Lodging Monument Valley

Quarai and the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument New Mexico

I’d never heard of Abo, Gran Quivira or Quarai when we visited New Mexico during a recent blustery May, and I wasn’t inclined to make that lonesome detour up the 55 to Estancia Basin that lies east and southish of the Manzano Mountains.

Dark green and low on the horizon, the Manzanos form a welcome barrier separating broad grassy plains the color of sand, and juniper-studded mesas, from Albuquerque’s urban dysfunction.

Leaving Billy the Kid’s Lincoln County in the side-view mirror, we barreled north toward those mountains and the Turquoise Trail, but as things go in this life of mine, I succumbed to a bad case of curiosity that flares up now and then like that itchy red rash I picked up off a toilet seat at the Lonesome Steer Grill and Swill outside Truth or Consequentials.

I blame that rash on my last minute left-hand turn off the main highway, and let the power of the unknown lure me to the flat horizon and around the next bend, and the next, and all the other bends in life that demand exploring. Reason dictated: If the United States government in its bureaucratic wisdom bestowed national monument status on anything it’s probably worth a look.

Turns out my hunch paid off, eventually, and the National Park Service spent our money well, this time around.

Late afternoon with the bright sun in and out of our eyes, we navigated sharp left and right turns through the countryside, large swaths of public land and sprawling ranches devoid of people with few cattle in sight; big, dry, open country that rolls on forever every-which-way. Short tree-shadows keeping pace with the setting sun, growing long across tan fields, the juniper scattered in patches, then densely clustered as we drew closer to the Salinas Valley.

Sparsely populated now, this land once sustained a thriving civilization with roots dating back at least 6,000 years. Ancestral Puebloan Indians (Anasazi) evolved in to a complex society, relatively speaking, of hunters and gatherers and farmers. By the 1600s, when the Spanish shoved their way into the New Mexico region and claimed it as their own, as many as 10,000 inhabited the greater Salinas Valley. Commercially vibrant, the ancient people and pueblos were strategically located along major trade routes that connected villages along the Rio Grande to the west, with eastern plains tribes who in time became a bloody-thirsty nemesis. Cotton products, squash, salt, beans and pinion nuts were traded for coveted shells, hides, flints and dried buffalo meat. All this commercial activity was conducted in part from the comfort of sprawling stone and mud, multi-storied, apartment complexes boasting hundreds of rooms with flat roofs and shared walls.

The View Hotel: Monument Valley Hotel | kids can travel

The View is the top hotel in Monument Valley but it's hardly luxurious. Location, vistas and eco awareness are its main features. The View Hotel is the only lodging within Monument Valley Tribal Park. It sits at the trailhead of the park's one unescorted hiking path. All guest rooms have a view. The hotel's eco-friendly policies were laid down at construction and are very much in practice. The simple rooms are comfortable and clean.

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