ASTRAY PHOTOGRAPHY

View Original

// Roaming the desert // AZ | UT

Well, while we’re all stuck at home, we decided to pull a few from the archives from our old road trip out to Monument Valley/Zion National Park. Counting down the days till we can get back out here and explore. Stay adventurous!


The straight road leading the massive arches always had us craving to visit this place, then again who hasn’t? The earliest people to mark the area were the Anasazi, who settled in this beautiful desert scenery in around 1200 BCE. The art and building structures they created still stand today. We hit the road, as usual, at 3am to catch sunrise peaking over the empty road as we passed through Arizona, after breakfast in a small, random random Yuba city we continued our journey with a few hours left to go. Utah said it best,” part of part of Monument Valley’s charm is its remoteness, about 60 miles west of the zero-dimensional Utah–New Mexico border on Highway 163.”

Monument Valley is a window into the Navajo culture, we got to see their history, their way of life, close up and eat at the only Navajo restaurant on the reservation, glaring out over the valley. Upon stumbling in and setting up our tent, on a very windy and later on in the afternoon, rainy day we explored all there was to see in the 14 mile stretch. We got comfy, played a few board games, and hit the sleeping bag to awake to snow covering our tent. With frozen fingers and longing for a warm shower, we loaded up the car and were off to the next location on our trip. Sedona.

They don’t call Sedona Red Rock Country for nothing. The massive colored rocks dart up meeting the blue skies creating one of the most beautiful contrast scenes we have ever seen. It’s one of the reasons we continue coming back here year after year.