Great escapes: Monument Valley

Monument Valley is one place to go for some extra room. There’s a whole lot of space there, marked out for viewing by the rocky monuments that are the source of its name. In America a favorite collective title for places like this is “the wide-open spaces.”

Considering that any kind of space is still space, there is an unmistakable conviction for most of us that some spaces are special and sacred. This space, the Four Corners area of the U.S — where Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico meet — seems to be one of them for many people.

For a creative person, space can be the beginning of making something new. It should probably not be surprising, then, that out in the “wide open spaces” are such phenomena as Sedona, Arizona, home of a disproportionate number of creative people, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, which contains an astonishing number of galleries and cultural venues for its size.

One pleasant fact: while life offers few free things, the wide-open spaces are generally pretty free of charge. Beaches and wildernesses abound, all over the earth. There’s really a lot of room.

Just for contrast, a traveler to the Monument Valley area might go first to the cliff dwellings at nearby Mesa Verde to experience the snug feeling of living in little (probably dark) spaces. And then go see Monument Valley for the feeling that there is no space big enough to contain you.

Which I understand is closer to the truth. But even if it were not true, just thinking so would be refreshing.

For more about Monument Valley and Mesa Verde:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_Valley

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesa_Verde_National_Park