The morning after we had breakfast in Lake Powell we turned the music up and headed on a Southern loop toward Monument Valley.

We had made the decision to take a look at the valley on horseback in the early afternoon. There was even a marathon being run that day, which was amazing! As soon as we drove to Monument Valley, it was

With the longer drive we arrived with little time before the horse ride was supposed to begin so we ate lunch in the parking out of the back of the van and then drove over to get on the horses. Taking a horse ride through an area of Monument Valley is definitely a worthwhile thing to do in the area. Even in March it was plenty warm enough.


We had a long morning drive and arrived at Monument Valley in time for a quick lunch out of the back of the van in the parking lot before it was time to meet at the horse stables.

Shortly after 1 pm we set out. Just Laura and I and a guide. It wasn’t very busy that day which turned out all the better for us because we were on our own pace and could speed up as much as we wanted, which was awesome!

Monument Valley has the perfect terrain for horseback riding and the ground provides good purchase under the horses hooves.

Seeing Monument Valley felt to me like walking onto a ginormous movie set. The likes of which is captures in Forrest Gump, Back to the Future III, The Lone Ranger, and old westerns. This is the first time a place has been so surreal. It was a complete privilege to roam these lands, especially knowing that they have been this way for so many years.

As we explored the area, our guide was a wealth of information and told us much about the names of the different rocks and why they were named the names they were. Most of them were for obvious reasons.

In complete awe of this place.

After some face paced riding we stopped for a break to just take in the moment, the smell of the air and clear skies.

After the break was over, it was time to head back toward the stables.

Once we were back and dropped off the horses, we took a scenic drive through the monuments pass and afterward headed over to set up camp.

This was the view from our campsite! It was glorious, I could have sat here all day and night and been conned in this little spot on the hill.

But there was not much sitting as we were starving and wanted to get dinner made.

This was Laura’s recipe with vegetables, potatoes, meat, and spices. We took turns showering and making dinner, and soon we were ready to eat! This was one of my favorite meals of the trip and fun to prepare too.

Trying to get those potatoes cooked, they always take the longest on a campfire!

After dinner, bourbon was the order of the evening. As it was pretty much every evening at least for a night camp. We went to bed early in the evening after all of the running around we’ve been doing.

The next morning we woke to this sunshine and this magnificent view. The perfect start to the day and our next road trip to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. More soon!

This article appeared first on The Cassey Excursion.