Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona

It was a very long ride from Tuba City to Canyon de Chelly. We stayed in the free campground at the Canyon -- a pleasant place that was half empty when we arrived but filled up pretty fast towards night fall. We were greeted there by many stray dogs who knew the campground was a great place to forage for food and there were dog loving suckers to be had. One stray, a nursing bitch, swiped an entire bowl of dog food from outside Lyn and Ann's rig. She returned the next day for more. The word was out and others followed. Ann and Lyn made certain they were all fed.

The next day there we went searching for a guide to take us into the Canyon. We chose a woman guide who was sitting outside the Visitor's Center. She is a licensed Navajo guide and she piled into Ann and Lyn's big honking Ford 250 with us to lead us into the Canyon. Ann drove and her chore in handling the truck in the deep sand was helped somewhat when we stopped and all got out to let air out of the tires. She drove on masterfully.

The tour of Canyon de Chelly was the low point of our trip. We are a curious bunch and we wanted to know things. Our guide was more useful at telling us what direction to head than she was in providing us with the historical perspective we all wanted. Our first stop led to a truck loaded with trinkets being sold by our guide's daughter. It did not get any better for the next three hours. All in all, we feel we missed an opportunity to learn something and our next trip to the Canyon, if we make it again, will be well thought out ahead of time and we will seek recommendations on guides who are knowledgeable, interested, and excited about showing people around the Canyon. The Canyon is beautiful and the picture below of ruins tucked into the rock walls is a poor representation of the beauty we found there.