Monday

Monday 13th November - the Cold Day

Once again, we woke up early after a fitful night, but this time we had a slightly more healthy breakfast, provided by the hotel.  Our target for today was Canyon de Chelly National Monument.  Canyon de Chelly has been inhabited for many years, earlier by the Pueblo people and later by the Navajo.  While the scenery is impressive, although no more so than in many other parts of Arizona, it is really the history of the place that makes it special.

We left Holbrook and headed North to Chinle, the entrance town at the Canyon.  It took a bit longer than we originally envisaged, mainly due to the odd coffee stop and the slower limits on the roads.  It was also freezing - the temperature when we left the hotel was just above 0, and it didn't really rise much until the afternoon.

When we got to Chinle, we had a warming bowl of soup, and then headed off down the Southern Rim road.  There are 7 different stops overlooking the canyon, some right beside the road and some requiring a short walk.  The views of both the rocks and the ancient cliff dwellings were impressive, but the temperature made any lingering difficult.  This is also not a place for anyone with a fear of heights - the cliffs have many sheer drops of 700 feet to the canyon floor.

In the afternoon, we doubled back and headed along the North Rim.  As this also took longer than expected, we finally found ourselves 150 miles away from our hotel, and so we took the fast route back, down Arizona Route 12, past the snow and along Interstate 40 in the dark.  A good day, but a little too long.