Theme: The Navajo Nation's stunning panorama with colossal erosional landmarks mimics a vast Western movie stage set. Remarkably, each monument personifies an engaging effigy rising from the valley floor.

Synopsis: Monument Valley's literary portrayal of one of the most celebrated scenic backdrops in the American Southwest, and possibly the world, invites the reader's imagination to see sculpted lifelike sandstone monuments like no other. Starting with the Mittens, many other classic landmarks follow such as the Three Sisters, Elephant and Camel buttes, Big Chair, Bear and Rabbit, Saddle Rock, King on His Throne, Stagecoach, John Ford's Point, the Totem poles, and Yei Bi Chei. Surrounded by massive-sized landmarks such as Mitchell Mesa, Rain God Mesa, Spearhead, and Thunderbird mesas, these Mesozoic Era (252-66 million years ago) formations are both archetypal and preternatural. Some visitors even claim the entire dreamlike panorama is animate! So be it and welcome to Out West classic scenery at its finest! Located 22 miles north of Kayenta, Arizona, suitably-named Monument Valley shares its vast and peerless boundary with Utah just to the north. Perhaps next to the Grand Canyon, the Valley's mesmerizing backdrop represents the most awe-inspiring erosional remnants in North America. Most assuredly, its representational geologic topography epitomizes the overall Navajo country whose largest land area in the United States (roughly, 27,413 square miles). With hoards of tourists visiting from all over the world, seeing Monument Valley's decorative topography from the veranda of The View hotel, the sweeping panorama of why and how this locality of the Great Basin Desert earned its moniker is easily discernible. Indeed, when driving the 17-mile loop road into the interior, experiencing a closer view of the erosional remnants, one can only imagine the original unbroken template of its much larger plateau formation, all of which was slowly eroded over millions of years. Visually tangible, the mixed variety of tall-standing monuments resulted in broad mesas, square buttes, and tapered hoodoos (i.e., tall, thin spires of rocks).

This informative text describes twelve so-named "Sandstone Sketches" (chapters), each revealing various facets of Monument Valley. For instance, geologic aspects, the Diné (Navajo) and their engrossing history, the vastness of the Colorado Plateau Province, which, in this Four Corners region, includes Monument Valley, as well as a plethora of other regional national parks and monuments (i.e., Arches, Canyonlands, Bears Ears, and the Goosenecks of the San Juan). Naturally, the Valley's geologic downsized landmarks are also narrated in detail. Thus, tourism's lure of Monument Valleys and the adjacent Mystery Valley's meticulously sculpted landscape and grandeur whose prose in this publication is so vivid it makes the reader feel as though on a sightseeing tour.

239 pages 8 X 11 format

Thanks for dropping by. For more about the author's singular life and somewhat adventurous credentials, visit his redesigned website and feel free to contact him (embedded email upper left side). He'll respond. At the near top of the page, there are also lots of videos you might want to listen to and watch.

Dr. Rich and Baxter

Flagstaff, Arizona

https: //www.richholtzin.com