Adventures on the Navajo Reservation

We forgot to mention that yesterday we were having battery trouble and had to jump start the van. Today, the goal was to get to AutoZone in Tuba City for a replacement. Not a problem! On our way downhill from Jacob Lake, we went through Vermillion Hills National Monument. A visual treat with gorgeous red hills, yellow grass, green juniper, and blue skies.

Vermillion Cliffs National Monument

 At AutoZone in Tuba City, a capable and polite young man helped us and installed the new one. We asked him the best place for food, and he directed us to the Council House lot near the recycling center, where a half dozen or so booths were set up. We had the very best frybread lunch ever - with roasted mutton, green chilis, corn on the cob and tea. We were the only tourists in sight. After that, a visit to the Tuba City Trading Post. They now have a Navajo Museum and Code Talker Museum next door.

Burger King Exhibit

In Kayenta AZ, in the shadow of Monument Valley, we stopped at the Burger King. Not for the burgers, but for the wonderful exhibit on Navajo Code Talkers.  A man was talking to his father, WWII Veteran and Navajo Code Talker P. King Mike, about his trunks of war memorabilia, from postcards and guns to canteens and uniforms. The brother of another Code Talker owned this Burger King, and somehow the display ended up here. Well worth the stop!

Burger King Objects on Display

                               Our next stop was in Bluff, Utah, at the Sand Island Petroglyph Panel, along the San Juan River.  The sign said "hundreds" of petroglyphs, but there were definitely thousands along an escarpment. This is a BLM site (well done, BLM!), and the petroglyphs are vaguely dated as 300 to 3,000 years old. There's a campground here, next time we'll have to stay.

Another great thing about Bluff is Twin Rocks Trading Post. We had fun looking at the fabulous baskets and other artworks, followed by a delicious dinner of corn/posole soup, chili, and frybread with honey.

We continued driving east then north, left the Navajo Reservation, and arrived in Cortez, CO at dusk.

Where the name Twin Rocks came from.

Some of the baskets available at Twin Rocks Trading Post.

Into Colorado before sunset.