We drive north out of Phoenix and, in a couple of hours, are passing Flagstaff. Just a wee bit further north, we turn right towards Sunset Crater National Monument where the road leads us right to Wupatki National Monument. This is not our first visit here; it won’t be our last.

On Highway 160 into the Navajo and Hopi Reservations, the stark landscape has a prehistoric beauty that, while visually appealing, seems difficult to tame for comfortable living.

These are the Elephant’s Feet near Tonalea on the Navajo Trail. We are driving northeast.

Looking into the Navajo National Monument and making note that we need to schedule a hike to the Betatakin alcove and ruins (pictured), which is a five-mile round trip. Equally as important but more strenuous is the 17-mile round trip hike to Keet Seel that requires a permit. Camping permits for overnight stays in the area are also available.

It’s 4:00 p.m. as we leave Kayenta, Arizona, and stop for this photo near milepost 398 on Highway 163. Not making great time, but we love the sights, so we’ll get to our destination when we do, and that will be fine.

Monument Valley and some asses come into view as we approach the Utah border here in northern Arizona.

Tomorrow, we’ll enter Monument Valley, but it’s getting late for where we are planning to spend the night, so we need to keep going.

We are peeking into Valley of the Gods here in Utah before checking into the Mexican Hat Lodge.

With so much light of the day still available, we opted to drive up to Bluff, Utah. In addition to Navajo rugs, pottery, and jewelry, the Cow Canyon Trading Post has a restaurant that we ate at the year before while my mother-in-law Jutta was visiting us. We stopped in just for the photo today because the last time we were here, I forgot to snap an image for a reminder of exactly where we sat for a perfectly wonderful dinner at a place that surpassed all of our expectations for being so far off the beaten path.

We had to skip dinner at Cow Canyon for the selfish reason that I was not going to miss having steak here at the Mexican Hat Lodge, which is also known as “Home of the Swinging Steak.” Live music, wandering dogs, coyotes howling in the distance, an occasional car passing by, and a lot of stars here in the Valley of Gods are the perfect companions for a night away from it all.