Memorial day road trip, Part 1

This Memorial Day, my family and I joined the masses and took a road trip for the long weekend. After looking into a few different areas, we decided on the Colorado National Monument, just West of Gran Junction in Western Colorado.
Having experienced a couple of National Parks, we were prepared for the crowds that were sure to block our every attempt at solitude. What we found, however, was a delightful surprise. Pulling into the ranger station, we were told that the campground rarely filled up, and that large crowds were pretty unusual here in this park. Thrilled by this news, we began the drive into the park.
As an avid rock climber, I immediately noticed the size and variety of the rock walls that formed the rim of the canyon. This was unlike any place I had seen. Hundreds of feet tall, with the reddish color that we Coloradans have become so familiar with, these rocks stood everywhere. The farther we drove into the park, the louder our “oohs” and “ahhs” became as every corner we turned revealed another majestic view with increasingly large rocks. After a few minutes of driving, we came upon the campground, and turned in its direction.
We decided to see what each loop had to offer before we decided on a space, and so we began the drive around each of the three loops. After going around loops A and B, we entered loop C with no expectation of what we were about to find. After spotting a couple good spots, we turned a corner and discovered the lookout over Monument Valley. Before us stood towers of sandstone that stood alone, hundreds of feet tall like some strange reminder of the giant dinosaurs that once roamed this area.
After we managed to pick our jaws up off the ground, we went back around and set up camp, as near the overlook as we could get, in anticipation of the next mornings sunrise photo-shoot we had planned. Within moments of our arrival in camp, we were greeted by a lizard that managed to show up and entertain us several times throughout the trip. Seeming to have no fear of us, it posed for photos, and did a strange dance for us, providing us with hours of entertainment