We had a travel day to Monument Valley with our only stop being lunch at the Golden Sands Café just south of Monument Valley. A travel book that Rachel gave me said having a Navajo Taco with Indian fry bread was a must do. Since we try to do as many “must dos” as possible, we timed our stop for lunch. The Navajo taco is now on Christy’s top favorite list. We got settled in at the Gouldings RV Park and drove over to Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park to get our first peek and check out the visitor center. With the weather being cool, cloudy and the wind blowing a gale, we didn’t do much outside. Looking out at the valley from the visitor center was a preview for what we saw today. It rained during the night with the clouds passing through and we woke up today to gorgeous bright blue sky. The red and orange colors of the sand and sandstone rock were so vibrant. Our jeep tour with Danny Bennett was once again more than we could have hoped for. With hundreds of people taking tours most days, we realized how fortunate we were to be going out early in the morning and missing the crowds. For most of our stops, we were the only ones there. Our jeep turned out to be an open air 4x4 truck. We took off driving on a dirt road that is open to the public but continued out into the valley for a four hour fabulous tour. He stopped often to share his knowledge with us and give us a chance to gaze at this wondrous land with its high broad mesas and tall buttes and monoliths of unbelievable shapes. It just doesn’t seem possible that nature could do this all on its own. Danny had many places to show us with marvelous views including some of the window and natural bridge rocks and petroglyphs. We had some fun stops where various movies and commercials have been filmed. Danny had actually been an extra in a couple of movies. We passed sheep dogs watching over sheep grazing on the grass with a Hogan in the distance and horses drinking at a natural spring. A highlight was visiting Susie Yazzie, a 97 year old Navajo woman, at her Hogan. She is well know for making beautiful woven rugs and still makes her own yarn for weaving. She was very happy to share some of the Navajo ways with us. Her daughter has now taken over the actual weaving. We had read her story in the February, 2009, issue of the Arizona Highways magazine. What made this visit even more special was that our mom had told us about her visit with Susie 25 or 30 years ago. Danny translated that info to her and she got a big grin on her face. It was interesting to see the inside of the Hogan with its log frame. An equally wonderful treat was leaning back on the sandstone wall looking high up through a beautiful almost perfectly round hole in the ceiling overhang to the sky above while listening to Danny sing a Navajo chant playing the drum. What could beat that! The hole was used in the filming of the Indiana Jones movie scene where Harrison Ford is lowered down into the snake pit. We enjoyed listening to Danny tell about life on the reservation, the good with the bad. He talked about the high crime rate that goes along with drug and alcohol problems, many of the younger parents not passing along the cultural ways and language to their children as was done in the past, the lack of jobs, large drop out rates in schools etc… The schools are now teaching the culture, history and language in an effort to retain the language and culture. Hopefully it’s not too little too late. He talked a little about the spiritual ceremonies that take place throughout the year. Many of the families still graze sheep and cattle in the valley but the numbers can’t be too big because of the lack of grass and water. Life is not easy but he said waking up in this spiritual valley to the sun in the east with the gorgeous mesas and buttes before you makes up for a lot.
A little bit on Gouldings - Back in the early 1920’s, Harry and his wife Mike were able to homestead land in Monument Valley. Living in a tent, they started a Trading Post and began trading rugs and jewelry in exchange for goods the Navajos needed. When the depression hit, the Navajos suffered greatly as did their business and with their last $60.00 the Gouldings left for Hollywood to try to talk John Ford into coming to the valley to shoot movies. It worked! They left with an advance and the crew soon began shooting “Stagecoach” with John Wayne. Over the period of forty years the Gouldings built a motel, restaurant and other services for tourists. They must have been much like the Hubbles with a big heart and a love of the Navajo people. They have been awarded numerous humanitarian awards. Under different ownership it now employs a great number of Navajos and serves tourists from all over the world helping to bring money to the Navajo Nation. John Wayne’s cabin in the movie set for “Tie a Yellow Ribbon” sits up by the original trading post that now houses a museum of the Gouldings and the Navajos from the 1920’s to the 60’s. Their comfortable living quarters were upstairs. One room downstairs is devoted to movie memorabilia. They entertained the stars and movie crews on a regular basis. Today it is almost a small city with a market and gas station.
 |
| Taking Off with Our 4x4 with Danny, Our Guide |
 |
| Monument Valley |
 |
| Riding Along Through the Valley |
 |
| Susie Yazzie in Her Hogan |
 |
| Moccasin Rock - where we heard Danny chant and play the drum |
 |
| Artist Point |
We want to return to do a follow up tour with Danny through Mystery Valley.
 |
| John Wayne's Cabin on Movie Set |
We took a drive into Utah along a scenic highway to Mexican Hat and up to Bluff. The town of Mexican hat was nothing but the rock formation that hold its name is pretty amazing, quite a balancing act. Just before Bluff, the rocks changed from red to an almost white color. We had lunch in Bluff where Mormans settled in the 1800’s beneath Twin Rocks. They had a grueling trip lasting six months rather than the six weeks they had expected. The last straw was lowering their wagons and animals down a forty foot cliff. They decided to go no further. The gallery and restaurant sitting there now looks like they could be victims of massive falling rocks at any moment.
 |
| Mexican hat |
No comments:
Post a Comment