Canyon de Chelly

The original plan was to stay in Escalante, then drive into Bryce Canyon for a couple of days. The trouble was my gut said not to do it. Scenic Route 12 is a very winding road from Monument Valley and then a lot of miles a-r-o-u-n-d the Grand Canyon to get back to Sedona, AZ. Grandma and I would certainly have had a Thelma & Louise experience, but I could hear the complaints from the kids already: Peanut, "I'm hot." Little Man; "I feel like I'm going to throw up." Doodle, "I don't TARE about dese wed wocks!"

After talking with a nurse friend of mine who works on the Navajo reservation, we changed our plans. First of all she offered to let us stay with her in Point Defiance, AZ and second of all she recommended a canyon I'd never been to: Canyon de Chelly (pronounced Canyon de Shay). My mind was at ease and I knew this was a much better route for us.

Lucky for us, they had a big room at the Navajo-run lodge in Canyon de Chelly. It's important to plan a vacation day from your vacation and this was it for us. We were all ready for bed. When Grandma filled the tub with desert water, Doodle gave her a look like, "There's no way I'm getting in that." Have you had a bath in yellow water? Or red water? It's a mental challenge to consider yourself clean.

We ate breakfast at their cafeteria which was an absolute riot. When I was a kid, Furrs Cafeteria was a fancy outing for us and I always chose red Jello cubes with whipped cream on top. Watching the kids, I remembered how fun it was to have a tray and choose your own food no matter how mix-matched! The kids chose fry bread, strawberries, grapes, Jello, cottage cheese, cereal and rice. I made them each have a few bites of my chicken, too.

A couple of Navajo men told us to get into the canyon right away. The winds were coming! Already they were blowing at 25mph and the 50mph would be here soon. We went to the gift shop first and that was a monumental mistake. This was the best gift shop we'd been in since Santa Fe -- beautiful, interesting items and excellent quality. We love buying straight from the manufacturers, too!

A couple of hours later (okaaay, I bought a lot at the gift shop), we realized we better hurry so we loaded the car and headed to the South Rim Drive. Oh my GOSH! I have NEVER seen wind like this. At the first lookout point my car door almost blew off -- literally. I got it closed then asked Grandma to get a picture of me when I opened it again. (A fleeting regret entered my mind -- why didn't I purchase car insurance from Hertz?) The kids were awed and terrified in this wind. It could have gone either way, but I was so excited that they couldn't help but enjoy it. Grandma had just told them a great story from when she was Doodle's age. She was living in Dutch Harbor, AK and the winds carried her away until a native teenage boy caught her and brought her back to her dad. Let's just say we didn't even allow Doodle out of the car!

Canyon de Chelly appealed to me so much because it's not teeming with tourists, there are great hikes and easy to see ruins and Navajos actually still inhabit the canyon. It felt real and alive and I was loving it! If only Tomcat were here. He would have had his Blackberry out finding the answers to all of our questions. He's a need to know NOW kind of person whereas I'm content to just wonder. We'll just have to come back. Preferably without the wind.

I've been meaning to mention the snot factor as it's been a real issue on this road trip. I seem to be the only one not regularly congested or sneezing. Blowing our noses has been a reminder of the places we've been -- black dirt in the Kleenex there, red dirt in the Kleenex here. You can't underestimate the fun of this traveling with little kids.