Today I drove 220.8 miles traveling from Winslow, Arizona to Chinle, Arizona.
I am spending the night at the Navajo Nation's Holiday Inn Canyon De Chelly in Chinle, Arizona.
I have a standard room with one king bed.
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Ya'at'eeh! That is hello in Navajo. I set out this morning around 7:00am and hopped on Interstate 40 and continued my east bound journey. After about 80 miles I exited the Interstate and drove about 80 more miles north on US Highway 191. That was a very scenic and beautiful drive on US-191. It was a beautiful morning. Kind of cool but the winds had calmed considerably. I arrived in Chinle around 9:30 and began my exploration of Canyon de Chelly National Monument.  Canyon de Chelly is unique among the National Park Service units because the park is located entirely on Navajo tribal land. Below is a picture from the national monument looking back on the small town of Chinle, Arizona.  I began my time in the park visiting six different overlooks on the South Rim Drive. Below is a picture from the Tsegi Overlook.  The worst part of the day was being approached by the locals selling their art and jewelry at every overlook. They were all very friendly but I got tired of telling them that I was not interested. The picture below is from the Junction Overlook.  The park was not very busy today which I found odd considering it was the weekend and weather was spectacular. Below is the Sliding House Overlook. There were probably better views of this overlook but my feet prevented me from getting there.  At the far end of the South Rim Road is one of the most spectacular views within the park, Spider Rock Overlook.  Spider Rock is considered a sacred place and is named for Spider Woman, who is associated with creation stories of the Navajo. She is believed to have helped human beings when they first entered this world, including teaching them to weave. She is also used as a threat to children who are told that if they don't behave, Spider Woman will come down from her rock and take bad children away.  Spider Woman was first to weave the web of the universe. She taught the Navajo how to weave, how to create beauty in their own life and to spread the "Beauty Way" teaching of balance within the mind, body & soul.  This was by far the highlight of the day. It was one of only three handicap accessible trails in the park. Spider Rock Overlook is the last of the seven stops along the South Rim Drive.  After Spider Rock it was back to Chinle by the same route. I did stop at one more overlook which I missed on the way out, Face Rock.  After getting back to Chinle I then explored the North Rim Drive. There are only three overlooks along the North Rim and one of those was not accessible to me. Below is the Masacre Cave Overlook.  And the final overlook is Mummy Cave.  Next I checked into my hotel, the Holiday Inn. It is literally inches from the entrance to the park. For dinner I ate at Church's Chicken. It was clearly inside a building which used to be a KFC decades ago. There was a line of five cars ahead of me and the line moved very slowly. I tried to go inside but their lobby was closed. The place was a run-down dump but the food was good. You should see the size of the whole wings. Their breasts must be really tiny as they leave most of the meat attached to the wing.  Here in the Navajo Nation they must let there animals roam freely. There are stray dogs, cats and even horses everywhere. There were two stray horses in the street as I was leaving Church's. I've also changed time zones. I'm still in Arizona but the Navajo Nation goes on daylight savings time while the rest of Arizona does not. So I'm now only two hours behind all you Hoosiers. Tim |
Covers 220.8 miles from Winslow, Arizona to Chinle, Arizona. |
Click on the arrow above for tomorrow's adventures.
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