The Best 5am Wake Up Call

Day 11; Monument Valley & Mesa Verde NP; 13th July


I've mentioned it before, & I will say it again...
I am not a morning person.
Today, however, was the exception.

I will gladly be woken up at 5am every morning, as long as its in Monument Valley.

Everyone survived the night & we were woken up by Ronnie at 5am to drive to a special viewing spot to watch the sunrise. 
We clambered back into the jeep, in my sleeping bag obv, and drove towards the totem poles.
Another tour group were there too to watch the sunrise with us; pffft, suppose thats ok.

We got comfy and I set up my GoPro to capture the whole thing.
As the sun started to rise, some of the Navajo guides played different instruments and songs as their way to encourage & call upon the sun


There were some clouds so the sunrise wasn't 100% clear but the change in light and colours over the valley was beautiful!
The sun was rising directly through the Totem Poles which was amazing. 
I could have sat there all day and watched it rise, but we had places to be.
We made our final jeep drive back through the valley towards the visitors centre where Adrian was waiting for us with Griffin. 
So many people probably come to Monument Valley, just go to the visitors centre, stand at the viewing point taking a good few hundred pictures and maybe drive around the valley on the few public roads then leave. When we watched the sunrise it was amazing to think how few people actually get to experience what we had in that last 12 hours with the Navajos. The whole experience is one of my favourite things from the entire trip and & definitely appreciate how fortunate I am to have done those things. 
Mother Earth is super cool. 



We drove to the campsite to pick up Sofia & Nicola and then made our way to a fun stop just up the road ....
The point where Forest Gump stops running!
Wow, I know right. 

The spot where Forest Gump stopped running
Another day, another new state. Goodbye Utah .... hello Colorado!
It was time for another food shop, & this one tickled me.
Walking around Walmart trying to find the food on our list & Alan approaches me
"Excuse me, where can I find the ...."
He stops and looks at me and then starts laughing, so I start laughing, not 100% sure why we're laughing.
"I thought you worked at Walmart" 
Hilarious!! Thanks Alan
We've been together on this trip for 10 days and you forget who I am in Walmart. 

Tucking into our freshly bought roasts chicken & salad we enjoyed lunch outside of the visitors centre at Mesa Verde NP.
It was very hot, as per.
On our drive up to the start of the trail, we were told it was a 'short' hike, nothing too strenuous.
Well, i've never clambered over so many rocks and squeezed through little gaps in my life, and it wasn't exactly short either. 
I was literally dripping by the end! 
The views were worth it though I guess ....


Mesa Verde National Park



We were staying in Durango so had to drive for a bit before reaching our campsite. 
Setting up camp and it was time for another of Matt & Alan's vlogs;
"How not to put up a tent"
Alan still had a bad shoulder so it was a struggle putting up the tent! 
Today was also the day Alan learnt how to say my name correctly, you know now he knows who I am and knows I don't work in Walmart. 
I even, being a top friend, helped Alan take his top off.
Not like that ;) 
His shoulder was hurting and Matt refused so I stepped up to the plate and helped a brother out.
I would regret this tomorrow when he starts spreading rumours at the dinner table in Santa Fe!


A friendly beer-chugging contest later and it was time for group 1 to crack on with cooking dinner; chilli. Meanwhile I cracked on with drinking lots of cider; all the cider in fact. 
I eventually ran out and had to resort to one of Emily's ale's. Gross.
Dinner was yummy & then most of us spent the night round the fire, and as usual me Emily, Joe & Colin were the last up. 
Joe went off to piss in the bush at one point 
"We can still see you Joe, you're stood in the light"
"Oh hahaha (that laugh)"
One of these nights we're going to get have an early one. Ha!

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