Condors and Vermilion Cliffs

Hope you enjoy the pics. We are having a great time.This will probably be the last blog until we get wifi again. We will leave tomorrow for Utah.

Lodge at the Canyon

Animals and Birds we have seen

North Rim of Grand Canyon

Tuba City, AZ

Yesterday we packed a lunch and took a long drive (300 miles round trip) to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. It was easier to leave the RV parked and just drive the truck. On the way we stopped at the Navajo Bridge, built in 1926 to allow easier travel. It replaced Lee's Ferry the only other way over the gorge. In 1995 they built a second bridge because the original bridge was not built to carry the loads of today. The first bridge is a foot bridge now.We drove through Vermilion Cliffs, with its breathtaking scenery. Stopped at some historic markers and then got up into the mountains away from the desert and into the trees. We got to the North Rim about 1pm, depending on whose time you were going by. There is one hour difference between Navajo time and Arizona time.After hiking about 2.5 hours we caught our breath at the old lodge, that was built in the 1920's, sitting and relaxing for a while.We think we saw a Swainson's Hawk, picture to follow. Let us know if you are a birder and think otherwise. We saw Bison twice, once was in the field and the second time Bison were almost on the road. Back at the Navajo bridge where we stopped for a break on the way home we walked out on the bridge again and low and behold Gene spotted the 2 condors. I would like to thank my "readers" for letting me know you are enjoying the blog. And to the Green Team at Brookhaven, there is a special picture.
I will be downloading quite a few pictures.

Canyon de ChellyAZ

These are some of Gene's pictures of the canyon and Adam and the sand storm.

June 26, Tuba,AZ

A woman that works for the campground told us about a large Navajo flea market every Friday. So we decided to go. One of the woman had a trailer there and was cutting hair for $10. Just a basic cut for styling it was more.We had a lunch of mutton and some other type of meat. We did not know what it was. They used an Indian name so we tried it. The mutton was good and lean but everything else was greasy. It also came with fried bread that you put sugar on, a small piece of corn and potato. The hot tea was very interesting. Not sure what it was made with but it was good. It was a lot for $6.00. We were glad we shared one dinner and the experience. The next stop was the Indian Trading Post established 1864. They had many old pieces that I lusted over but...Came back to the RV and did some laundry. About an hour after we got back a sandstorm hit and then rain. Not enough rain to clean off the red sand but it did get cool outside.

June 25, Tuba City, AZ.

June 25
Today is our 32nd wedding anniversary and we are celebrating in Tuba City, AZ. We left Canyon de Chelly, AZ. this morning with the satisfaction we did all we could do and needed to get somewhere where we had air conditioning and hook ups.
We are still on the Navajo reservation. Stopped at a grocery store and we both noticed that the first thing you saw and smelled was the aroma of baked goods. Then going down the first isle was cans of lard, Crisco, and spam on display. We were looking for cereal and most of them were high sugar. There was not a huge selection.
Decided to stay at this campground 3 or 4 days and make day trips to the South & North rim of the Grand Canyon and other places of interest.
The scenery on the way over here was magnificent.
Hooray, we have air conditioning. How did the people live without it?

June 24 more pics

June 24

June 24

George and Cathy, couple we met yesterday,came over about 8:45 am and rode with us to the Visitors Center were we where to meet our guide. His name is Adam Teller and had a lot of information to tell us about his family, the Navajo People, and the ancient ones, that might have lived in the canyon. Adam has an anthropology degree, so he was full of information, plus took us to his family’s summer place in the canyon. We met his father, sister, niece, etc. His uncle Clayton was a Code Talker in WWII and Clayton had many heroic experiences and got recognition from President Nixon. He said his uncle was the original flag raiser on Iowa Jima, but when they wanted to take the picture he told his friend Ira Hays to stand in for him. He had no idea the picture would be so famous.
Adam explained all the petroglyphs in the Canyons, de Chelly and del Muerto, which made the trip so enjoyable. Adam is writing a book about all this and wants to sell it to a movie company. We felt some of his stories might be embellished but they are good stories.
The picture of the White House dwelling was made famous by Ansel Adams and now the Pikes’.