First views of Grand Canyon

We arrived early afternoon and found our room not yet ready so we walked over to the central part of the South Rim at Grand Canyon Village to get our first peek. Al commented that I seemed a little distant. Here we were at our ultimate destination and I seemed almost disinterested. Took me awhile to figure this out! At Bryce, Zion and Mesa Verde I kept saying WOW! I knew little about these places and I was truly in awe. GC??? Well it looked just like I expected!!!! Amazing, beautiful, huge! Just like it was supposed to look! Over the next two full days we walked several miles along the rim in both directions and really gained a great respect for this absolutely amazing wonder!

Hike around Courthouse Butte

We took a wonderful 5 mile hike around this Butte. Part was on a decent trail, some through washes and a portion up and down where we were glad to have our sticks. There were lots of wildflowers and blooming cactus. Thankfully despite Al's terrible spats of back-pain usually worse in the morning we have been able to take some super hikes where he usually has little or no pain.

Blue Mesa Hike

In the middle of Petrified Forest National Park we took a super hike into the Blue Mesa. The trail was excellent despite the steep grade hiking into the grey-blue terrain. You could actually see the Petrified logs emerging from the hillside as well as gullys strewn with large logs and small pieces of log like rocks.

Petrified Forest National Park

We left the tour in Albuquerque and headed for a few days in Sedona. En rte we stopped to see the Petrified Forest National Park. As a child Al's Aunt and Uncle brought him a piece of Petrified Rick from there and he always wanted to visit. It truly is an amazing place. Millions of years ago forests toppled and were covered with mud, sand, lake beds. Over time minerals seeped into the wood and eventually the wood became rock. (Very simple explanation!). We took a 25 mile drive through the park stopping to see amazing views and sites. Newspaper Rock coveted with petroglyphs made thousands of years ago were still easily seen with our binoculars.

Bashas

Bashas is s popular grocery chain in AZ and NM. Our tour director said that they have a positive reputation for locating stores in rural areas, especially Indian Reservations. We stopped at one---it was a typical retail grocery except for selling several popular Native American items. In particular mutton and large sacks of Blue Bird Flour. The flour is used to make Indian fry bread a staple and the key ingredient in Navajo Tacos.

Monument Valley

Our Road Scholar tour bus drove from Cheney to Monument Valley. This area straddles the Utah a
Arizona border and is on Navajo Indian land. We had lunch at a
Place called Goldings--the site of many Western Movies. We went on trucks for a 3hr tour through the valley. Al stayed behind as he did in Canyon de Chelly due to recurrent back problems. In both cases the "road" was poor or nonexistent and both trips were extremely bumpy. At the end of the trip we encountered thunder, lightening, strong wind and heavy rain. The drivers rushed to lower the plastic sides but not before we all got wet.

Petroglyphs and Cliff Houses

At Canyon de Chelly we were taken in vehicles into the canyons to see ancient petroglyphs and Antelope and White House cliff houses. This area is a national monument jointly managed by the National Park Service and the Navajo Tribe.

Canyon de Chelly (aka "shay")

We drove from Mesa Verde through Cortez, Mexican Water and the little town of Many Waters. Our destination was Canyon de Chelly. While you would think the name rhymes with "jelly" it actually is pronounced shay rhyming with "day!"

This unusual pronunciation comes from a Navajo mispronunciation of the Spanish name.

The photos are from iconic Spider Rock.  It is believed that Spiderwoman lives atop this rock.  From the top she spun a web across the canyon to a spire on the other side.  This is the beginning of Navajo weaving, an art for which they are now highly recognized especially in their beautiful rugs.

Navajo or Dine

This is a picture of Ray Coin our RS bus driver.  Ray is not only an experience bus driver but he also has his own tour business as well as leading Road Scholar trips.  We enjoyed him very much.  He is a Hopi, not a Navajo.  Nevertheless we asked him to explain the following cartoon which we saw in the Navajo Times.  Ray explained that the Navajo have always called themselves Dine (pronounced dineh) and the name Navajo come from what others called them.  Now among the 350,000 members of the tribe, there is some discussion aka controversy as to whether they should be known as "Navajo" or "Dine".  The cartoon depicts various Navajo leaders who have different opinions about this matter.

Park Point--Mesa Verde

Today as we left the Mesa we stopped at the highest point, which is 8,700 ft. It is also a fire overlook. About 70% of the park has been burned by fire over the last 20 years. Many of the trees hundreds of years old and grow very slowly.
From this s overlook you look nort to Colorado and the Moab Mountains in UT. To the south is New Mexico and the SW Arizona. It is a gorgeous day and thus view--very near the Four Corners-- is spectacular.

More...Mesa Verde

Coyote Village was the most developed community discovered on the mesa.  It was probably occupied after the Cliff Houses.  The picture below is of a Kiva--a spiritual site present in all Pueblo settlements.  It is possible to see the uniformity of the "bricks" made from stone.  The construction is far more advanced then the Pit Houses we first saw.   These people, farmers, also left and are believed to move down to the Rio Grande River where their life was probably more stable.

This is believed to be a reservoir-- another example of how developed this community was.

This is Bill our local guide and members of the Tour.  Bill studied archeology in college, became a Miami police detective for 20 years, returned to near Mesa Verde to teach history and now is a retired tour guide.  He was very informative.

Cliff House Dwellers Mesa Verde

After the Pit Houses the Pueblo moved into Cliff Houses.  Hundreds of rooms were build on the side of cliffs.  An entire community lived together around 1000 AD.  Since then due to erosion some of the rooms have collapsed.  However, in the picture below it is possible to see how extensive this development was.

Yet another community was found just a short distance away.  It is not clear why they left but a 30 year drought is suspected.  Many belongings, including cook ware, clothing, utensils, hunting gear was all found mostly intact.  Skeletal remains were also found enabling archeologists to learn a lot about these people.  BTW they were short, 4' being tall and few lived beyond age 35.  They farmed corn, beans and squash and hunted deer, big horn sheet and occasionally bison.  Wild turkeys were considered house pets and their eggs were eaten.

Mesa Verde Miscellany

We are standing at an overlook with the Cliff Houses behind us.

It was a glorious but cold day in early May

We stayed at the very comfortable Mesa Verde Lodge for two nights.

The Lodge served delicious dinners.

In the morning we had to walk about 15 minutes (some took the bus) to a cafeteria style breakfast.

On the way we passed these wild horses.  Signs were posted urging us to keep our distance from them!

1000 year old Tevas!

These sandals along with the pottery below were uncovered in an archeological dig.  It is not clear why the Cliff Dwellers left and moved south leaving essentially everything behind.  Some surmise that it was due to a 30 year long drought.  The dry climate helped to preserve many artifacts.