Monument Valley

A few years ago on a return trip from San Francisco, my flight went over this beautiful grouping of rock formations... when I fly, I am like a kid in that I want window seats and my face is pressed to the glass looking to see what all can be seen.

I'm not sure why this area "spoke" to me, but it did... and I've been drawn to it ever since. Even as a kid, when I would watch the old John Wayne westerns... and see these rock formations, I wanted to go... I just hadn't connected to them yet...


These are sand stone shapes that have been eroded away over millions of years.. according to much of what I've read about them... but after having seen them, they look more as if they were shoved up from the ground... they have this appearance of being extruded...



The formations above are called "The Mittens"... they appear to be hands reaching upward from the floor of the valley... These are probably the most recognized shapes from Monument Valley, although I was quite taken with all of them... I'n not sure I had a favorite site within the valley...


I am on some kind of a spiritual journey... there is something I am trying to learn... or need to learn... about myself... I believe the answers to what I am looking for could be anywhere...


Possibly at the Grand Canyon... or in the throes of passion while in the arms of a fantastic lover...


I've been journalling ever since the day my Dad had his stroke... My Dad's Death Journal turned into my Divorce Journal and then morphed into my Spiritual Journey Journal... I'm not sure where I am heading... but its much like that definition that one has heard of pornography or what is deemed to be obscene...


In 1964, Judge Potter Stewart, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, said... "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced . . . but I know it when I see it . . . "


So maybe that's how I will know when I've finished this journey... maybe we never finish them... maybe we just get tired and pull over when we get tired... and find a comfortable spot... and spend the rest of our time there...


I've told the kids... that when I die... I want to be cremated... and taken into Monument Valley... and have my ashes scattered at the base of one of the Mittens... or maybe even at the base of "Merrick's Butte." This formation is the one often seen in photos that is between the two Mittens... its named for a prospector who was caught by Indians and killed... at least he had a beautiful place to die... as frightful as it must have been!


Or... maybe my ashes can be incorporated into some kind of vulcanized process... and can end up in a dildo... that could be an interesting way to spend Eternity... No??



If you've seen "Forrest Gump," you've seen the above location... this is in Utah looking south into Arizona... This is all located on Navajo Land... I'm about to have a great deal of time off... one of the perks that comes with teaching in a university system... I am feeling this urge to head Westward... so if the weather cooperates, maybe I will see Monument Valley again in a few weeks... or maybe Sedona... I hear its something to see...
I wish I knew where I was going... spiritually, that is... but if we knew, maybe we wouldn't take such wonderful journeys...