It was so lovely to return to civilisation and be able to have showers every day and to wash our clothes.
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| Some of Sandra and Gary's other neighbours |
Our first outing was to Sedona, where Sandra and Gary had organised for us to do a Pink Jeep Tour to get up close to the beautiful red rocks above the town. We also loved bouncing around in the jeep and listening to the guide’s expert commentary about the local history, geology, flora and fauna.
Sedona is a beautiful, touristy town, surrounded by earth red rocks. It has a many high-quality galleries and gift shops selling authentic American Indian artefacts, so after the jeep tour we had even more fun browsing through the many galleries in the town. We bought some artefacts that will remind of us the USA Southwest when we are at home. They will also remind us of Sandra and Gary when we can’t see them across Dorchester Place.
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| David and Gary sporting their new Tilley hats |
A note about terminology – I am going to use the term American Indian to describe the people who are indigenous to the USA Mainland, excluding Hawaii and Alaska. I am taking my lead from a book I am reading called ‘’In the hands of the great spirit – the 20,000-year history of American Indians’’. The author, Jake Page decided to use this description for two reasons. The first is that this is the term used by many indigenous and non-indigenous people, and by institutions in the USA. Secondly it is intended not to refer to Hawaiians, Eskimos and Aleuts, who are included in the term Native American. However, he also acknowledges that American Indian and Indian can be upsetting to many people. Jake Page is non-indigenous but worked among the Hopi and Navajo peoples and quotes an indigenous political science academic, David E. Wilkens (University of Arizona) in justifying the use of this terminology.
After our shopping expedition we had a late, fancy lunch at a restaurant called Mariposa on the outskirts of town. It is a classy restaurant in a magnificent setting and of course Sandra and Gary procured the best table in the house.
On the way back to Flagstaff we stopped to view Oak Creek Canyon.
We spent the next day hanging about in Flagstaff. We had coffee at Lund Canyon, Sandra and Gary’s favourite coffee shop (funky Melbourne vibes). I must say that the coffee is getting much better in the USA.
Then we had lunch at Gary’s favourite Mexican restaurant, El Tapatio. We had the biggest margaritas ever and they were followed by the biggest and most magnificent tacos and burritos. Somehow, I managed to eat a huge burrito and was still digesting it 12 hours later. It was absolutely worth it.
We didn’t have dinner that evening but sat out on the balcony enjoying wine and nibbles with Sandra and Gary’s charming neighbour Dell, who shares responsibility for watching over the house when they are in Australia. He is also on the American equivalent of the body corporate for their development. I think I’ve already said how much we enjoyed meeting Sandra and Gary’s friends in Flagstaff – nice people attract nice people.
On Thursday we journeyed forth to The Grand Canyon. We stayed in the Thunderbird Lodge, right on the south rim. As usual, Sandra and Gary had secured amazing rooms for us. In a bizarre coincidence I stayed at Thunderbird Lodge when I was 12 years old on a family trip to the USA at the end of 1978.
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| Dale: Once a tragic, always a tragic David: Presume you are referring to the beanie and not mum's perm. |
After arriving, Dale and I set off on an epic trek, half way down into the canyon on the Bright Angel Track. It was a humongously spectacular walk. Even after having visited so many wonderful national parks, nothing compared to the vastness of The Grand Canyon.
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| Indian Gardens is the dark green patch to the bottom right |
We descended 1000 metres over 7 kms to Indian Gardens, which is a nice treed camping and picnic spot, where we stopped for a brief lunch. It’s possible to keep going and to descend to the canyon floor and The Colorado River. After resting for the night you can then climb up to the northern rim. But we turned around and walked back up the 7 kms and 1000 metres. I think our preceding 16 days of hiking were all just training for this walk.
We were surrounded by the most enormous sheer rock faces and were looking down along smaller sub-canyons in many directions. The climb was evidently arduous because it was so long, but thanks to all the switchbacks no section was especially steep.
When we got back to the top of the south rim we retreated to our lovely comfortable room before heading over to El Tovar hotel for pre-dinner drinks and an upmarket dinner.
Unsurprisingly, Sandra and Gary had secured excellent tables in the bar and the restaurant. El Tovar is a wonderful 100 plus year-old timber mountain lodge, fabulously decorated with American Indian and wild west memorabilia and warm colours.
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| El Tovar Hotel |
Despite all being famished we were all utterly stuffed by the time dinner finished. I tried Elk Bolognese. It was rich but not too strongly flavoured. I don’t imagine that I’ll eat elk again unless Gary is prepared to make Elk Jerky (he makes really good beef jerky) and bring it back to Carlton.
In terms of wine - we enjoyed the Californian chardonnays, merlots and durifs (called petit syrah in the USA). We especially enjoyed the buttery chardonnays that you struggle to find in Australia anymore. The world would be a poorer place without buttery, oaked chardonnays.
We were up early(ish) the next morning to enjoy the lovely morning sun over the canyon. There were not too many people about and so it was remarkably quiet. It was the perfect time to absorb and try to process the majestic visual stimulus of this enormous canyon.
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| El Tovar to the left and the Thunderbird to the right |
After a hearty breakfast we visited Hopi House to look at astonishing American Indian art works, carvings, paintings, jewellery and rugs.
Then we (Sandra) drove us to look at Desert View Point, which is the eastern most point of the southern rim. From this vantage point we could see the mighty Colorado River.
We were interested in buying some small rugs, in the form of table runners and side table covers (not floor rugs) and Sandra and Gary suggested that we save our money for the Cameron Trading Post, about an hour’s drive east of The Grand Canyon. It is like an enormous general store for Southwest American Indian artefacts and memorabilia. It has everything from cheap and tacky to very expensive and refined. But first we had lunch in the grand dining room surrounded by massive timber cabinets and American Indian rug wall hangings. We tried and loved Gary’s favourite, the Navajo Taco – but this time we sensibly decided to share one.
After lunch the serious shopping started and we were given great assistance and advice by one of the sales assistants and also one of the weavers, who was in the store. We settled on three small rugs – which despite their size still cost us a pretty penny.
Then it was off to Sunset Crater to see the impacts on the terrain of a volcano that erupted 1100 years ago. This also had a big impact on the American Indian societies that lived in the area at the time.
More prosaically – it was just fun to walk on the lava flow. We hadn’t done that before.
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| The scar in the hillside remains a wasteland after such a long time |
After our big road trip to The Grand Canyon and the Cameron Trading Post, we had another great day chilling around Flagstaff.
We wandered around the downtown, which has a funky student vibe due to its proximity to the University campus. It has lots of impressive galleries, gift shops and wine bars (we all enjoyed our negronis).
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| Oh and also parking meters |
We also visited a couple of op-shops, where Sandra and Gary’s friends volunteer. I think that Cedar Closet is the most impressive op-shop I’ve seen. The collection of second-hand books suggests that there are some very well-read donors.
Perhaps the highlight of the day was going to the Museum of Northern Arizona. It is very well curated and covers the history of American Indians on the Colorado Plateau.
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| I found it fascinating how they have built such a long history by cross referencing the growth rings |
In the evening, we had dinner at the Northern Arizona University Hospitality School Restaurant. Sandra was a professor at NAU and worked there for 37 years before retiring. We dined with her long-time friend Lillian, who also worked at NAU for many years.
After dinner we saw a production of Rent by the students in the Department of Performing Arts. It was lucky we know the show quite well, as the others found it pretty hard to understand the lyrics and hence the plot. We thought that the students did pretty well but were let down by some ordinary direction. I mean they had main characters singing with their backs to the audience for lengthy periods.
On Sunday – our last day – we had breakfast at Gary’s favourite American Diner, Northern Pines. It was packed and we all enjoyed another filling meal!
After lunch we went to Walnut Canyon and did a short but steep walk down to a rocky peninsula above a canyon. For about 100 years in the 12th century, following the volcanic eruption at Sunset Crater, the canyon and walnut rock hosted a significant American Indian population. They built astonishing and stunning pueblos into the rock sides and under overhanging rock ledges in order to survive in the harsh climate. It was truly fascinating.
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| It's always time for a snake |
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