Canyon de Chelly

A funny name de Chelly, pronounced "de Shay". It is a from a Spanish borrowing of a Navajo word Tseyi which means canyon. So literally it is Canyon the Canyon

Canyon de Chelly is located on the Navajo reservation about 100 miles north of I-40. It is a place to take your breath away. The National Monument is made up of three canyons, de Chelly, del Muerto, and Monument which drain the Chuksa Mountains to the east. The canyon looks like your normal river valley at the mouth and rises to more than a thousand feet as you approach one of the famous landmarks, Spider Rock. Spider Rock is itself, 800 feet tall and you look down on it from the rim drive. There is a paved road that drives along the south rim and another that skirts the north rim and both allow motorists many vistas to view the magnificent formations. But they only give you glimpses. The way to really see the canyon may be to rent a guide with a Jeep to drive into the canyon. It is not a inexpensive experience, but one that I need to do. I will stop writing and allow you to enjoy the scenery. As with all of the pictures I attach, if you click on them, they will enlarge for better viewing.

PS. We are going to go back, spend one or two nights at the campground and get some morning and evening pictures.

Crownpoint

www.crownpointrugauction.com

The rug auction at Crownpoint, NM is something I have thought about for several years. I have been intrigued by Navajo rugs for many years and when I got interested in spinning and wool and checked out the webpage several times, attending an auction was one of the things on my wish list for this trip.

And so as we traveled north on Hwy 371 a small amount of excitement stirred in me. We took a few extra turns but we arrived at the Crownpoint elementary school at about 4pm. The sale actually starts at 7pm, but the doors are open at 4 for reviewing the merchandise. As we entered the front doors we noticed several people standing in line holding their weavings. We slipped through them and went into the school hallway. There were a series of tables with vendors and their wares displayed. There were several Acoma artisans with their beautiful pottery, others with jewelry, or dolls. A school organization sold fresh hot popcorn and another offered Indian tacos ( which are tacos with fry bread instead of a tortilla). If you have never had fry bread, with powdered sugar or honey, yummmmmm.

As we were moving down the hall between the vendors, a couple came up to us and said hello. They had been to PFNP a couple days before and we had talked to them while were doing our impromptu talks at one of the locations. They were, like us, attending the auction for the first time and had made a special trip to do so. I noticed at the end of the night they had fared very well and had scored three or four rugs.

So more than an hour was spent just checking out the vendors and deciding what to purchase, but we worked it out and found some really neat items. Then it was time to go into the gym and look at rugs. There were four tables set up with small rugs on the first, larger ones on the second, and so on, up to some rather large ones on the fourth table. Talk about gorgeous! As we looked them over we noticed that many folks had notebooks with them and were writing down the numbers on the tags. The numbered tags were attached to them by the weaving guild that conducts the sale when the weavers stood in line to check them in. So I went out to the truck and got a notebook. As we were looking through the piles and found a rug that both of us liked, we would write the number down. It was challenging because of the large quantity of smaller rugs that were stacked on the tables. Also, as more rugs were checked in, they were added to the pile we had already checked. So, as time proceeded, we added more and more rugs to our list. I know that some were going to be totally out of our price range, but strange things happen at auctions sometimes, so I wanted to at least keep my eye on them.

Finally it was time for the festivities to start and just like that, it did. The very first rug, for example, was a large rug that was probably worth $5000-$6000 easily. It went for $1600. We were stunned. One beautiful rug after another was held up and auctioned off at a clip of 1-2 minutes each. So that’s where the list became an asset. We just sat and watched these pieces of art go on the block and sell for a fraction of what they would sell for in a shop in Phoenix or Sedona. If only I would have been born rich instead so smart I would have purchased many rugs. You could not go wrong! #543


Soon number 0543 came up. It was on our list. After a few bids, we ended up with it!!! It’s a nice one. We scored! So as we continued to watch the proceedings, we struck up a conversation with two Navajo ladies sitting next to Randa. They both had brought rugs to the sale. So every time one of their rugs came up we rooted for them and clapped when they sold. It was getting near the end of the pile when the forth or fifth rug weaved by Eva came up and no one was bidding on it so Randa did and we bought it for a mire $50. A steal, but she was happy about it. It was kind of a bond between us. After I paid for and returned with our two rugs. I asked Eva if she would sign our rug. She wrote, ”Thanks for buying my rug.” It was truly a fun time and I would like to attend again sometime. But it was 9pm MDT (8:00 AZ time) and time to head for home. It’s at least two hours and we needed to get some groceries also.

The trip home was uneventful. We managed to get home at around midnight. The last hour was a struggle to stay awake. How do my sons do it staying up so late? Maybe the girls will let me stay in bed late…. Yah right. But the day had been the Best!

RAIN
One small word. It’s a word that we say or experience many times a day in the Pacific Northwest. The weather forecast normally contains one of the many variations of it i.e. showers chance of showers, light rain, increasing chance of rain, etc. You get the idea.
So now we are here in NE Arizona where the rain is almost a religious experience. In fact it IS just that. Among the native people there are dances and ceremonies dedicated to bringing rain to the area. Their artwork has rain symbols everywhere.
Yesterday was a religious experience. It rained. It actually started about 7pm on Thursday night after I walked with the girls. It’s been quite a while since I heard the sound of rain drops on the roof of the trailer. I love it. We got treated for over an hour. The preliminaries even included a couple of thunder rolls to warm us up.
The skies were filled with clouds when we woke up Friday morning; very usual, and the forecast was for showers of rain or snow for the Gallup area. (We have found Gallup and Show Low radio stations that we enjoy.) As we began our trip I was wondering if I should have rinsed the rain spatters off the truck before we left.
It would have a total waste of time. We encountered showers as we headed east on I-40. The wipers got to go on their short trip several times on the way east. Our destination was Crownpoint, NM but we didn’t need to be there until late afternoon. (See the next entry). We turned north on BIA 12 and ended up in Window Rock. It is the capitol of the Navajo Nation. There is a very nice cultural center/ visitor center/ convention center/ museum. R & I spent several hours there, leaving mostly because hunger moved us on. We looked for a local restaurant ignoring the McDonalds, Churches, Taco Bell, and ended up at a Chinese buffet. The idea of eating Chinese food, in the Navajo capital, in Arizona still brings a smile to my face. If hunger wasn’t such a factor we might have had more time to hunt for something else.
After lunch it was time to take the girls for a walk, trying without success to avoid the puddles and mud that covered the parking lot. With the new sights and smells it took a while to get the girls to take care of business, but we finally got everyone wiped off and headed east on Hwy 264 toward Gallup. Window Rock is on the AZ/NM border so we were immediately in a different state. The time doesn’t change as you drive from the “Rez” into NM because they both are on the same time (MDT). It’s just the rest of Arizona that doesn’t change time. (How confusing is that?)
We were in and out of showers all day as we traveled to Crownpoint; several times snow as we crossed the Continental Divide. We crossed it a total of four times going from Gallup to Crownpoint and back. The elevation on I-40 is 7250 and on Hwy 371 it was over 7300. Everyone we talked to during the day were talking about the rain. It definitely was a big deal. Nobody seemed to mind having to drive on muddy roads. They were happy to have cars that looked like they had driven a leg of an off-road rally.
So walking on a muddy parking lot at the Crownpoint Elementary School was almost a pleasure.

Looking for Petroglyphs II

Today, Monday, I woke up, got ready for our day and went over to the Interpretive office ( known simply as Interp) to pick up the radio we carry when we are driving around. It is then that I discovered that everywhere else except Arizona, I would be changing all my clocks, watches, etc. The visitor center has four clocks on the wall. They read; Arizona Time, California Time, Navajo Time, and New Mexico Time which right now are 7:36 pm , 7:36pm, 8:36pm, & 8:36pm respectively. The "Rez" observes daylight savings time. The rest of Arizona , including the Hopi reservation (which is in the middle of the Navajo reservation) stays the same all year. confusing enough?
Moving on with the story, after our Puerco program we walked across the street and down a gravel road to an area that we thought looked like a good spot for petroglyphs. After walking less than 10 mintures we were rewarded with some nice ones. Ten more minutes and many more appeared. We decided that this will be the place we will bring visitors when we do our archeology walks this month. It will be fun to take people into areas that they normally would not get to go. Take a look are these and see if you would like to come on our walk!

Looking for Petroglyphs I

Today was our first day of the week, Sunday. We met with a park ranger and several other volunteers to discuss our next program assigment. March is Archeology and Heritage Month in Arizona. AT many locations throughout the state, events are planned to expand on this theme. PFNP is no exception. Last Saturday three events went on. A Zuni jewelry maker demonstrated his wares at PDI. Jay, the park archeologist demonstrated napping in the headquarters plaza . It was very interesting. In the afternoon, he led a walk out of the south visitor center to an area just north that houses several Basketmaker III building sites and many petroglyphs. I will attach some pictures when I get them from my neighbor. His camera was working. Mine wasn't.

So getting back to the story, R ( the ranger) wanted to show us a new area where we might take visitors to see some petroglyphs that they would normally see. So we drove to Puerco Pueblo. It is an area that I have talked about before. Some good "pets" are there so I was anxious to see what was hidden. We parked in the parking lot and walked, following the old CCC road around to the back. After a short hike, we were pleased to see many cool offerings. I'm sure, with more time, some more could be found. You will notice that one of the panels demonstrates that the Pueblo people had Dachsunds. ( or at least I think thats what they look like).

Tomorrow R & I explore another area. I like the attitude of this park about exploring. There are specific areas that are off limits. Otherwise, as long as you can park your vehicle safely, you can explore, just don't deface and steal. As one park sign I have seen before says, "Take only pictures, leave only footprints".