April 12-14-Thursday-Saturday
Holbrook is an interesting
place. It is right on Route 66 and was
the inspiration for the Cars movie. We
got to visit the Wigwam motel and eat at Joe and Angie’s diner. It was actually very good Mexican food. We were grounded here for three nights due to
high winds and storms. We made the best
of it. Janae and Stefan never got enough
of Jim Gray’s rock shop. I think they
spent a total of 2-3 hours here over the
course of three days. It really is an
amazing place: sort of a rock museum/store.
On Friday we drove several
hours to Canyon De Chelly (pronounced Shea) on the Navajo Reservation. It is a beautiful canyon. The national park service operates the rim
and the Navajos the canyon floor. The
land is owned by 70 families and the land is passed down through the
women. The canyon floor is used for
grazing animals in the summer seasons.
The Anasazi’s had once lived here, then the Hopi’s. The Navajos came down from Alaska
The highlight of the day and
perhaps the whole trip was Janae and I (Mark and Stefan opted out) had a
private horse tour of the canyon floor with a Navajo guide. Terrell was excellent though a bit hard to
understand. It was absolutely thrilling
beyond measure to cantor our horses as much as we wanted in the sandy water
pools. My only regret is that I didn’t
video tape a piece of our experience. It
was really like something out of a movie.
Janae said that this was the best day of her life and she would never
forget it.
We were able to stop briefly
at the Hubbel Trading Post. Mr. Hubble
helped the Indians get back on there feet by selling their wares and basically
being a friend and protector. Kit Carson
had massacred many Navajos and made thousands walk over 300 miles to the
reservations, called “The Long Walk”.
After three years they were allowed to return to the reservations set
aside for them.
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