This is primarily a travel blog in which I write about traveling in our motorhome. Our travels have

Nacogdoches, TX, United States
I began this blog as a vehicle for reporting on a 47-day trip made by my wife and me in our motorhome down to the Yucatan Peninsula and back. I continued writing about our post-Yucatan travels and gradually began including non-travel related topics. I often rant about things that piss me off, such as gun violence, fracking, healthcare, education, and anything else that pushes my button. I have a photography gallery on my Smugmug site (http://rbmartiniv.smugmug.com).

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Monument Valley and Mystery Valley

We signed up with a Navajo guide, Derrick, for a 4x4 tour of Monument Valley. You can do a self-driving tour but the Navajo guided tours take you into the backcountry and show you things you wouldn't see on the self-driving tour. Unfortunately, we didn't get to finish the tour because Carol Ann slipped on a slick rock and fell on her head. She got a nasty gash just behind her left eye. Blood was spurting out of a broken artery making it look a lot worse than it was. Blood was running down the side of her head and soaking her shirt.  Derrick got the first aid kit from the truck and we applied a pressure dressing, which Carol Ann kept pressed against the wound. So instead of finishing the tour the guide took us to the Monument Valley Navajo Health Clinic. The clinic is owned and operated by the United Navajo Nation. It was new and very modern. She was seen rather quickly and assessed by a PA (Physician's Assistant). After a nurse cleaned up the wound the doctor came in and put three stitches in her head. The PA, nurse, and doctor were all Navajo and did a super job. Carol Ann is doing fine except it looks like she took a punch in the eye. To say she has a black eye would be minimizing it. The eye is completely encircled by red, blue, and black bruising.

Here are some of the Monument Valley photos I managed to take before the accident. Where possible I have included the name of the monument.

One of the Mittens


The Three Sisters

The Sleeping Dragon


One of the Mittens

Roof of the Big Hogan

The Big Hogan 

A traditional Navajo hogan



The next day we took another Navajo guided tour of Mystery Valley. Mystery Valley is south of Monument Valley. Here are some photos.


A Navajo hogan


The Big Hogan

Roof of the Big Hogan


1 comment :

Bill said...

Yikes... what a scary fall. Thank goodness it wasn't worse.
Really great scenery and pics. We might have to stop there this spring on our way home from our winter stay in Arizona.