this morning we drove out to meteor crater, which isn't that far away from flagstaff. it's about 35 miles east. it seems i'm the only one in our traveling party who has heard of it. i've known about it since i was a kid. it seems so large, so magnificent. this just might be my only chance to see it and i don't want to pass it up. so i persuaded everyone that we should go take a look since it's close by.

the crater

me and the crater

after viewing the crater, we drove back to flagstaff and headed towards the grand canyon. on the way, there was some amazing foliage.

'tis the season for the leaves to turn

then the grand canyon! south entrance. we made it. we drove around and looked around the village. there are restaurants, shops, and even a post office. then we drove to where the lodges are, parked, and viewed the canyon. the size of the canyon is amazing, as well as the colors. yet, it wasn't that much of an impact on me. maybe because i've seen it before. maybe because i've seen it as a kid. i think everything makes a much more grandiose impression when you're a kid.

the canyon

the canyon and me

we exited from the east and drove into the navajo nation, which is a huge reservation. just look at any map of arizona. it's all reservations. we stopped at one of the larger navajo native goods markets that we saw. it was getting late so there weren't too many vendors left and those that were left were starting to pack it up. it was almost sunset. the reservation is huge and sparse but the colors are beautiful. the sky and rocks were breathtaking.

judging by the colors, maxfield parrish must have visited the navajo

we were stuck for a few hours in the tuba city area as there was a big traffic delay. there was a fair and rodeo going on. or something like that as we were told by the police. it was so crowded because the road is only 2 lanes, 1 lane for each way. instead of the traffic signal, the police were directing traffic. after waiting for over 2 hours, we encountered a bathroom dilemma. we needed to use the facilities but what facilities? we got out of the car and started walking around, trying to find a bathroom that wasn't for customers only or one that was at least open! finally we found one but the door wouldn't close properly and there was no toilet paper. fuck it, i need to go! besides, i had tissue in my purse.

huge traffic delay

after everyone went to the bathroom, we pulled aside to a small liquor store and tried to figure out what to do. i bought the navajo times, the newspaper of the navajo nation, to see what's going on in the community and what kind of fair this is exactly. nothing. the police said they expect the traffic to keep up for another 3-4 hours. they said it's been like this since 12 noon and they've done everything they could to reduce traffic. my mom didn't want to be fighting traffic anymore. she wanted to sleep in the parking lot of mcdonald's. everyone disagreed with her so she lost. we got back in the car and into traffic. luckily, after about 30 minutes, we past the cause of the traffic. i was really curious to go to the fair. what if it was a pow wow?! i've never been to one and would love to go. how could i pass up the opportunity? from the outside it looked like a carnival as we could see all the rides. if there was a pow wow, it was long over. drive on.

on the way to kayenta, our last chance at lodging before monument valley, some horses had escaped and were crossing the road. i've never had to brake for horses! it was strange. we made it to kayenta. 3 hotels, only 1 with vacancy. we stayed at the holiday inn monument valley. 1 room, 2 queens. no internet :(