Day 5 - Monday 27 July 2009 - Grand Canyon to Monument Valley

Our tour guide, Dean Cognito, tells us that "Altitude is our friend!" meaning that the higher above sea level we are, the cooler it will be. So today is a relatively cool day because we're staying at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon at 7,000 feet above sea level. We spent a leisurely morning sightseeing at the Canyon and a couple of us took a helicopter ride into the Canyon for a bird's eye view of this spectacular natural wonder.







Leaving the Grand Canyon we headed west and stopped off at the Cameron Trading Post selling craft items made by the local Navajo Indians and on to our lunch stop at Denny's overlooking the Powell dam.



After lunch we headed off towards another amazing natural phenomenon, Monument Valley, which is most familiar as the backdrop to hundreds of Western films, most notably starring John Wayne.



Then a short ride to our stopover at the Hat Rock Inn in Mexican Hat. The name derives from a rock formation that looks like a Mexican hat - surprise, surprise!