On the road at 9am from Gallup so everyone in good spirits after a good nights sleep! Stopping off at 'Indian Ruins, Inc' along Route 66, we had a browse in Cody Yellowhorse's (a Navajo Indian) store which sold arts and crafts including ornate headdresses, drums, recorders, jewellery, shoes etc. all handmade by native tribes who live in the reservation. Cody told us about his life as a native American Indian living in Arizona. He then gave us all a traditional Indian blessing in each direction, from the youngest (Kate) to the eldest (Paul and Debbie being labelled grandma and granddad!). Being handed an arrow head each gave us lifelong protection as he spoke about the principal of living and being thankful for today, not thinking about yesterday as those actions have already been done, and to not worry about tomorrow as you can't alter your future.
Cody also wrote down some native language phrases:
yaa teeh' - hello
hago'a'natt - bye
a-kee'heet - thank you
Back on the road again before stopping at a service station - where everyone was extremely excited to discover that they sold pot noodles! Not sure if 'real food' is an appropriate description, however when living off cereal bars and crisps all week it certainly is a step up! Exactly 16 minutes later we arrived at the motel...which was the wrong one. Back on the road and we had finally arrived at the next Days Inn...wrong one again. Third time lucky and we eventually arrived at the right motel - and we were all very pleased when we walked in to a marble floor lobby with fish tanks, a pool table, a bar and leather couches! Luxury! The pool was the cherry on top...9ft 3m deep and just waiting for us to fill it.
But before we could go in it was time for the road show. A ten minute drive into the town centre (which was one of the nicest we've been to), a quick look around the shops and then in to an old listed building for the road show presentation and a buffet on the house which was incredible - yay real food!
Back to the motel for some swimming and an early night before we set off for the Grand Canyon tomorrow morning, and Needles in the afternoon!
Cody also wrote down some native language phrases:
yaa teeh' - hello
hago'a'natt - bye
a-kee'heet - thank you
Back on the road again before stopping at a service station - where everyone was extremely excited to discover that they sold pot noodles! Not sure if 'real food' is an appropriate description, however when living off cereal bars and crisps all week it certainly is a step up! Exactly 16 minutes later we arrived at the motel...which was the wrong one. Back on the road and we had finally arrived at the next Days Inn...wrong one again. Third time lucky and we eventually arrived at the right motel - and we were all very pleased when we walked in to a marble floor lobby with fish tanks, a pool table, a bar and leather couches! Luxury! The pool was the cherry on top...9ft 3m deep and just waiting for us to fill it.
But before we could go in it was time for the road show. A ten minute drive into the town centre (which was one of the nicest we've been to), a quick look around the shops and then in to an old listed building for the road show presentation and a buffet on the house which was incredible - yay real food!
Back to the motel for some swimming and an early night before we set off for the Grand Canyon tomorrow morning, and Needles in the afternoon!