The traditional Navajo home--the Hogan

The outside shade structure

Victoria getting her feet wet

Our Navajo Guide, Victoria, and her jeep

White House Cliff Dwelling from the South Rim Overlook

One of the South Rim Overlooks

Gouldings Monument Valley RV Resort: Up early and had breakfast at the Lodge this morning. Then headed out to Canyon de Chelly. Went through little towns of Rough Rock, Chilchinbito, Many Farms, and Chinle. Went through some really rural areas and fantastic vistas. In some places it’s more desert-like with sand drifting onto the road. Lots of sand drifting onto the road. We saw lots of the traditional Navajo house—the Hogan (Ho-gan’). It’s made of logs and then covered with mud with the door facing east. Has a hole on top in the middle for a stove vent. And then outside they usually build a “shade” structure where they do their outside chores protected from the sun. Anyway, I checked into the jeep tours. Their vehicles are bigger than the ones here at Gouldings and bounce around pretty good—the locals call them the “shake and bake”. So I decided to hire a local to take us through the canyon in her jeep. It’s really something down there at the bottom of the canyon. There are 50 families that live down there—even though it’s a National Monument. We saw several cliff dwellings, some petroglyphys and pictographs. Our guide’s name was Victoria. She runs tours and also owns a coffee house near the mouth of the canyon. She was raised in the canyon. Her father was born there and still owns land there. He runs horseback tours. Even though she drove really slow we got bounced around pretty good. I’m taking drugs and hoping they work. There were sheep, cattle, and horses down there. There are several branches of the canyon---she took us up the Canyon de Muerto. After the jeep tour we drove the south rim road. Stopped at overlooks and were amazed at the vistas. After that we had dinner in Chinle—Navajo flat bread again—and headed back to Gouldings. Hit 95 today. Tomorrow we leave for the south rim of the Grand Canyon.