Reaching the Grand Canyon, Friday, 7/15/2011

Today started out good. We got up around 8:00 am, had breakfast and packed the car by 10:30. We all piled into the car, buckled up, and Miles turned the key. Nothing happened. He tried again. Nothing happened.

So, while I called Sammy DeGeneres, Miles called the Lincoln hotline. Not long after I hung up with Sammy he called me back. He told me that he found a Lincoln dealer just down the street from our hotel and they could either come out to us or if the Lincoln hotline got the car started we could drive it over to them. The Keesee Lincoln Motor Company in Cortez, CO would be waiting to hear from us. Well to make a long story short -- the hotline sent someone over to start our car and the service department replaced our battery and had us on the road before 12:30 pm.

We had a long ride today getting to the Grand Canyon, about 5 hours, but we had a good time getting here.

Our first stop was Four Corners, AZ, CO, UT, NM in the Navajo Nation Reservation. We all stood on the spot where you are in all four states at one time. It was pretty awesome (you know how that kid in me just comes out). Ethan was even more excited than I was. Then we toured all of the Navajo artists displaying their wares around the monument. Some were the regular selling the regular tourist junk, but there were a few treasures admist the crowd. We spent time with one lady who described in detail the meaning of dream catchers. Several of them just wanted to stop us and ask us about where we were from.
One gentleman told us about his daughter who is attending college in Florida, and how he always loves to stop in New Orleans on the trips to and from Florida. He told us this coming semester he was planning to stop in Lafayette to experience the culture there. He loved south Louisiana.

However, I think all of our favorite was an artist who carved beautiful Navajo Kachina dolls from cottonwood roots. He was very interesting. First he explained the types of dolls and the spiritual meaning they have in his culture. Then he let Ethan go behind the counter where he did his work. He described the way he went about carving and detailing them. Ethan loved it -- he reminded me so much of Christian and Rae when they were young and we would talk to artists on trips. He gave us his card and his email address because Ethan wanted his Dad to have it.

After that we passed through several towns on the reservation before arriving at the Grand Canyon. We had fun looking at all of the rock formations in the desert trying to describe what the rocks resembled. There were several alligators, lizards, and churches.
Ethan also got a kick out of the little dust whirlwinds or dust devils that resembled little tornadoes. We drove through one and we could feel our car sway. Nothing dramatic, more like a gust of wind.

Finally we reached the Grand Canyon. Ethan has always like the gorges and canyons, but when he saw the tremendous size of these canyons he was amazed. He loved Miles explanation of how it was formed and how long it took.

All in all, even with our little mishap, this was a great day. Ethan did a few things he will remember all of his life. And on top of that, he enjoyed it while learning.
Now he is just really looking forward to seeing his dad tomorrow.