There’s no other word to describe what we were going to see today. After waking up to the sound of the Colorado river flowing past our cabin what better way is there to start the day than catching the sunrise from the restaurant balcony at Red Cliffs Lodge whilst having eggs, bacon and fresh orange juice. It’s true what they say, deserts are cold at night and breakfast on the balcony was a bit nippy, until the sun popped its head over the top of the cliffs to warm the cockles. Back to the frosty car to load up as there was one goal today that had to be met or there would be hell to pay. If we didn’t make it to Forrest Gump Point before sunset, well, doesn’t bear thinking about. The first location today was Canyonlands. The views there are MEGA, that is no exaggeration. Mesa Arch, Green River Overlook, Buck Canyon Overlook, Grand View Point, White Rim Trail. Staggering. The cover photo I used is a panorama of Green River Overlook, gives you a good sense of scale. The other panos I took are just as amazing but I had to make a quick choice or else I’d be here all night deciding. When I put up all of the best photos from the trip you can see them all there. I think I’d be right in saying that Canyonlands was Greg’s favourite place of the whole trip. As we were heading out of the park we stopped at Shafer Canyon Overlook and witnessed a rock fall. It was an almighty sound that the massive boulder made as it came crashing down on the winding Shafer Canyon Road, just missing a 4×4, literally. Road was blocked in both directions and as we headed back to the car traffic jams in both ways on the dirt trail were forming. I couldn’t see how people could be informed that the road was blocked so they were in for a long afternoon. Taking a 4×4 on that dirt trail has now been added to the bucket list. I also forgot to say that looking down on the cars taking the trail from Grand View Point was like looking at ants crossing your patio, we must have been over a 1,000ft up above the trail and the cars were tiny. You only noticed them because of the dust they were kicking up. We had covered most places there in very good time so we headed to Monument Valley with a decent margin of time to play with. Just as well because by late afternoon and many miles of driving we were hungry and thirsty so stopped at a cafe for a bite and a brew. It was fairly obvious to Greg and myself why the establishment was called the Twin Rocks Cafe but it seemed Phil hadn’t noticed the massive rocks towering above us from behind the cafe until we were leaving, “I didn’t see those there” was highly amusing. With most people you’d think they were pulling your leg but over the course of the trip having Phil along was akin to looking after a 7 year old. Endearing 
After leaving dusty Bluff we had to get our skates on to cover the 33 miles to Forrest Gump point. Sunset wasn’t long off so had to get a move on. Well, came up so quick we nearly missed it. Iconic sight. Hopped out of the car, middle of the road, snap, snap, time to go. Monument Valley and John Wayne country next. Actually made it to The View hotel before sunset as well. One thing we didn’t know about before arriving at the hotel is that it’s on an Indian Reservation. Not that that’s an issue but it is if you want to take in the sunset whilst sipping a cold beer. The hotel was dry. Not because it’s in the desert, alcohol dry. So Greg hops in the car to go fetch some from the nearest supermarket, which was about a mile away. Wasn’t any there either. No alcohol on the reservation. Banned. Nearest well was 20 miles away. Oh how we laughed. They did have some alcohol free beers in the restaurant so we played along with those, you wouldn’t know the difference. Much. Sunset was amazing and got an absolute stonker of a picture that doesn’t look real. Again, I will be adding it to the gallery later, deep pinks and purples, looks like Mars. Tomorrow we’ll see the big one.
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