Wow look at all this stuff OR Beauty is in the eyes of THIS beholder

We left Tucson, AZ on the 1st of May and arrived in Kayenta, AZ on the 2nd of May.  Kayenta is a city in the Navajo Nation.  The Navajo Nation's reservation includes much of Northeast Arizona; Northwest New Mexico and Southeastern Utah.  It covers 27, 425 square miles making it slightly larger than the state of Massachusetts.

The land there is lovely.  Barren to a large extent but amazing in its beauty.  Monument Valley is on the Navajo Reservation.  It is actually a Navajo Nation Park.  Here are some pictures.  (Many of them may seem familiar.  John Ford used to shoot many of his westerns in Monument Valley.)

Another beautiful area is Canyon de Chelly.  Below are some pictures of this "Mini Grand Canyon."

Also in Canyon de Chelly is an Anazasi ruin (a tribe that lived in the area BEFORE the Navajo).  I got one picture of this ruin:

We also had the opportunity to go to the Navajo National Monument.  This is the site of another, much larger, Anazasi ruin.  Two pictures are below.

Here are some other pictures from the Navajo National Monument.

They took the whole Indian nation, put us on this Reservation

We left Tucson Saturday morning and got to Kayenta, AZ about 3:30 in the afternoon.  We are going to be here until the 15th of the month.   The first week we are going to be visiting individuals that, for one reason or another, have left the church or, in some cases, visited many times and shown an interest in learning more about the faith.  Only Greg and Cathy Ryznar and Irene and I are here.  We enjoy one another's company quite a bit so it will be an enjoyable  sojourn.

I've had a soft spot in my heart for American Indians since I was in college.  My roommate at Central Washington State College was a Makah Indian.  (The very tip of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state is there reservation).  The plight of the American Indian is a tragic situation.  Conquered, Lied to Repeatedly, Often Displaced from their homelands and placed on reservations UNTIL that land became valuable to others also - at which time they were involuntarily moved again.  Unemployment is rampant on reservations.  Alcoholism and Drug Abuse is always through the roof.  It such a sad, sad situation.

Kayenta is on the Navajo Indian Reservation.  It is the largest Indian Reservation in the United States.  It covers portions of 3 states:  Arizona, Utah and New Mexico:

In the Arizona Region of the reservation the land is mainly sandstone.  This leads to some spectacular scenery:  Monument National Park is on the reservation (in Southern Utah and Northeast Arizona); Four Corners is on the reservation (the point at which Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado all meet).  It completely surrounds the Hopi Indian Reservation.