Road Trip

At Canyon de Chelly, we climbed into the back of an ancient Mercedes truck and splashed through the wash to see the abandoned cliff dwellings of the Anasazi Indians, believed to be the ancestors of today’s pueblo tribes. From 350 AD to 1200 AD, they constructed multi-storied houses throughout the southwest, lived there for hundreds of years, then carefully closed their houses and left. No one knows exactly why.

In the Canyon, I bought a CD from Navajo musician and flute maker, Travis Terry. I thought about buying a flute, but decided I didn’t have enough Navajo blood to learn how to play it and might set native music traditions back several generations if I tried. Travis willingly posed for a photo. The music on his CD is haunting. Click here to listen to an excerpt or buy a copy.

We headed for Gallup and Grants, New Mexico, but stopped on the way at Ganado, AZ, to visit the historic Hubble Trading Post. They had an excellent inventory of Navajo rugs, very tempting for Arlon, but he managed to emerge with his wallet intact and a realization of how much his own rugs had appreciated. Since we are both Tony Hillerman fans, we found the Navajo reservation fascinating, especially when we went through Window Rock. We half expected to see Officer Jim Chee or Lt. Leaphorn as we passed the Tribal Police office. For an on-line map of this area, see Tony Hillerman’s web site.