Monday, May 18, 2015

Canyon de Chelly

Sunday was a rest from my injury and travel day so I didn't write a post. Anna and Vic of Desert Hills B&B were wonderful and even gave me the beautiful red bandana I've been wearing to cover up my bandages.

Today we drove 2.5 hours to Canyon de Chelly in Arizona from Farmington, New Mexico to see the ancient cliff dwellings there. There  are no services whatsoever once you turn onto 191 until you get to Chinle and no cell service at all anywhere on the reservation, which is pretty much the whole drive. 
There is no fee to get in as far as we could tell and it's totally run by the Navajo. 
We went to the visitor center first and while Chris got information at the front desk I listened to an old Navajo jeweler tell wonderful stories about the time Ansel Adams came to Canyon de Chelly. According to him the famous native woman with child was his mother and little brother and the young Navajo girl is his sister. His jewelry was beautiful but the piece I wanted depicting his mother with his little brother on one side in silver, and turquoise and coral on the other was snapped up by a woman from Virginia who beat me to it. 
Canyon de Chelly overlook into the valley where The White House is

We drove to many Overlooks to view the old Navajo cliff dwellings most of which are far across a canyon. 
The White House is named for the long wall in the upper dwelling that is covered with white plaster. It is not a Navajo structure but an ancient ancestral Puebloan structure built and occupied centuries ago.
The White House

Face Rock
A storm started moving in as we were leaving in fact lightening hit our van and the thunder boomed at the same time. That was exciting. 
We headed back to the 3 Rivers Brew Pub for dinner then to our B&B. 

3 comments:

  1. La de da... Bla bla bla... And we got struck by lightning. Oh. Well.

    Wait, WTF?!?!?!

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  2. Partially scalped in Indian country then later struck by lighting....this is starting to turn into a decent vacation!

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