| Submitted by: Evelyn C. LeeperUnited States |
| Submission Date: 14 February 2005 |
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It was considerably better, though not perfect: the water was over-chlorinated, the smoke alarm didn't work, and we couldn't get the Flagstaff station on the television (which we wanted for the weather forecast). Still, it was a vast improvement. (Oh, lots of the motels in Flagstaff seem to be run by Indians. Not Native Americans, but Indians. Flagstaff is not where I would have expected a large Indian community, but there you have it.)
On the way to dinner, we passed by the Chamber of Commerce, which was still open (it's open until 9 PM during the week). So we stopped in to pick up information and ask about tickets to the Lowell Observatory (no longer necessary--just drop in). Then we ate dinner: barbecued chicken at Granny's Closet, with a really good salad bar.
Mileage today: 150 miles.
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We went down to the motel office to extend our room for another three nights. Surprise! We could get it for two nights but Friday night was the start of Parents Weekend at Northern Arizona University and everything was booked up. Luckily, we were planning on leaving Saturday morning anyway, so we'll leave late Friday instead. I'm just glad we didn't arrive on Friday. As to why we didn't make all our reservations ahead, well, we want to be able to shift things around and not be locked in. It's a trade-off.
Upon calling the Grand Canyon and finding that the forecast for today was better than for the rest of the week, we decided to return there today. But rather than take AZ 180 to the south entrance again, we took US 89 north for 51 miles to Cameron, then turned west on AZ 64 for 31 miles. This took us through part of the Painted Desert and past the Little Colorado River Gorge, as well as getting us to the east end of the East Rim Drive.
This part of the Painted Desert is not the most dramatic--those parts are further north or in the Petrified Forest National Park. But if you're not going to either of those, this will do and provides a change of scene on the way to the Grand Canyon. The colors here are mostly reds and yellow, with green being provided by the plants, and blues only by morning or evening shadows. Up close, a lot of the color looked like what back East would be pollution--mineral deposits on the surface. But here it occurs naturally, so it's scenic instead.
The Little Colorado River Gorge is like a mini-Grand Canyon, a warm-up for the real thing just down the road. This is where a tributary of the Colorado River (the Little Colorado River) flows before it enters the Colorado and it exhibits the same formations as the Grand Canyon, but on a much smaller scale. In other words, on a scale you could grasp. This being fall, the river was dry, though the riverbed was damp. This whole area is within the Navajo Reservation and this area is in fact a Tribal Park (the equivalent of a State Park or a National Park). But where National Parks have official gift shops, the Tribal Parks have a lot of independent stands, more like a flea market. Of course, what the vendors are selling is almost identical from one to the other, particularly at the cheaper end of women's jewelry. There was more variation at the higher end, or in men's items such as belt buckles or bolo ties, but the prices seemed very consistent from another.
We got to the Desert View Point on the East Rim Drive about 10:30 AM. Once again, we were struck by the scope and beauty of the Grand Canyon. >From each point along the rim you get a different view and can see different features. It's not something you can see once and say you've seen.
Of course, nothing is perfect and the Grand Canyon is no exception. Well, the canyon may be, but the park around it has fallen prey to the inevitable problems. Gift and curio ships sit at the rim (okay, only at three spots, but still...). There is a replica of the original tower at this spot which costs twenty-five cents to climb. You're already a mile up- --will another fifty feet make a difference? (One good thing they have in the gift shop is disposable panoramic cameras--if you have a 35mm camera you can do better with that, but for people with Instamatics and such, $15 plus developing for twelve panoramic shots isn't bad and fills a need. What need is filled by the majority of stuff sold there is a matter for conjecture.)
We stopped at a couple more viewpoints and I mused on the mindset that has us drive to point A, get out, admire the view, get back in, drive to point B, get out, etc. This is clearly not the ideal way to see something like the Grand Canyon, but we have gotten into the mode of packing as much as possible into as short a time as possible. (This vacation is probably a perfect example of this.) By 'we' I don't mean just Mark and I, but a lot of people. A lot of what we (Mark and I) saw we devoted enough time to, but to do something like the Grand Canyon justice you need more than one day. You also need more energy than we have--I don't think we're up to hiking down into the canyon and back. Maybe that's the problem: we want to do more, but can't. (Or as a character in a Karen Joy Fowler story says: 'We should have done more. I look back on those years and it's clear to me we should have done more. It's just not clear to me what more we should have done.')
At 11:30 AM we took a guided tour of the Tusayan Ruins from a ranger who was considerably more favorable towards the Anasazi than the Fort Bowie ranger was towards the Apache. (By the way, 'Anasazi' is a Navajo term meaning 'Hostile Ones,' and the Hopi, who consider themselves the descendents of the Anasazi, object to the term. But as it is in common use, and as there is no other term for these people, we're stuck with it. The term 'Hostile Ones' does seem inaccurate, though, because very few of the burials excavated here show signs of violent death.)
The ranger spoke of what he saw as the three major differences between Native American society and Anglo society. One was the emphasis on the group over the individual. (This seems true of Japanese and Chinese society as well.) Another was the power of tradition--innovation is much less common and less well-received than in Anglo society. The argument that 'it's always been done this way' carries much more weight in Native American society. And finally, the male and female roles are much more definite and distinct. These (to me) all seem like over-generalizations of Anglo society--certainly not a monolithic culture--and probably of Native American society. But it's an interesting hypothesis to start from.
The ranger also clarified what kachinas are, at least partially. He described them as being intermediates between people and gods, sort of like angels. There are 235 of them, and the dolls serve much the same purpose as statues of angels or saints do--as a reminder and as a teaching aid.
After this we continued along the East Rim Drive and the West Rim Drive, ending up at Hermit's Rest, another gift shop area. At one point we could see on the canyon floor the remains of an old camp which had been abandoned when the area became a National Park. We could also see some campers, though all you could see without binoculars was the blue dot of one of the tents. Whether it's the cumulative effect of seeing the canyon from many different points, or just the way some of the West Rim viewpoints project into the canyon, by the end I had the feeling that the Grand Canyon covered the entire world, or at least the entire world ahead of me and to either side. It seemed endless, and as though the only solid plain was behind me and I was looking at an infinity of canyon.
It was now 2:30 PM and we decided rather than wait three hours for sunset we would start back to Flagstaff now and see Wupatki National Monument on the way. We got to Wupatki at 4 PM, not enough time to see it all, but we decided to see what we could today and wrap it up Friday morning. We managed to see the Box Canyon ruins, Lomaki, the Citadel, and the main Wupatki ruins before dark overtook us. These were more ruins of the Sinagua people, and were fairly well preserved, though it's not clear how much restoration or repair has been done on them.
By the time we got back to Flagstaff, we decided to grab a quick bite at Taco Bell and rest up--we both needed it.
Mileage today: 262 miles.
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Breakfast at J.B.'s again. They're right across the street and have a breakfast buffet for $2.99, so they're hard to beat.
Today's schedule involved a lot of driving. We started with 67 miles north on US 89, 63 miles east on US 160, and 10 miles north on AZ 564 to Navajo National Monument. This took us through more of the Painted Desert than yesterday, and here the blues and greens are actual rock colors rather than shadows and plants. (The best views of the Painted Desert turned out to be in the Petrified Forest National Park, but when we were there it was raining, so it was good we had seen this part.)
While driving, we listened to KTNN ('The Navajo Nation'), 660 on the AM dial (as they say). This is 75% country and western music and 25% Navajo music. The disc jockey does the commentary in Navajo, and the ads are in both Navajo and English. Even the stuff in Navajo has English, actually-- besides song titles and such, English is used for phone numbers, addresses, and other specialized uses. It's an odd mixture to hear, as Navajo is much more glottal than English and the transitions between languages is quite abrupt.
One of the first ads we heard was for a horse auction in Winslow. One of the specials was a 'three-in-one sale,' or as they described it, 'a mare, a foal by her side, and another one in her tummy,' all for one low price.
(I think we may be listening to too much country and western. Mark already knows the words to 'Bubba Shot the Jukebox' and can sing along with it.)
We got to Navajo National Monument at 11:45 AM, which sounds like a longer drive than it is, but that is 11:45 AM Mountain Daylight Time. Arizona does not observe Daylight Savings Time. Except within the Navajo Reservation, which does. Except within the Hopi Reservation (which is completely surrounded by the Navajo Reservation) which doesn't. Got that?
Navajo National Monument consists of three sets of ancient Anasazi dwellings built into cliff walls. The most accessible (Betatakin) is visible from an overlook point a half-mile from the Visitors Center or via a three-mile hike. Luckily, the hiking trail was closed for the season so we could settle for the overlook trail without feeling guilty. Of course, this approach has its drawbacks. Though the cave in which the dwellings were built is 370 feet wide, 452 high, and 135 feet deep, and the dwellings normal size, the distance makes the dwellings look like doll houses, partially I suppose because we're not used to caves of that size. Binoculars are strongly recommended, though there is a telescope at the overlook (and free, not coin-operated).
We talked to the ranger a bit, trying to figure out exactly how the reservation stood vis-a-vis the state of Arizona (or New Mexico, or Utah, or Colorado, as it extends into all four). No sales tax is charged on the reservation. Cars are registered with the various states, but only the license plate fee applies--Navajos living on the reservation don't have to pay the somewhat expensive Arizona value tax on the car, for example. But they can vote in state elections. I still don't understand it all, I guess. |
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