More of the Painted Desert:
Red sand makes its way everywhere!
Richard Mike, the son of World War II Navajo Code Talker King Mike, owns the Burger King in Kayenta and has set up a small museum dedicated to the Code Talkers in the restaurant. More of Mr. King's Code Talker collection is housed in another building behind the restaurant. Examples of traditional Navajo residences, called hogans, are also found there. Wet sand must be applied to a hogan every six weeks to keep it in good condition.
Female hogan (these dotted the landscape in Monument Valley):
Male hogan (this is the only one we saw):
While primitive camping (no water, no electricity) is available at the Monument Valley Tribal Park, we stayed in Goulding's RV Park.
On a trail behind the RV park:
A collection of shops owned by Navajos is located between Goulding's and Monument Valley Tribal Park. Karen met Alfred and Helen Myerson in the Monument Valley Gift Shop. Alfred developed the shopping center and said that not owning land is the main obstacle to being prosperous that Navajos who wish to live in the Navajo Nation face. He wishes success and prosperity for all Navajos, but said that will not happen as long as they are kept from developing shopping malls, business parks, colleges and more in the Nation. He explained that without land ownership, a person has no collateral and cannot get a loan to invest in a business. In order to develop the shopping center, he collected donations of $2,000,000 and had to obtain the permission of all levels of government. This was a very time-consuming process.
Several other shop owners came in to speak with Mr. Myerson, and they always used the Navajo language. Mr. Myerson said that keeping the language alive was a way to preserve as much of their heritage as they could. He also explained that "Navajo" is a name the Spanish gave the people, and that their own name for themselves is "Dine" (with short "i" and long "a" vowel sounds and the accent on the second syllable). While Mr. Myerson described himself as a capitalist, he also expressed his desire that the traditional Dine way of feeling harmony with nature and others would spread throughout the world.
We took a tour of the Monument Valley Tribal Park, and our driver and guide was Dinah.
One of several dogs who seemed to make the information center and parking lot their home:
Snoopy lying down (can't remember the traditional name of this formation):
Three Sisters; WV (Welcome Visitor):
An older woman (Dinah referred to her as "grandmother," a title of respect) who normally demonstrated cleaning and spinning wool was not in when we arrived at the hogan, so Dinah demonstrated for us. She also explained that the doorway of a hogan faces east, so that the sun wakes the residents.
The tallest hoodoo in this picture is called Totem Pole or ET's Finger ("ET go home!") and is 1000 feet high and 35 feet wide at the top:
Dinah explained that the water in Monument Valley is not good for drinking, and that the Dine who live there must haul barrels of water from Goulding's for use in their homes. Salt deposits from the water are visible on the land in this photo:
West Mitten, East Mitten, and another butte whose name we forget:
A beautiful local dog adopted us while we were at Goulding's:
Walking another trail on Goulding property, with Barkley's new girlfriend:
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