GETTING
AWAY
The View
By Sam Lowe
It’s easy to slip into redundancy when discussing
the new resort that recently opened 
here because
both The View and the view from The View are
spectacular.
The View is unique. It’s the first resort hotel
ever constructed on Navajo Tribal Park land.
It was funded by the Navajo Nation, the crews
that built it were 90 percent Native American,
and ARTSCO, the lessee contracted by the Navajo
Parks and Recreation Department to operate the
facility, is a family venture that is 100 percent
Navajo owned.
But there's something else that makes it equally
attractive:
Every one of the 96 rooms will be exposed to
some of Arizona’s most notable icons – the towering
formations of Monument Valley. Ninety of the
rooms face east so they look directly out at
West Mitten Butte, Merrick Butte and East Mitten
Butte as they loom in the immediate foreground.
Then, off to the right, Elephant Butte stands
as a giant keeper of the silence. And to the
left, across the Utah border less than a mile
away, an unnamed mesa rises to meet the sky.
Those two formations create a gigantic gateway
that funnels every eye toward the huge red sandstone
monoliths as they jut from the floor of the Great
Basin Desert.
The other six rooms face west so they open to
vistas dominated by Mitchell Butte and Gray Whiskers,
both spectacular in the daytime, both magnificent
at sunset.
Each room has a private balcony so guests can
stand outside and gaze into an endless stretch
of red earth and azure sky. Or look below where
tourist vehicles resemble brightly-colored insects
crawling along the Valley Drive, a gravel road
that wends its way through the park. And, because
the sunsets are so magnificent, the View’s designers
created “sunset balconies” along the west side
where guests can watch as the last rays of the
day change the formations from red to ocher,
then to purple.
The hotel stands three stories high and stretches
more than 100 yards from north to south. It was
designed to be environmentally friendly and features
a low contour that conforms to the mesa it sits
on so it doesn’t disturb the scenery.
Each room offers flat-screen television, Internet
hookups, and access to an exercise room and six
hot tubs. The room décor includes Native American
art and large Navajo weavings. The lobby rises
two stories and is designed to accommodate an
expected 100,000 non-guest visitors every year.
The resort also contains three conference rooms,
capable of handling up to 30 people in each.
An enclosed bridge takes guests from the lobby
to the View Restaurant, which seats 216 and features
traditional American fare with a Native American
flair. A smaller express cafe serves a limited
menu to about 90 patrons. The complex also includes
a gift shop and a new visitor center.
Photo courtesy of the View Hotel
If you go:
The View
435-727-5556
monumentvalleyview.com
The View is located at the entrance of Monument
Valley Tribal Park. To get there, take U.S. Highway
163 north out of Kayenta, cross the border into
Utah, then turn east on a paved road just past
a complex of new buildings and directly across
the road from a sign advertising Gouldings Trading
Post.
