Author – Grant
Based In – Mexican Hat, Utah
Today’s Photos – http://www.flickr.com/photos/32017704@N03/sets/72157615734978610/
It’s been another Day of A Thousand Photos as our fir
st destination was to Monument Valley which sits in the heart of the vast area owned by the Navajo tripe. Actually, a quick sidetrack here because I’m not entirely sure that ‘tribe’ is the politically correct phrase but ‘people’ didn’t quite seem right and I’m positive that ‘dance crew’ is wrong so I’m sticking with ‘tribe’ and will keep my fingers crossed that I don’t alienate my Indian American readership…like anyone outside our family reads this crap. Anyway, apparently over a third of Arizona is still American Indian owned which surprised me as I thought that, over the years, they had been marginalised to a few casinos in Nevada. I guess that’s just skimming the surface of my global ignorance which is based mainly on stereotypes.
In yesterday’s blog I prematurely used up all of my adjectives to
describe impressive-big-rock-outcrops-that-look-a-bit-like-things-in-everyday-life so today I’m either going to have to repeat them all, learn some new ones or make up some new ones. I don’t like repetitiveness or learning so I’m going to choose the latter. In that spirit, today’s 17 mile self-drive was both lampshade and waterproof and the monuments were benevolent with a hint of excessiveness. The highlights were the gravity-defying Totem Pole, a pair of mittens and the Praying Sisters. I also learnt that it’s possible to make any rock look like an elephant with a bit of imagination. I can’t work out if Bridget is enjoying herself or not though - we are subjecting her to terrain that a car designed for the average Mormon family isn’t supposed to endure but then she just looks so damn good against the Utah / Arizona backdrop and I think she knows it. Whenever we leave her to wander off looking at a monument, it seems like when we turn round she’s opened a door or a window and is posing just in case she’s in a Dodge commercial.
Still, she wasn’t invited on the next part of the day which was a
walk around one of the mitten buttes. In fact, that’s a good indication of the size of these structures as it wasn’t even one of the particularly big rocks but a lap was 3.5 miles. And it’s not a normal 3.5 miles as it’s on undulating, inhospitable, sandy wilderness and it’s hard to take in the surroundings when fear drives you to always be looking 5 feet ahead of you just in case the rattlesnakes or scorpions who call this area home are lurking around the next corner. As it turns out, we didn’t see either which is both disappointing and a blessing but there were plenty of quick-moving lizards darting across our path just to keep the nerves on end.
After being disappointed by a local pizza joint that doesn’t serv
e food (confusing, no?), we headed to the San Juan Motel which has a café attached to the side serving “Authentic Navajo Cuisine”. What we got, however, was the strangest waiter I’ve ever encountered. The guy looked and sounded like he’d just pulled a syringe from his arm just moments before approaching us and his trout-like memory confirmed that coffee was clearly not his stimulant of choice. We ordered a starter (chicken wings…presumably not particularly authentic Navajo fodder) and asked that it came out before our mains. When the mains arrived first, I asked what happened to the starter and got the reply “it’ll be a while”. Still, despite the comedy service from our Navajo Sk8ter Boi, the food wasn’t bad. High marks for simple tastiness but low marks for Navajo authenticity as I had the Navajo Roast Beef Cowboy Fry Bread Sandwich and Kate had the Chicken Quesadilla which are bastardised Texan and Mexican dishes unless they originally stole them from the Navajo dance crew which I’m assuming they didn’t. Still, I really like the cunning trick of shoving the word ‘Navajo’ in front of one of the dishes and claiming it as your own - it’s a bit like me inventing the English Lasagne.
This being our second night in Mexican Hat, we’d learnt that post-
sun-down entertainment is non-existent so tonight we came prepared by gathering and buying enough wood to allow us to build a fire in the outdoor pit behind our motel. I’ve clearly gone a bit hunter-gatherer recently but nothing makes me happier than building a fire whilst draining a few tins of beer. We even managed to entice a couple of fellow motel guests to join us who turned out to be Peace Corps veterans (John & Wanda) who have spent a considerable amount of time in Costa Rica and Nicaragua and hence provided some excellent came fire rhetoric. Between the four of us, over next few hours, we managed to solve the world hunger crisis, cure cancer and formulate the perfect political party – if only I’d have used my right hand for making notes rather than drinking beer I might have remembered some of our conclusions the following morning. After peeing the fire out (I warned you I’d gone Neanderthal), it was time to retire to bed smelling and feeling like a well smoked brisket. How we both made it through the night with all limbs in tact is still a mystery.
Based In – Mexican Hat, Utah
Today’s Photos – http://www.flickr.com/photos/32017704@N03/sets/72157615734978610/
It’s been another Day of A Thousand Photos as our fir
st destination was to Monument Valley which sits in the heart of the vast area owned by the Navajo tripe. Actually, a quick sidetrack here because I’m not entirely sure that ‘tribe’ is the politically correct phrase but ‘people’ didn’t quite seem right and I’m positive that ‘dance crew’ is wrong so I’m sticking with ‘tribe’ and will keep my fingers crossed that I don’t alienate my Indian American readership…like anyone outside our family reads this crap. Anyway, apparently over a third of Arizona is still American Indian owned which surprised me as I thought that, over the years, they had been marginalised to a few casinos in Nevada. I guess that’s just skimming the surface of my global ignorance which is based mainly on stereotypes.In yesterday’s blog I prematurely used up all of my adjectives to
describe impressive-big-rock-outcrops-that-look-a-bit-like-things-in-everyday-life so today I’m either going to have to repeat them all, learn some new ones or make up some new ones. I don’t like repetitiveness or learning so I’m going to choose the latter. In that spirit, today’s 17 mile self-drive was both lampshade and waterproof and the monuments were benevolent with a hint of excessiveness. The highlights were the gravity-defying Totem Pole, a pair of mittens and the Praying Sisters. I also learnt that it’s possible to make any rock look like an elephant with a bit of imagination. I can’t work out if Bridget is enjoying herself or not though - we are subjecting her to terrain that a car designed for the average Mormon family isn’t supposed to endure but then she just looks so damn good against the Utah / Arizona backdrop and I think she knows it. Whenever we leave her to wander off looking at a monument, it seems like when we turn round she’s opened a door or a window and is posing just in case she’s in a Dodge commercial.Still, she wasn’t invited on the next part of the day which was a
walk around one of the mitten buttes. In fact, that’s a good indication of the size of these structures as it wasn’t even one of the particularly big rocks but a lap was 3.5 miles. And it’s not a normal 3.5 miles as it’s on undulating, inhospitable, sandy wilderness and it’s hard to take in the surroundings when fear drives you to always be looking 5 feet ahead of you just in case the rattlesnakes or scorpions who call this area home are lurking around the next corner. As it turns out, we didn’t see either which is both disappointing and a blessing but there were plenty of quick-moving lizards darting across our path just to keep the nerves on end.After being disappointed by a local pizza joint that doesn’t serv
e food (confusing, no?), we headed to the San Juan Motel which has a café attached to the side serving “Authentic Navajo Cuisine”. What we got, however, was the strangest waiter I’ve ever encountered. The guy looked and sounded like he’d just pulled a syringe from his arm just moments before approaching us and his trout-like memory confirmed that coffee was clearly not his stimulant of choice. We ordered a starter (chicken wings…presumably not particularly authentic Navajo fodder) and asked that it came out before our mains. When the mains arrived first, I asked what happened to the starter and got the reply “it’ll be a while”. Still, despite the comedy service from our Navajo Sk8ter Boi, the food wasn’t bad. High marks for simple tastiness but low marks for Navajo authenticity as I had the Navajo Roast Beef Cowboy Fry Bread Sandwich and Kate had the Chicken Quesadilla which are bastardised Texan and Mexican dishes unless they originally stole them from the Navajo dance crew which I’m assuming they didn’t. Still, I really like the cunning trick of shoving the word ‘Navajo’ in front of one of the dishes and claiming it as your own - it’s a bit like me inventing the English Lasagne.This being our second night in Mexican Hat, we’d learnt that post-
sun-down entertainment is non-existent so tonight we came prepared by gathering and buying enough wood to allow us to build a fire in the outdoor pit behind our motel. I’ve clearly gone a bit hunter-gatherer recently but nothing makes me happier than building a fire whilst draining a few tins of beer. We even managed to entice a couple of fellow motel guests to join us who turned out to be Peace Corps veterans (John & Wanda) who have spent a considerable amount of time in Costa Rica and Nicaragua and hence provided some excellent came fire rhetoric. Between the four of us, over next few hours, we managed to solve the world hunger crisis, cure cancer and formulate the perfect political party – if only I’d have used my right hand for making notes rather than drinking beer I might have remembered some of our conclusions the following morning. After peeing the fire out (I warned you I’d gone Neanderthal), it was time to retire to bed smelling and feeling like a well smoked brisket. How we both made it through the night with all limbs in tact is still a mystery.Tomorrow we head further west towards the Grand Canyon for yet more ooohing and aaahing over American sized tourist attractions. We really are a couple of lucky buggers.
2 comments:
FYI-Navajo Nation
Thanks Amber, not only did I learn something but this blog got it's first comment from someone who I am neiher related to nor have got drunk with. Perhaps this is the start of an underground wave of adoration for this blog? Then again, perhaps not.
Take it easy,
Grant
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