well, first we had to drive through the reservation, moving from the navajo part to the hopi part. we stopped at a hopi gift shop and museum where we spent a very short time, but enough to speak with a woman who offered to be a guide if we wanted one. she was sweet, but we were living within a time frame so we had to decline.
chanda had located a hopi grocery store on her phone. i was hoping they would have the tea i was looking for, and i think greg wanted some coffee. i managed to take this picture as we turned off route 264 and into kykotsmovi village. the sign says:
welcome to kytkotsmovi,
please respect our village,
1. no photos
2. sketching
3. audio recording
by governor
734-2474
so i put my camera away, but chanda did take this pic for me of the grocery store sign, which i was hopelessly enamoured with because of the beautiful word and the lettering announcing the store.
and they did have the tea.
the reservation felt like one big mesa slowly running into other mesas as we lost elevaton. we drove along 264 to 160 to 89 south and stopped in cameron, a town with a big tourist rest area. it was rather nice, actually, and the enormous gift shop reminded me of yankee candle company in springfield, massachusetts. chanda and i almost lost ourselves amongst all the tschotchkas. next to the shop was a post office where i was able to mail my sister's post card, which felt very satisfying.
oh, one important fact about cameron: it was HOT!!!!
from there we turned west onto 64 which was the beginning of the little colorado river gorge. as we neared the grand canyon, the scenery became more and more spectacular and beautiful.
until we passed through the kaibab national forest and into the grand canyon national park and stopped at the desert view entrance station where there were cars parked from seemingly every state imaginable.
i've seen many incredibly beautiful photographs of the grand canyon . .
but i don't think any photograph really and truly captures the feeling that permeates you when actually confronted with the vastness and grandeur of it. it really renders one speechless. all you can do is stare at its magnificence and grope for words and feel incredibly small and yet at peace with the beauty of it at the same time.
these last four photos were taken by chanda.
we drove from the desert view entrance to navajo point overlook, moran point and buggeln, where we stopped for a picnic:
our last stop at the canyon was the main visitor center which felt a bit like disneyland,
but it had a great map that put into context the vastness of the canyon.
isn't this the most amazing plant?
it's called apache plume, fallugia paradoxa, and it's part of the rose family! it's also described as being deciduous and semi-evergreen, which sounds very intriguing to me.
greg and chanda went off for one more overlook while i moseyed around the books in the gift shop. i found one titled i am the grand canyon, the story of the havasupai people. the title is a quote from havasupai tribal chairman lee marshall, who spoke at a hearing in 1971 that helped restore a return of thousands of acres to his people in 1975. their land is west of the visitor center on the south rim, with another reservation, the hualapai, just west of them.
we met up again at the cafe to get tea and coffee before heading back to the car. it started to pour. we had to make a run for it. it was a long run! and we got rather wet.
we took highway 180 into 64 to williams, arizona, where we stayed at the rodeway inn, which chanda had picked out for us on her phone.
it was a beautiful drive with the light of the setting sun to our right.
it was dusk as we entered town . .
we stayed in the old section of town which was quaint.
the downtowner motel . .
greg wanted to eat dinner at a diner, but everything had closed! chanda found a mexican place far up the road. we were walking from the motel and almost turned around, but thankfully we found it as it was the best!
greg and i had the most delicious fish tacos (it was their special of the evening) and chanda had veggie fajitas.
the owners' children ran around while grandmother watched them so mom and dad could take care of the customers.
