Days 18-20: Return to Monticello

We left Utah early Saturday morning and drove into northeastern Arizona, land of the Navajo Nation. Our first goal was Canyon de Chelly National Monument (http://www.nps.gov/cach/), home to Anasazi ruins (such as the small one pictured above) and dramatic red rock canyons:

Canyon de Chelly National Monument is different than most in that it is still largely tribal land, and many Navajo still live and work amongst its sites. The green vegetation of the canyon below supports herds of cattle, sheep, and horses, and crops like corn are still planted. Many Navajo also work by providing guided tours in 4-wheel drive vehicles along the bottom of the canyon, where you get the best view of the ruins. We didn't pay for this type of tour (we'd do it next time, though), so our view was limited to that from the cliffs above:

You can see the small dots that were the vehicles (only tribal members or their paid guests are allowed down below). The ruins are barely visible to the upper right of the vehicles--I have zoomed in on them for the picture below:

These ruins aren't as impressive as those at Mesa Verde National Park, but the canyon they are in is quite spectacular and dramatic, carved hundreds of feet deep into the flat tableland around it. Many Navajo also support themselves by providing art work for the tourists. Below is the picture of a young Navajo artist who painted prehistoric Indian symbols representing a particular story on flat slabs of sandstone. The artist's name and the story slip my mind now, but I enjoyed his work and his obvious pride in his art, so I purchased the piece in his hands for my office, and he let me take his picture with it. We also bought a pretty green seed jar from some Navajo women further up the trail, and a few necklaces as well.

We enjoyed our visit to Canyon de Chelly, but the severe poverty of this reservation was sad. Hopefully, the few bucks we spent there that morning will help their desperately poor reservation. After lunch in the gritty town of Chinle, Arizona, we drove about another hour or so further south to Petrified Forest National Park (http://www.nps.gov/pefo/). Being foresters, we really looked forward to what we'd see. The first part of the park is actually more beautiful, multi-colored desert (the aptly named "Painted Desert"):

You actually drive a number of miles before you start seeing petrified wood. But when you do see it, it is quite abundant. Here is the view from an overlook called "Jasper Forest" for the reddish color of the wood found there:

And a close-up of the jumble of wood from the picture above:

Here is a piece eroding out of the soft sediments in which it formed:

We didn't stop at many places, having a long distance to drive that day. We did stop at the Rainbow Forest Museum, which is appropriately named, given the beautiful, gem-quality logs found there:

There are also some giant logs to be found at this stop:

The colors of the wood are amazing here, far more vibrant than the petrified wood we can pluck out of local streams and roadcuts here in southern Arkansas:

It is a good thing they ban people from just picking up pieces--the site would vanish quickly, even with the tons of petrified wood we saw. You could (for a pretty penny) buy cut and polished pieces in the gift shops on the park, but we didn't, content to just take pictures.

We left Petrified Forest for our hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The next day (Sunday) we did little but push on eastward to our next hotel in Oklahoma City. Our goal was to arrive in Monticello by Monday evening, so we spent the bulk of the last two days riding in the car and took no pictures of this stretch. We did stop briefly for some shopping in Little Rock Monday afternoon, and almost got clipped by an inattentive driver (our closest call the WHOLE trip). We arrived to find our house safe and sound twenty days after leaving. We had a blast, and saw so many cool things and did so many cool things...but you're always glad to get home. We're settling back into our routines, and trying to catch up after being gone for almost 3 weeks. I hope to post a selection of high quality images from this trip on our Flickr site soon. And before long, we're heading up north for a family visit...whew!!