Watching the Stars Move

Once I gave up on battling the computer last night, I went back up to our room.  I am so glad I did!  The moon had just risen over the rock formations right outside our balcony.  Full moon too!  It was so beautiful. 

We sat on the balcony for a long time, with Alan taking long exposure photos. So we could actually see the stars move!  Or at least that is the way we felt at the time. 

View from our balcony

I forgot to mention yesterday that there is a sandstorm going on around Monument Valley.   As we drove in yesterday we noticed it and it has obscured visibility a bit. Which is a big disappointment.  It is very interesting to see though.  And the sensation of being covered in fine red dirt is really odd.  In fact, once I took my shoes off last night and also today, it looked like I had done a very bad self tan! 

I am finally adjusting to the time change and actually slept through the whole night last night!  Luckily I woke up in time to see sunrise from our balcony though.  What an experience to observe sunrise over the Mittens!

Sunrise from our balcony

Our Navajo Guide had advised us to go on the guided tour as early as possible, so he picked us up at 8am.  The wind was not bad at that time so the sand storm did not ruin the trip. It was such an amazing experience that I would recommend anyone visiting Monument Valley to give Jerome a call.  I will be happy to give a contact email for him if anyone wants it.  He was born in Monument Valley in a Hogan.  A Hogan is the traditional round house I mentioned yesterday.    I ended up buying a book about them, so now I know the hogans around people's houses are actually there for ceremonies like birth and marraige.  Groups of  Navajo families live close together and there is usually a hogan around their homes.  Jerome took us into one where one of his grandmothers was carding and spinning wool.  (it was his grandmother's sister, so we could call her a Great Aunt probably)  She was 97 years old and has been in a few of the westerns filmed around here.

The Hogan inside looks very similar to a Kiva, the roof is the same pattern of wood and the hole in the roof lets in the same amount of light. However, you enter through a door on the ground instead of climbing down from the roof! 

Jerome also took us to see "pictographs". These look like cave drawings, but are on the outside of the rocks. 

We also went to John Ford point where I lost my hat for the first time.  Thankfully, I did not feel like a silly tourist becuase Jerome lost his on the same gust of wind. Alan caught up with both of them.  I was not so lucky the second time, when we were almost climbing over sand dunes with no apparent track in the road.  Another gust grabbed my hat and it went out of the vehicle and was lost forever.  It was a straw cowboy style hat with beads on the string around the top.  I can only hope someone finds the hat and uses the beads for jewelry one day!

I feel like we got a very special tour, we did see other tours go by and none seemed to get the special attention we got from Jerome.  Topping off the tour with a visit to the big Hogan, which is the name of a rock formation.  After being shown what looked like an eagle up in the rock formation, Jerome had his Navajo drum and sang two lovely songs, he said his grandfather had taught him.  I was actually in tears with the wave of emotion, standing in the midst of such natural beauty and being able to experience traditional Navajo music and singing.

Our Navajo Guide - Jerome

It is just about time for the moon to appear again, so I better close for now.  I know I still owe photos from yesterday, but the downloads are still very slow, so I will try again some other time.

"Whether a horse turns out to be a good cow horse or a poor one pretty much depends on the intelligence of the handler."