Today we explored Navajo Nation. Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous Native Indian homeland and occupies northeastern area of Arizona, southeastern area of Utah and northwestern area of New Mexico covering 26,000 square miles. The population is 170,000. It has its own government and law. It is just a vast, boundless, immense land! After leaving Gallup, NW around 10:00 am, we kept driving west on Route 264 which cuts trough Navajo Nation. You feel like you are in the center of the ultra super-sized IMAX theater. You see 360 degree view of desert, then endless series of humongous red rock layers, then hundred thousands of yellow sand mountains. It's hard to believe this is a part of the US. Rather, it does not seem like this is the earth. Here are two video clips.
とはいうものの、おみやげものやでインディアンの絵を買ったときは、ちゃんとクレジットカードが使えたし（はっきりいって電気がきているだけでもびっくりというようなところだったけど）、インディアンの人たちが住む家を建てているところを通りかかると、ちゃんと壁にはTyvex（全米で使われているデュポンのインシュレーター）が張ってあった。やっぱりアメリカなんだな。
Nevertheless, when we bought couple souvenirs at a Native American shop, which did not seem to have any civilization in the surroundings other than endlessly continuing Route 264, they accepted my credit card all right. Also when we passes a Native Indian house being build in the midst of desert, we saw the logo of Tyvex on walls. This is America after all.
道路わきにあった巨石群。実はここはナバホの地の動物を集めた動物園。動物園と聞けば入らずにはいられない人間が我が家には約一名おり、せがまれて入ってみればなんと入場料はタダ。献金箱が置いてあったので形だけ１ドル入れて入ったのだが、案外いろいろな動物がいて楽しめる。”タダなのにいいところだったね”と主人がいうと、”ママ、20ドルぐらいドネートしてよ”と息子。決してぜいたくではないインディアンの人たちの暮らし向きを見てきたので、（いつもはスーパー にくったらしいクソガキだけど、ホ・ン・トはやさしい）息子のひとことでした。そういわれてはと20ドルちゃんと箱に入れてきました。
A group of giant rocks on the side of the road. Actually this is a zoo with various animals found on Navajo homeland. We have a little family member who cannot resist any kind of zoos, and she just pulled us in. Surprisingly, the admission was free. There was a little donation box, so we just put a dollar bill as a formality and walked in. It turned out to be a good sized zoo with good number of animals and we enjoyed it. When my husband said, "it was a good deal for a free admission", our son replied, "you definitely should donate $20." It seems like he had his own thinking after seeing many of Native Indians' rather modest lifestyle.
昔のおうち。木を組んで、その上から土でかためたシンプルなもの。中はさぞかし暑いだろうと思いきや、とても涼しいのでびっくり。昔の人の知恵だね。
Old Native American house. A simple structure of logs and mud. We expected it to be hot inside, but it was amazingly cool. Clever!
これは、グランド・キャニオンの端の端。前菜とでもいいましょうか。それでもすごかった。明日は本物のグランド・キャニオンに行く予定。
This is a tip of the Grand Canyon, which we are planning to visit tomorrow. It deserved a big wow already.
アリゾナ州フラグスタッフまで行き、朝ｐｒiceline.comで予約したホテルへ。ホテルにあったSakuraという鉄板焼きレストランで夕食。パフォーマンスもすごかったけど、量もすごかった。
そうそう、昨日からの引越し屋の一件ですが、まだ解決せず。今までずっと世話をしてくれていた引越し会社の担当者のダイアンがバケーションにいってしまっているので、よけいに話が面倒くさい。ダイアンのボスのエレノア、トラック・ドライバーのトニー、主人の雇用主の３者を巻き込んで、”追加料金なし8/18に荷降ろし”してもらえるよう未だ交渉中。
We drove down on Route 89 to Flagstaff, AZ and arrived in a hotel which we booked on priceline.com this morning. In a Teppanyaki restaurant inside the hotel, we ate our dinner. The performance was A+ and the volume was A+.
Well, remember the little trouble we had with our mover? We are still working on it. Diane, our contact with the mover, is on vacation, which further complicates things. We are still working on "8/18 delivery without the additional charge of $2,500". We will keep you posted.
