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Monument Valley — three days, two nights cost: $400-$500

• Monument Valley Tribal Park (entry fee is $20 per car, up to four people); www.navajonationparks.org/htm/monumentvalley.htm

• The View Hotel (accessible room with roll-in shower from $150); 435/727-5555, monumentvalleyview.com

• Goulding’s Lodge (lunches from $12); 435/727-3231, www.gouldings.com/dining-room

• Goosenecks State Park (free admission); 435/678-2238, utah.com/goosenecks-state-park

• Valley of the Gods (free admission); utah.com/monument-valley/valley-of-the-gods

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The Moki Dugway — just northwest of the Valley of the Gods — is a staggering, graded dirt switchback road carved into the face of the cliff edge of Cedar Mesa. 

It consists of three miles of steep, unpaved switchbacks that wind 1,200 feet from Cedar Mesa to the valley floor. 

This white knuckle route provides breathtaking views of some of Utah’s most beautiful sites. 

But nothing compares to Monument Valley. 

Poets, priests and great writers of prose have failed to coin words worthy of the spiritual feeling that overtakes every person who gazes upon its majesty.

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Nearby attractions include Goosenecks State Park, a half-hour drive from Monument Valley.

It features a paved road that ends at a scenic overlook with amazing views about 1,000 feet above the winding San Juan River and switchback formations the river carved out of the rocky area. 

Another half hour from Goosenecks is the Valley of the Gods.

A 17-mile dirt and gravel road, passable in a family car when the weather is dry, winds through the valley.

The sandy, bumpy, often steep drive is usually deserted — and that’s a good thing.

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The View, the only hotel on Navajo land, features an accessible room with a patio that opens up to the majestic valley. 

The room, with a roll-in shower and private balcony, starts at $150 per night. There is an on-site restaurant and trading post for supplies.

Local dining options are limited to the restaurant at the View, or the dining room at the famous Goulding’s Lodge just outside the Tribal Park.

Goulding’s barrier-free trading post and grounds are a perfect backdrop for feasting on a menu of Navajo frybread with a side of beef stew, spicy pork green chile or chili con carne.

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Monument Valley is a 30,000-acre Navajo tribal park established in 1958 located on the border of Arizona and Utah within the 16 million-acre Navajo Reservation.

The barrier-free visitor center has clean restrooms, an air-conditioned gift shop and excellent observation areas for breathtaking views of the iconic Mittens and Merrick Butte. 

The visitor center building has a small elevator that takes wheelers up to the second story observation deck.

A 17-mile loop road winds along the valley floor among the rock sentinels that tower 400 to 1,000 feet above. 

The road is raw and unpaved, but that’s a good thing because it slows traffic to a nice leisurely pace.

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Desert solitude and silver screen-worthy rock formations — that’s what drew legendary Western movie director John Ford to Monument Valley. 

The heavenly scenery and fresh air will draw you to the corner of southeastern Utah and northeastern Arizona.

It is especially engaging in late October, when the mercury rarely exceeds 70 degrees — even in this arid desert climate.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEIDI

MY PARTNER IN EVERYTHING HAS GIVEN ME THE JOY 
OF CELEBRATING MORE THAN 30 BIRTHDAYS WITH HER

I have been all over with world with Heidi.

Spain, England, Italy, Mexico, Costa Rica, Canada and far beyond Internationally.

New Orleans, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Moab, Sedona, San Antonio to name just a few Domestic.

Monument Valley Tribal Park and the Big Island of Hawaii count among the all-time favorites for diversity and nature.

Our latest adventure has been closer to home -- within the 33145 Zip Code of Little Havana/Shenandoah.

We have adopted nearly one dozen rescue cats.

Honeybear the Siamese is the star of Heidi's social media accounts. Our sweetheart sleeps on the bed.

Honeybear's Tortie baby prefers to sleep under the stars, but is always close to the door and ready to play with mom when HB goes outside.

Our front of the house colony eats about 10 bowls of food per day.

That colony is headed by Squirt, a tiny, just a couple pounds full grown, ginger cat.

Her mate is Big Boy, a huge Maine Coon with a big, bushy tail.

Adults in the colony include Squirt's brother Jasper and cousin Charlie.

In the past year, Squirt gave birth to four kittens.

Irving is a grey dappled tiger cat.

Dusty is a lighter orange version of mom and dad, with dad's bushy tail.

Another healthy kitten looks like an exact blend of mom and dad, with the slight overall build of Squirt and the huge Maine Coon tail of papa.

The fourth kitten looks more like squirt.

There also is a darker orange friend of the colony.

We have so many, we haven't even been able to keep up with names of all of them.

The last weekend of August, we teamed with Miami-Dade Animal Services to humanely catch four of the cats, including Squirt, to get them spay/neutered.

Squirt is the sweet baby in the two photos with this post.

She loves Aunt Heidi and wishes her a Happy Birthday.

WHEELING THROUGH AMERICA: 10 BARRIER-FREE TREASURES FROM BIG CITIES TO NATIONAL PARKS TO EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN part 3

MONUMENT VALLEY

Monument Valley, with its iconic buttes and mesas, sits on the border of Utah and Arizona, contained wholly within Navajo Tribal lands.

Its cyclopean rock formations -- familiar from myriad car commercials, movies and Marlboro ads -- thrust up from the desert floor with a majestic eternalness that captivates even the most world-weary among us.

Visitors with disabilities can drink in the stark beauty of the Mittens, Merrick Butte and many other formations from the wheelchair-accessible visitor center with its multi-level outdoor observation platforms.

For the red dust under your fingernails experience, tour the valley floor with a Navajo guide.

While wheelers can ride in the wagon caravan being pulled along, a gentler ride can be had in the cab of the pick-up truck next to the guide.

Monument Valley Tribal Park, Monument Valley Utah, 435-727-5874, www.navajonationparks.org/htm/monumentvalley.htm
Navajo backcountry tours, 435-727-3231, www.gouldings.com/english/tours.htm


Tomorrow: Wolf Park