Canyon de Chelly

Our spring break in Northern Arizona also included a day at Canyon de Chelly. I learned why it is pronounced “shay”: the Navajo word is Tseyi, meaning “within the rocks,” and when the Spanish came along they transliterated that to Chelly and added “Canyon de,” which was redundant. An amusing representation of the cultural mixing and misinterpreting of colonialism. We took a driving tour into the canyon. This canyon is less spectacular and more intimate than Monument Valley, more about the human history. The big attraction for people like us is the cliff dwellings and petroglyphs and pictographs, which are amazing. But also it was interesting to learn that plenty of families still live in Tseyi, especially in the summer; they farm, and graze horses and sheep, and overall have a life not entirely unlike the people who built those cave dwellings.

Here we are outside our tour vehicle with our guide, Perry, on the right. Much more comfortable than the open-air truck in Monument Valley, but much less visibility.

The canyon is pretty spectacular when you get all the way into it. Car on the lower right for scale. 

The drive is all through the "wash" of the river that flows in the canyon, mostly just a few inches deep.

There are cliff dwellings everywhere in the canyon; here are some we got relatively close to. Note both levels.

It's interesting to think about; why build there? There is good shelter and good isolation from invaders (human or animal), but man, the work of just getting in and out of your little town all the time, and carrying water? seems like a lot. Another possibility is that there were dwellings all over the canyon, and the cliff dwellings are the only ones left (because they are protected from the elements, and hard to get to).

Pictographs and petroglyphs are a major attraction. I learned that pictographs are drawings on rock, added with paint or stain; petroglyphs are drawings pecked into the rock. As for what they mean, very hard to say. Some of them seem like they might be pieces of a written language like Egyptian hieroglyphs, some seem to show scenes of events like hunting parties, some seem like art, some seem like graffiti. It is undeniably something, though, to be looking at marks made by ancient people.

Petroglyph from Canyon de Chelly:

Petroglyph from Monument Valley:

Back to Canyon de Chelly for pictographs: these are antelopes.

You may have to enlarge this one to see the pictographs: imagine someone climbing up to the base of that cliff face to do these. wow.

Fun with monuments

Harry set up for us to take a bunch of goofy photos ("for Facebook!"), which I have to admit are awesome.

Monument Valley

The huge, wonderful highlight of Monument Valley was taking a tour into the valley – we used the Navajo Spirit tour company and they were completely awesome, I highly recommend them. It was such a funny mix: the jaw-dropping monuments (and who knew there were SO MANY of them?), the unbelievable howling wind smiting you with dust, the guide playing his granddaughter’s hypnotic Indian flute while we lay back on a rock under a natural arch, arriving to visit a lady in a mud hovel (they are called hogans) for a weaving demo but she was out, petroglyphs and pictographs (and now I know the difference), learning about our guide’s personal history (punished for speaking Navajo in school), laughing at the silly Facebook photo ops. I think the mix of sacred / pragmatic / silly / primitive / modern is probably pretty much how it is on the Navajo nation, or maybe any reservation. It was extremely educational and physically uncomfortable and fantastically satisfying.

The truck was an open-air safari kind of thing pulled along sandy roads by a big tough truck.

You are only allowed into Monument Valley with a Navajo guide, which is part of their stewardship.

We went in the spring to avoid the heat, ad the temperatures were fine for our whole trip - kind of chilly actually, even with the sun. But the wind, oh my heavens. On the day we went to Monument Valley the wind was blasting in record gusts, pelting us with dust and sand. We took every possible measure to shield ourselves from it. The boys had a good thing going with hats, hoodies to hold the hats on, sunglasses, and bandanas; the rest of us used scarves or what have you. It had not occurred to some of us that the cowboy/bandit look could be practical as well as stylish.

Here are a few of the hundreds of incredible monuments. They were left here when seas that used to fill the valley receded; this has happened three times. 

Up close, some of the formations have alcoves and arches and skylights. 

We stopped in one sheltered alcove to hear our guide, Harry, play his granddaughter's flute. Jordan tried it too; it is much like a recorder.

This wall has a bison shape in it. This would be the only bison around here - bison are a Plains thing.

The traditional housing here would be a hogan, made of wood and mud, which are the local materials. Inside, it was such a relief to be out of the wind, we were inclined to perceive them as absolutely fantastic.

Frybread

Much of our time in Northern Arizona was spent on the Navajo Nation. You could tell by the frybread. I had my first frybread on the road from the Grand Canyon to Monument Valley, in Tuba City at the Tuuvi Café, in the form of a Navajo taco. This is frybread topped with chili and taco toppings (lettuce, cheese, tomato, onion, sour cream, salsa), served flat on a plate. It is like a ten-inch fresh hot funnel cake, slathered with chili like a chili dog. It is messy and delicious and terrible. On the Navajo nation, you can and have frybread for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, digestion be damned, and sometimes we did. There are also “tortillas,” but these are frybread that is baked instead of fried, more like naan than what I would call a tortilla, and not tasty in my opinion. I chose to eat the frybread and enjoy it and feel ill later. 

In addition to the frybread, most places served delicious stews: they are brothy, like very hearty soups, and flavorful and fresh-tasting. Green chiles are in everything. Here is Deena enjoying a green chili pork stew in Monument Valley, with frybread of course.

Vacation restaurant eating involves a lot of waiting so Jordan taught us all the "here we sit like birds in the wilderness" hand game to pass the time. Amazingly I can't find a video of this online... he learned it at camp. Fists tap the table, then thumbs, then first fingers (index/middle), then two farthest fingers (index/pinkie), all to the rhythm of this little song. He is very fast. The rest of us are lame but entertained.

Grand Canyon

We spent Spring Break in Northern Arizona, Our first stop was the Grand Canyon, which I've never seen before. It was wonderful to see it in the changing light, shadows deepening the crevices, midday sun flattening it to a painting. The size of it is just not humanly perceivable; the fact that it is ten miles across, that it would take ten Golden Gate Bridges to span it, is just not something a person can see. 

We stayed at the Bright Angel Lodge, which is right on the rim - just skip out the door and take a look at one of the wonders of the world! Incredible location, and charming, simple accommodations.

We hiked down into the Canyon on the Bright Angel Trail, only for about half an hour; it felt great, and we were not prepared for anything more ambitious than that. 

We participated in a fun ranger-led program about fossils. Rangers at the Grand Canyon are eager to teach you about the geology that makes the Canyon what it is: sandstone, limestone, schist, and shale, uplift from the same plate tectonics that makes the Rocky Mountains, vertical downcutting by the Colorado River, and widening by erosion, especially from heavy rains that cause flash floods. In some layers, fossils are abundant. We found our own. No dinosaurs: these were all little sea life, like scallops and sea lily stems.

We also toured Hermit's Rest and the Desert Watchtower, two of the wonderful examples of Mary Colter's architecture in the area. 

Inside the Watchtower are fascinating and beautiful recreations of Hopi art.

We did a little artistic recreating of the human figures on our own, too.

Rainforest museum

A few weeks ago (sorry) Aaron's class presented the culmination of their Rainforest unit: a Rainforest Museum for which the second-graders create the exhibits. Each student made a fantastic poster of their selected rainforest animal, which they had studied for weeks, and presented their poster to attending parents and other students. Aaron's animal was the Red Panda. Each kid had an essay posted on their poster, and cue cards to remind them of interesting things they wanted to share with their audience. One of Aaron's favorite things to share was that "black bamboo is like cake to a red panda."

The whole presentation was fantastic. The students were very serious and enthusiastic, and extremely well-informed; every kid I talked to told me something I didn't know. Ahead of time, the class had come up with rules for parents visiting the museum, which were very insightful and kind of killed me:

1. Please don’t talk or text on your cell phones.
2. Cell phones may be used for taking pictures!
3. Please limit your visiting to out in the hall.
4. Visit many exhibits (not just your own child’s)
5. You are welcome to ask questions, but please don’t “quiz” us. We ask that you limit your questions to what we have researched and know.
6. Have fun!

Perhaps these rules should apply to any visit to anything, you know? Another great thing they worked out was that each poster had a button on it that said "Push Here" (just made of folded paper), which you could push to have the kid begin their presentation. I thought this was rather brilliant because at my own professional poster sessions, I spend a certain amount of energy trying to figure out when someone wants me to start talking, and when they want to be allowed to just read for a bit.

Here are a few other friends with their marvelous posters. I think Adam had fruit bats.

Anna was very identified with her chosen animal.

Avi presented about capybaras. I particularly liked how her poster illustrates a capybara family, since they live in families, which are not the same as herds.

More about their rainforest study here.

Aaron's oneg

SJCS has a short Shabbat service every Friday afternoon (one for the lower grades and a separate one for the upper grades) and at each service, two kids are specially honored. It's a beautiful thing. In the lower grades, the honored child has some special responsibilities (like setting up, and leading the blessings), their family attends, and they get a series of awesome compliments from classmates, from friends in other grades, from teachers, and from family. There are a lot of fun songs with excellent kid leadership. This is K-2, so ages 6-8... really flippin' cute, and also, they really know how to lead a room, which is awesome. I attend whenever I get a chance.

We attended Aaron's oneg (shabbat celebration) several weeks ago (okay, it was in February...) and wow, what sea of love! Each classmate prepared a whole page-size picture and a couple sentences saying what they like about Aaron, and some of these are read aloud in the ceremony. Other compliments are spontaneous. Aaron chose his Hebrew teacher, Morah Iris (Morah means Teacher), to compliment him, and she said "Simcha, I like you so much because you are so SIMCHA!" (simcha means joy!) and she went on to explain that his heart is so full of joy in all that he does, and also she loves how he makes WHOLE SENTENCES for her in Hebrew. Wow. 

Then two of the teachers told a Torah story using puppets, Mazel the Moose and Yonkel the rabbit. The lights went out and Mazel was afraid of the dark and did not know what to do, and he asked the children for help, and Aaron ... taught Mazel how to find the light within. He said that if you are nervous you can look inside yourself and feel something like a light, and you won't be afraid anymore because you will feel that light in you. Mazel tried to do this physically! (it was very funny) and said all he saw was his own furry stomach and his intestines, so instead, Aaron demonstrated. He got quiet and closed his eyes and took deep clean breaths. Mazel narrated everything he saw Aaron do. The whole room was suspended. And Mazel understood, and felt so much better, and he looked and saw the light in everyone else in the room, and he was amazed and said Aaron had really helped him. Yonkel reminded Mazel of a song about the light in the heart, and we all sang it. 

After it was all over I hugged him and told him how special that was, and he said, "Mommy that's what I do in bed every night!" I thought again how transparent Aaron is. He is just sharing his whole self.