We started our northeast Arizona adventures by driving up to Holbrook Friday night. Our motel was on a newer business loop and it was only when we went to a grocery store Saturday morning to buy lunch fixings on the old Route 66 road through town that we found.......the Wig Wam Motel. I wish we had known about this cute motel beforehand because we would have stayed there!
Our destination for the day was Monument Valley - waaaaay up on the Utah - Arizona border. But, along the way, we visited the Hubble Trading Post - a historic landmark found in Navajo country.
Mr. Hubble started his trading post among the Navajo after their "Long Walk" - when they were expelled from their original lands and made to locate where the U.S. government wanted them to live. In the middle of NOWHERE! Mr. Hubble encouraged them to develop their jewelry and rug making. The store featured these items. Beautiful work and VERY EXPENSIVE! I could only afford to take a photos.
Our next stop along the way to Monument Valley was Canyon de Chelly (pronounced Shay). In retrospect, I honestly don't really see the appeal. It is a large canyon in the middle of flat nothing. Native Americans have lived there for centuries because there are ruins. But, to visit the floor of the canyon, you have to have a Native American guide take you for a pretty hefty fee. The other option is to drive the rim and stop at specified lookouts - which is what Steve and I did.
You can see that there is farming down there.
Next stop - Monument Valley. That took SO long to get there. Continuing with vistas of flat nothing with an occasional rock mountain cropping up from the barren desert floor - a prelude to Monument Valley. And, scattered among all this nothing are isolated Native American homes and occasional small towns.
After driving forever, we finally arrived at Monument Valley. We had hoped to check out the visitor's center but, unlike Hubble Trading Post and Canyon de Chelly, there was a $20 fee and a line of about 15 cars. We were pretty road weary by this time so we got out, took some photos of what we could already see, and made a U-turn out of the line and drove the long trek back to Holbrook.
It was quite windy with lots of dust kicking up so the photos are not very clear but, I was able to catch sight of what I really wanted to see in Monument Valley......
What? Can't tell what I am looking at?
Here is a close-up of......the Mittens.
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