The Land of Enchantment and a long drive there and back again (get comfortable! This is a long post ... but I hope you will enjoy a snippet of my week long journey =)

I spent the last week on a great SouthWest adventure.  It has been far too long since I have taken a proper drive so when the opportunity to present with my research partner at the Society for Applied Anthropology conference in Santa Fe became reality, I decided to drive down and explore along the way. 

I have long loved the land of the Navajo Nation as I have driven many times across the Western edge going back and forth between Phoenix.  I have always wanted to explore further into its interior but there was never sufficient time nor motivation until this week.

Monument Valley

 

Mexican Hat

Entering the Navajo Nation

It was hard to make it to Monument Valley itself because there was so much beauty en route.  This is looking back North at all of the formations I had already passed.

As I was photographing, I noticed this small window that had formed in the rock (this is a close up of one of the mittens).  In our research we study the stories or narratives that our participants tell us.  The immediate effects of injury often creates a disconnect between a person's changed physical state and the story that a person has created of their life in the past and of what they expect in the future.  Our findings show that there are multiple ways in which occupational therapists can assist a person in creating an individual, hopeful, and meaningful story of what their future will be within the context of their changed body.  This rock reminds me of narrative.  As I see the small space I think of how the formation of the mittens once started and I wonder at what future formation may yet emerge from this small space.

 

The Mitten

Rain God Mesa

This was one of my favorite places in the whole park.  Not because of the view, although it was beautiful, but because of the serenity.  Having grown up in Idaho, I love the wind.  I feel enveloped, embraced, comforted by it.  This spot was beautifully quiet except for the gentle comfort of the wind.

Canyon De Chelly

Canyon de Chelly is another place that I have wanted to go since the time that I found out about it in an Arizona Highways photo article.  Canyon de Chelly is a fascinating place because it is still so full of life and the history is far more than dates and names, it is sacred and rich with meaning to the Navajo.  It is hard to not sense that life and meaning in looking at an ancient ruin or petroglyth or the sheep grazing in the canyon, the lines of a field currently being farmed, or the basket ball standard for recreation after the work.

The canyon was almost impossible to photograph because of the intense light and dark shadows ... but this same light and shadow intrigued me as I looked at objects on the canyon floor.  I love the two trees that emerge in this image.

This is one of the spots in Canyon de Chelly where the Navajo were able to resist the Spaniards.  The Navajo, but not the Spaniards,were able to climb this rock island through its natural features and large "moveable notched poles" that when removed made the climb impossible.

White House Ruin.  Because this is Navajo land (important both because it is sacred and it is a place to live, work, and continue the Navajo lifestyle) going into the canyon is prohibited without a Navajo or Park Service guide with the exception of a 2 1/2 mile hike to the base of White House Ruin.  It was a fantastic hike for many reasons, ironically, the least of which was seeing the ruin. 

Canyon floor

View of the canyon part way down.

Spider Rock ... atop Spider Rock sits Spider Woman who taught the Navajo women to weave. 

 

Window Rock

Window Rock is the Tribal Headquarters of the Navajo Nation.  During the 2002 Olympics I went to a temporary museum about the Navajo beliefs about the creation of the Navajo people.  The exhibit alone was wonderful but an experience that still makes me tear up to think of it was being able to meet a couple of the Navajo Code Talkers.  The sculpture above honors their work in saving the lives of many Marines, which now of course is even more meaningful to me as I pray for our Marine heroes Jay, Josh, and Clay, but also pray for heroes like the Navajo Code talkers to protect them.

Rio Grande Nature Center - Albuquerque, NM

I first fell in love with this song when I was in the Eastern Sierra and Yosemite.  Driving with the Merced River I was enchanted with the idea of the life of a river and its relationship to temporality and personal and cultural history.  It is perhaps because of this song that when I found out that the Rio Grande ran through Albuquerque and that there was a nature center on its banks, I knew that I needed to stand on its shore.  It was enchanting!  My other encounters with the Rio Grande on the drive home from Santa Fe were serendipitous and added to my affection for the "canyons white and wild, stretches calm & mild ... cutting through my soul and to my veins."

Canada Geese at a wetland at the Nature Center

Santa Fe

Santa Fe was super busy with lots of conference sessions, getting ready for our presentation, walks, meals, etc, etc and I didn't take many pictures ... but I will copy over the pics that I posted on facebook in case you didn't see them.

 

3-19-09 "Taking a quick break during a session in Santa Fe"

3-19-09 "Out for a bike ride, saw a church sign that said 'stand still and consider the wondrous works of God' and I decided that I would =)"

3-19-09 "New Mexico State House - This is the best sculpture that I have ever seen at a seat of government, a depiction of a tug-of-war!"

3-20-09 "Long tiring stressful meeting"

3-21-09 "Walking back to the conference center ... almost time to present! Ah the exhilaration of nerves!! Love it!!!"

3-22-09 "Leaving Santa Fe ... But first a drive through the mountains to Taos! =)"

3-22-09 "Rio Grande Gorge -- 'an unbroken chain. Snow and tears and rain. Cutting through my soul and to my veins. And the waters rise, paint the Rocky Mountain skies' Tish Hinojosa 'By the Rio Grande'"

3-22-09 "Taos, NM"

3-22-09 "Rio Grande Gorge - even more gorge-ous here! 'Canyons white and wild, stretches calm and mild cutting through the stones of history ... one more circle round the world again, one more year rolls down the Rio Grande.' Tish Hinojosa 'By the Rio Grande'"

The long drive home

New Mexico mountains

Near the junction of Hwy 64 & Hwy 84 in New Mexico

This is right near the New Mexico / Colorado boundary.  When I saw the image and photographed it that fact was not foremost in my mind.  However as I continued to drive, I realized that one mountain was in New Mexico and the other in Colorado.  A beautiful juxtaposition between the personalities of the two states.  I was sad to cross the state line, to leave the land of enchantment; for it captured my heart.

Mesa Verde - I came here as a child and was quite impressed with it.  I think that in my young mind I thought that it was one of a kind because I had never seen anything else like it.  I think that it is fitting that I return to one of my early anthropological experiences after having seen so many cliff dwellings in Canyon de Chelly at the beginning of my trip and after having gained so much knowledge of culture and occupation at the Society for Applied Anthropology conference.  It brings my week long journey full circle.

Mesa Verde felt different to me than did Canyon de Chelly.  Perhaps it was the disconnect of between the stories of the ancient and modern inhabitants of the space which leaves dates and names but lacks present connection to place; something that Canyon de Chelly so richly had. I think that it is reflective of what I have learned in doing research and in attending the conference. The world can be viewed at the superficial or factual level but without considering the complexities of meaning individually and societally, the majority of experience will be missed and the opportunity to affect positive change will be stifled.