Utah and Arizona state roads through the towns of Aneth, Montezuma Creek, Bluff, Mexican Hat, Kayenta. In Bluff, stop at Navajo Pizza at Twin Rocks Cafe. Gwyneth has some photos of the drive posted here. […]