View the Gallery >> Page One: Death Valley, CA -->> Navajo Nation Page Two: Canyon De Chelly - Washington DC Canyon De Chelly, AZ These cliff dwellings are located near the eastern side of the Navajo Nation. It was here that the Dine (The Dine is true name of the Navajo People. Navajo is just some random Spanish word that stuck. Dine means ‘The People’) It was here that the Dine held off the Spanish Conquistadors in the 1600’s and held off the Militia from New Mexico and is also the place where the U.S. army came in, burned all their crops, destroyed their life stock and shot a bunch of woman and children who were hiding in a cave. Massacre Cave as it is aptly named. I met an Indian friend named Woody Tsosie. I traded him a website for a hand carved ring. I ended up staying at his families place for the evening and he invited me to attend a Traditional Navajo Healing ceremony. Hoovenweep, UT This was probably the second most remote place I visited. It’s located on the southern corner of the Utah and Colorado border, but it might as well be located on the moon. There’s nothing around here, but some mountains shaped like a sleeping Indian, some plowed fields and the dirt road that took me there. The ruins here were built in the later stone architecture similar to the Mesa Verde period. You can tell by the brick and motar structure they implemented sometimes using multi layered walls and….. and that’s all I’m going to pretend like I know. I’m just a traveling artist, not a historian. Lowry Pueblo This place was interesting in that I was able to explore around the ruins at night under the full moon. I will admit, I felt a little weirded out and there were two places I wouldn’t hike into. The first was the Great Kiva, which was a circular pit about five feet deep where the Anasazi performed their rituals and holy ceremonies. The second was this building that was covered and really dark and really spooky. The Kiva wasn’t climbed into out of respect, the building wasn’t entered because I was a chicken and it was dark and I had no business climbing around Indian ruins under a full moon. Pic 1          Pic 2          Pic 3          Pic 4          Navajo Nation I figured since I was out this way that I should drive through the Navajo Nation. It was interesting because I never realized that it's basically like another country. Different language, different customs, different people. The map said that this one lane road I was driving on cut straight through the middle of it. The map didn't say how bad the roads were and it certainly didn't mention the lack of appropriate signage. I found out why the roads were awful though, it's because a mining company secured the rights to all the minerals in exchange for building roads. Apparently just cutting the grass and putting up cardboard sings is considered a good enough road for the Company. The people I met here were generally nice. I enjoyed shopping at the grocery store cause not a single person in there was speaking any english. I felt like I was back in another country again. At first I thought that the quality of living wasn't the best because when I drove around all I saw was nothing, and nothing, then a little more of nothing, and then some run down trailer, then back to nothing and repeat. It seemed lonely and desolate at first, but as I got to know the customs and the philosphies of the Dine, I realized that this wasn't lonely at all. They live in small family groups and there is a tight network of families and everyone knows each other. It contrasted quite differently from the way I'm used to living where there are six million people living all on top of each other, yet I don't know even one of my neighbors names. Pic 1          Pic 2          Pic 3          Pic 4          Mesa Verde I’m sure most people have heard of this place. I think it lives up to it’s reputation. I wasn’t aware just how bad ass these Anasazi were. They chose some amazing sites for living. It sure makes suburbia look lame. But then again, there weren’t six hundred thousand people living in one town. I took the tour, saw the ruins, saw the petroglyphs, hiked some trails, took some pictures, eat some lunch and left. Good times though. Chaco Canyon I think Chaco Canyon is the winner of the most out of the way place to get to. Miles of highway followed by miles of dirt roads followed by a 600 mile network of interconnecting cave tunnels and mine shafts, followed by a forty yard tight rope walk and ending with a fifteen foot leap over a crocodile pit. This place gave me new appreciation for the natives of America. These ‘great houses’ were huge structures out in the middle of nowhere. Well, I guess "out in the middle of nowhere" now, was probably the center of their universe then. So everything’s relative I suppose. Lots of good hiking here, although only if you break the rules since you are supposed to stay only on the trails at these archeological sites. If I did break the law, I probably would have climbed up to the top of the plateau to get some good views. Then I probably would have hiked way too far. Farther then all the buildings that I wanted to take pics of. Then I would have looked up and realized that the sun is setting and the place is closing. I bet I would have tried to go back the way I came, but then I would have realized that it was hard enough to climb up, I certainly wouldn’t be able to climb down. Then I was have looked up canyon at the only place that looked like it might be easy to downclimb. Then I would have thought that it’d take me forever to hike there. I’m sure I would have started anyway. I’d just have to hope that there was this little alleyway created by a shaft in the rocks that I could climb down if I took the bold step of throwing my pack down first. It’s bold because I might not be able to make it down and then I’m coatless, it’s night, it’s cold, and once again I’m in the middle of nowhere. But I’d never break the law so I’m sure none of that probably happened. Pic 1          Pic 2          Pic 3          Pic 4          Great Sand Dunes, CO You might not realize it by the name, but this place is filled with these Great Sand Dunes. It’s the only place I’ve ever seen that resembles your stereotypical desert. Even the great Thar desert in western India merely looked like a rock scrubbed wasteland. This place is straight out of the Sahara’s. I painted some dunes, hiked to the tallest one, painted some more. Watched the sunset and met the only two other idiots who bother hiking up a hill made of sand, in sub zero weather to watch the sunset that happens everyday anyway. They ended up being two cool guys on their own cross country road trip from Massachusetes to the Northwest via the Southwest. We ended up eating like kings this night, I made some Thai style Broccoli and Rice and they made some Indian Lentil thing. Then we all went on a freezing wander through the dunes at night. Pic 1          Pic 2          Pic 3          Pic 4          Breckenridge The morning I left the dunes I didn’t know where I was going to next. I just looked at my map and chose a destination. I knew I had some friends that lived in Alma, but worked in Breckinridge. Once I got in cell phone coverage I called them up, they invited me to stay and offered some free ski passes at the mountain. Sounded good to me. The skiing was incredible. Apparently it was some of the best they ever had. Good snow, warm temperatures, friends to ski with. It was a perfect day. Although I did learn that I don’t like skiing with head phones on. I don’t ski very often, but like everything else I do, I have the tendency to try to go fast. So I’m blazing down the mountain, not really in control in the first place and listening to something like AC/DC which makes me only want to go faster and be less in control– it’s a recipe for disaster. Someone recommended that I listen to Vivaldi, but what’s the fun in that? On the drive back to Alma, we had to go over the pass, but the pass was blocked because of an apparent mountain wacko with a shot gun shooting at cars driving over the pass. So we went on a moonlit snow hike and waited till he ran out of ammo. My hosts Brian and Hilary went above and beyond the call of duty by giving me a guitar on the way out. Here, stay in my house, eat our food, take our ski passes, and please while you’re here…. Take my guitar. Denver So from Breck it was off to Denver, where I met an old friend and stayed in a real house for a few days, cooked with a real stove, enjoyed some good conversation, learned a little guitar from one of the founding members of Schmoctor. Soon I was feeling the itch to start painting again and it was time to make my way back to Washington D.C. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. I just blazed across the rest of America. So after a month on the road, sleeping outside, being lost half the time, seeing incredible new things, I arrived at my uncle’s home. All warm and welcoming, filled with food, and family. It was a perfect ending. Pic 1          Pic 2          Pic 3          Pic 4          Death Valley, CA -->> Navajo Nation Canyon De Chelly - Washington DC