Friday, November 26, 2010

Escaping the Arctic Blast @ Monument Valley

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Sunrise at Monument Valley, taken from our hotel room's balcony
When we left San Diego last Saturday for a much needed week of R and R, Monument Valley was not in our itinerary at all. It was supposed to be San Diego- Zion National Park @ Kolob Canyon- Moab (Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park)-Zion-Las Vegas( for Cirque du Solei and Black Canyon of the Colorado River in Lake Mead)-San Diego. Tes, of The Craftista and also one of the authors of The Salitype Society, was supposed to join us in Moab for Monday and Tuesday, then, we separate when we go back to Zion, while they go to Bryce Canyon National Park. However, it seemed Mother Nature has another plan. 
Two days before we left for the trip, there was a forecast of snowstorm in North Zion. Instead of going to Kolob Canyon, we decided to take East Zion @ Mt. Carmel Junction to escape the wrath of the snowstorm while on the road. It turned out to be a good decision for us when we saw in the local news later that night the many cars which skidded on the road and therefore had been stranded in the middle of snow storm. That kind of stress was the last thing we wanted on a vacation. Thankfully, I was able to see from the weather map at weather.com a route that would escape the snow storm while on the road. That meant driving South East first before going North to Moab. This route brought us to Monument Valley. Also, because of snow storm  on Monday, Tes and Doods did not make it to Moab for safety. Instead, we decided to meet at Monument Valley on Tuesday, a place which is closer to the place of Tes' sister. It was such a joyful meeting.  
I (left) and Tes (right) at The View Hotel's Guest's Lobby
This was how the sky looked like when we started exploring Monument Valley.
The clouds promise a beautiful sunset, and I was hoping the sky will not frustrate us since I wanted to show off to Tes one of the spectacular desert sceneries of the Southwest at sunset. Thankfully, the sky cooperated and put on a show for us to have a blast taking photos at sunset at Monument Valley.
looking East at sunset, Monument Valley (notice it is the same landscape, only the colors of the sky changed)
still looking East, sunset
looking West @ sunset, Monument Valley
still looking West @ sunset, Monument Valley
The rooms at The View Hotel all had beautiful views. Here are some more pictures at sunrise from our room's balcony (in addition to the very first photo above).

Sunrise @ Monument Valley- view from hotel's room
sunrise, Monument Valley
Until of course, it was time for us to leave Monument Valley to escape again the path of snow storm which started to roll in when we left.
storm rolling in at Monument Valley
After a while, on our way to Page, Arizona to meet Ted and Doods again, the snow which we had been trying to escape for days caught on us.
snow poured in as we left  Monument Valley
snow covered road, thankfully, no thick accumulation yet when we passed this
Thankfully, when we reached Page, though overcast, but there was no snow. We felt successful again in escaping another snow storm. But have we escaped the Arctic blast because we escaped snow? Truth is, we woke up the next day at -5 Fahrenheit temperature, and we finished the two bottled water we brought inside our room, when we took bottled water to drink from our car, they were all FROZEN! The warm pictures of the desert at Monument Valley does not really tell the whole story behind the subfreezing temperatures.
♥♥
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22 comments:

  1. so you guys didn't manage to escape from Arctic blast?

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  2. Wow..Betchai, I'm glad you didn't get caught in the snow storm, and still got a chance to meet up with Tes.

    Beautiful photos before the snow storm..

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  3. Such an adventurous trip which I would never hope to have, especially to be stranded in the middle of a traffic.

    But it is very interesting to read, instead.

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  4. What an adventure! Your Monument Valley pictures are truly beautiful. Looks like you all had a wonderful time.

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  5. Glad that you and Tess had a chance to meet up again. What a big difference the warm and cool sunrise/sunset shots from the icy road.

    This the next route we will undertake hopefully in the early FALL or late summer next year.

    Happy Thanksgiving Bets!

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  6. Wow, your photos are GORGEOUS!!!

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  7. Now, how did you get those clouds to line up like rays emanating from the towers!?

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  8. i'm glad you escaped the snowstorm, Beth. beautiful photos esp. the one with you and Tes. :)

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  9. Glad you were okay passing that blizzard. James and I had some scary moments the other day! But we're okay.

    Another beautiful set of photographs, Betchai. Thanks for dropping by my blog. :)

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  10. The pictures of the sky in Monument Valley never disappoints. I am glad to hear you had a pleasant vacation and weren't stuck in traffic or in a snowstorm.

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  11. I'm with you and would have avoided the snow storm at all costs. Though snow makes some beautiful pictures it certainly is not what I would call a stress free vacation either. Looks like you all had a great time.

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  12. The sunset view is spectacular! Usually this happened before and after bad weather.

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  13. this post made me teary eyed....watching the photos of the awesome sky that you and Tes viewed there feels magical...it makes me realize all the more that the world is huge but not to souls connected by the love for nature...and genuine friendship...in my dreams i continue walking earth with you wonderwoman...i really wish to someday be in one photo with you too...love yah and Tesya much!

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  14. What beautiful sunset photos. Glad you didn't get bad snow.

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  15. Lucky for both of you to avoid the storm, and got to meet a fellow blogging friend.

    Gorgeous photos!

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  16. Hi, beautiful pictures.. colors are great.. i really liked..

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  17. Oh my, Beth, for some reason, I have not had the chance to check on blogger friends for a long while. I was writing a blog about our meeting, when I pulled up your blog page to link it with my post, and...voila! I saw this post about Monument Valley and our get-together! I guess we really are like-minded in many ways cause when I read your post about our meeting, it was almost like mine. I am excited to complete my post because of some of the cute (and funny) photos of you (and us). Hehe.

    Doods and I had a lovely time with you and Khai! I will not tire of saying, thank you for inviting us. Khai is so fortunate to have a "walking navigator" -you! Teehee. I have so much to learn from you in terms of making an itinerary -so well-thought-off and very organized. Kudos for that, Beth!

    Can't wait to see you again and our TSS sisters in a couple of weeks! Doods and I are excited to explore beautiful San Diego! I keep going over your photos and blog posts about San Diego.

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  18. Breathtaking photos of those wide open spaces.

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  19. Great information! I’ve been looking for something like this for a while now. Thanks!

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  20. Gorgeous sunsets Betchai, and how nice that you and Tes had the opportunity to meet up

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  21. Keep posting stuff like this i really like it

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  22. Beneficial info and excellent design you got here! I want to thank you for sharing your ideas and putting the time into the stuff you publish! Great work!

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THANK YOU SO MUCH!!