2023 Wall Calendar Takes Me Back To Monument Valley

Last year my 2022 wall calendar's theme was America's National Park. My 2023 wall calendar's theme is Scenes from America's West.

The January 2023 scene was of Quaking Aspens in Sante Fe National Forest in New Mexico.

I have been to New Mexico a number of times. I do not remember being in Santa Fe National Forest. Or seeing any Quaking Aspens.

The February 2023 scene I have seen multiple times.

Monument Valley in Arizona.

If you have watched movies, like Stagecoach, you have had a virtual visit to Monument Valley.

I remember one particular Monument Valley moment. I had been to Disneyland, Christmas of 1994. Then headed west to the Grand Canyon, and beyond, with Moab, Utah the final destination before heading back to Washington.

Driving north, after a stop at the Burger King Navajo Code Talker's Museum in Kayenta, Arizona, what I was seeing through my windshield seemed totally familiar. I pulled to the side of the road, fetched out my van's manual, and there it was, on the cover, the exact scene I was seeing in real life. 

I no longer have that manual, but I think I can find the photo I took of the view through the windshield which matched the manual's cover. I'll be right back, I hope, with that photo...

Found the Monument Valley photos. A lot of them. From two different visits. The above is the scene which matched my van's manual. Monument Valley is in the distance.

And above I am now in Monument Valley, a couple years later, being friendly with a Navajo native.

I used to go on long roadtrips just about every year, sometimes more than once a year. I've not been on a roadtrip since October of 2018.