Monument Valley: Endless Earth, Infinite Sky

New York Times writer TIMOTHY EGAN captured some of the allure of Monument Valley in this article, which has been syndicated and is now showing up in papers around the country.
He noted that Europeans love this stark landscape and wondered why more Americans don’t visit:

“Monument Valley is full of Europeans, busloads from Italy and Germany and France, trying to experience our Eiffel Tower, our Colosseum. They take pictures of themselves on horseback, posed in front of a mesa that looks to be half the size of St. Peter's Basilica...

“The rare sight was another American. So perhaps Monument Valley, the stranger in our backyard, deserves a second look — or a first...

“Yes, John Wayne slept there. And shot other men on film there. And fell in love there. See: "Stagecoach," the first John Ford western shot in Monument Valley, circa 1939. Or "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," from 1949. Or better yet, "The Searchers," from 1956...

“There were a couple of photo-op bottlenecks on the valley floor, where people clustered at scenic backdrops, or posed on horses. At one point, touring vans pulled into a scenic stop that I had to myself for the last hour or so, John Ford Point. A couple dozen German tourists emerged from the vans, sizing up the landscape, cameras whirring. They seemed to know every scene from Ford's filmography. As the lone Yank at that perch in Monument Valley, I never felt more American.”

Read the entire article.