Anne & Tom's Southwest Adventure travel blog

On the road again.

We drove to a hidden canyon - Coal Mine Canyon

You could see the coal in the walls of the canyon

.

The road to this canyon was even more interesting than the canyon.

.

A horse was grazing on the sparse plants.

Across Hopi Country

Hubbell Trading Post

.

.

.

.

North Rim of Canyon de Chelly

It was windy

Tom clocked winds sustained at 30mph

A small settlement in the canyon

The sand was blowing too

The North Rim offered some spectacular views

.

.

Ancient dwellings

Antelope Ruins

.

.

.

South Rim

I waited for the sun to illuminate Spider Rock

As I waited, I thought, "This few minutes wait is but a...

It was worth that nanosecond

.

Climbing

As we returned, a violent sand storm arose cutting visibility.

We could hardly see the grocery store in the parking lot

We had to go back to the camp we left in the...

The next morning it snowed!

Now out to Monument Valley at last

The Navajos live in modest homes

But often have a Hogan nearby

Approaching Monument Valley


Tuesday involved a drive across the Hopi Reservation. On the way we stopped at a unique canyon that had supported coal mining - thus its name. The drive seemed seemed quite long, and the Hopi people are quite reserved. However the Hopi Cultural Center and the gallery next door were good. We had lunch there (Hopi Tostada) and continued on to Hubbell Trading Post near Ganado. That was fun to see - and where Anne bought her Navajo rug several years ago. Finally we arrived at Canyon de Chelly where we spent our first dry camping night (no hookups).

We toured the rims of Canyon de Chelly the next day including an extremely windy overlook trail to the Antelope Ruins. By 2:00 we were ready to drive on to our next destination- but to our surprise, a huge sandstorm descended on the whole area and beyond - think northern blizzard - where we could not see more than a few feet in front of the RV. We "felt" our way to the grocery store and stocked up, called and found that the sandstorm was at least all the way to where we wanted to go, and went back to the National Monument campground where we then stayed another night. Sand seeped in through the "sealed" windows and got all over including on the bedding and into all the storage compartment. It reminded us of "Lawrence of Arabia"! That night we took showers in the RV! The sandstrm abated by suppertime, but then a snowstorm started!

Share |