THURSDAY, 9/20

THURSDAY, 9/20:

  Slept in late today – past 8:30!  Ate a leisurely breakfast of blueberry pancakes, bacon, & fruit. Another one of those moments of perfection – as we ate it on our picnic table under the pines and that impossibly penetratingly blue Colorado (well, northern Arizona) sky.

 

 

 

 

     Hopped on our bikes to ride the 1.5 miles up to the little lodge up the road.  Bill saw a flyer about a talk up there on Navajo rug weaving and wanted more info.  It’s a lovely small inn, with maybe a couple of dozen units, and a small restaurant, store, and a nice gift shop.  It all is very attractive, very cozy looking, with a very friendly staff.  The type of place we’d stay at if we were travelling that way, without the RV.

     Rode back and explored down the road a little further.  Stopped at the Historic Ranger Station, which was built in1910, just 10 years after the National Forest Service itself was established.  I forget how many million acres were in the Kaibab National Forest which this Ranger Station and a handful of others were responsible for. It was two rooms – a bedroom and kitchen/living room, which were used for both living quarters and an office.  No electricity nor running water, although it did have a primitive telephone.  And a barn & stable out in back for the Ranger’s horses, which of course was his means of transportation over this wilderness area.  I’m so grateful that these historic relics are preserved . . . so that we can see pieces of our heritage and how things evolved to where they are today.

     Rested for a short while.  Then drove into the Grand Canyon.  Weren’t really planning to stay and see much at all – just kind of get some literature, get our bearings, and check a couple of things on the internet that I needed to make sure got completed (there is NO WiFi at all here in the RV camp, but the National Park has a hot spot at the General Store there).  As soon as we drove up to the main parking area, I recognized those special places from 3 years ago – the lodge, the small Visitors Center, the cabins.  We caught a glimpse of the Canyon itself off to the side, but intentionally didn’t walk out to where we would fully see it, as we knew we’d want to linger, and Bill wanted to be back in time to have something to eat & go to that talk tonite.

    But the drive into the Park – OHMYGOODNESS – that was today’s highlight!  The aspens sprinkled amongst the pines and other evergreens (lots of spruce on this stretch) had started to turn.  This is what we came for!!  For as long as I can remember, I’ve heard about and seen pictures of quaking aspens turning golden – but never seen them.  Now we can both see them in their splendor!  Parts of the 45-mile road leading into the Park are somewhat higher in elevation (about 8,200 ft) than the Park itself, so those aspens are the first to turn.  Some had barely started to turn within the Park, but the real show will come in the next week or two.  We’ll be here for front row seats!

 

    

 

 

Fixed BLT’s for dinner, and Bill went to his talk. I passed – a little tired, and wanted to type up these last 2 days. If I let more than a couple of days go by without recording in this journal, it gets away

from me.So I try to keep up.

 

      Bill came home from his talk about 10:00; it began at 7:30! He was very enthusiastic – really added to his repertoire of knowledge about Navajo culture. The talk was given by one of the owners of the lodge, who has developed a long relationship with the Navajo, trading and purchasing their rugs over a long period of time. The talk centered on women’s traditional rug weaving, but touched on lots of different aspects of their history & culture and how that history is woven into different rug patterns – not apparent to those outside the culture who don’t know the “code.” He said there were about 30 people there, including folks from Scotland, Germany, South Africa, Australia, and lots of U.S. states.