Day 7 - The Navajo Nation

Most of today was spent traveling from Moab, Utah to the Grand Canyon. After the rocks of Arches, we traveled south on U.S. 191 and discovered that the southeast corner of Utah was suprisingly verdant. Not North Carolina mind you, but we saw crops and actual grass that livestock could eat. This rapidly changed, however, when we reached the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. We made a wise decision to ignore our GPS and take one of those dotted scenic roads, which took us through the town of Mexican Hat and Monument Valley. If you are a fan of Tony Hillerman novels, you will be familiar with this area and its culture.

The Mexican Hat

Monument Valley has a Navajo welcome center, craft shops and a tribal park. In the 1930s, a local white couple took photos of the valley to Hollywood and sold director John Ford  on the area as a film location. "Stagecoach" in 1939 was the first of several Ford westerns to be filmed here. Later movies, such as "Thelma and Louise" also were partly filmed here. I am sure you can recall stagecoaches and outlaws riding past a monument like this:

John Wayne Must Be Here Somewhere

We found some nice pottery and earrings in the stores and headed through the rest of the valley. Once the monuments faded away, it was a pretty hot and dull drive until we reached the eastern end of Grand Canyon National Park at Desert View. There we had our first look at the big hole in the ground and appreciated the watchtower that architect Mary Colter designed for the Santa Fe Railroad. A Peregrine Falcon flyby was a nice touch. We need to learn more about Mary. She innovatively designed several of the buildings in the park and certainly was a woman ahead of her time more than 100 years ago.

Desert View Watchtower

Some of Phil's recent reading was apropos of this trip. Of course, Down the Unknown had been picked as background reading, as it tells the story of John Wesley Powell's 1869 journey down the Colorado and through the canyon. It was an amazing adventure, largely because they had no idea what they were doing and still most of them survived. The connection of a Theodore Roosevelt biography was a surprise, though. It turns out that a friend and officer who died at San Juan Hill was Bucky O'Neill, and we are staying in his Bucky Lodge that is part of the Bright Angel Lodge.

No photo of the falcon, so you birders will have to settle for this Monument Valley Say's Phoebe:

Say's Phoebe

Today we saw some of the South Rim at the east end and in the village. Over the next two days, we will explore as much as we can, no doubt.