ThePassportPrincess

Today we left the Grand Canyon nice and early just before 8am to head to Durango.
(Check out the map below for where I’m at)

It was a pretty long day of driving and stopping as we stopped off in Monument Valley and took lots of pictures.
If no one knows where Monument Valley is, it’s located on the Arizona-Utah state line and it means ‘valley of the rocks’
That’s basically what it is as well.
Clusters of large sandstone hills with flat tops that you’ve probably seen pictures of before.
As it’s in the desert, Monument Valley gets pretty cold winters and hot summers. When we were there it was very hot!We stopped off on a road which is meant to be one of the most impressive roads on the Northern Route through Utah to Monument Valley. It was used as the location in the movie ‘Forrest Gump’ where Forrest ended his cross country run.
We all got photos on the road with the monuments in the background. It was hard though as it was a main road and there were lots of cars driving through. I’m sure they were annoyed that a whole bunch of Contiki people were standing in the middle trying to get an ‘American Photo’ with the flag!

On our stop, we also visited the ‘Forrest Gump Point’ where Forrest stopped running in the movie.

Once we’d all taken plenty of photos, we hopped back on the bus to continue our journey to Durango, Colorado.
Just before 4pm we arrived and looked out the windows at this cozy little town. I’d never put much research into Durango before I arrived but I’d describe it as one of those cute towns you see in the movies where everyone may know each other.
In 2010, according to Google. There were around 16,887 people living here.
It’s nestled in the Animas River Valley which makes the town popular for whitewater rafting, kayaking and canoeing. It’s the place you want to go to if you love hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, hunting, off-roading and fishing.
As you drive down the Main Avenue, you’re greeted with clothing boutiques, gift shops, bars, lounges and restaurants. Like I said – cute.

When we got to the ‘Travel Lodge’ where we were staying, Ashley and I went down to the liquor store and bought some alcohol before we all went out for dinner. Our Tour Leader told us before we arrived that everyone in Durango knows when a Contiki Group is here. Maybe we just stand out or something…
When Ashley and I went down the road, we had a few people yell out of their cars “Hey Contiki Girls!!” so I guess he was right.

When everyone had gotten dressed and the girls had made themselves a bit more glam, our bus driver Ricky drove us all down to a restaurant for dinner, I ordered some beef and bean mix with salsa type stuff on a flat bread which was good but not amazing.
After our dinner and a couple of drinks, we all headed down the road to this small club called ‘Moes’ which is the regular Contiki Bar.

The rest of the night was filled with far too many drinks and shots. I even did the ole’ Belly shot and felt like I was on Spring Break. Haha!
My phone however died so I have no pictures from last night!
Maybe next time 🙂

Xxx