We left the warm, sunny skies of Tucson and headed up through the circuitous mountain passes north on Hwy 77. We also left the lovely, picturesque saguaro cactus and as we departed, some odd form of southwestern pine took it’s place. The road was a white knuckle (especially towing an airstream), but we made it to Snowflake and beyond in fine form. The White Mountains are a refuge for Arizonans during the summer months, and boasts many lakes. We spent 2 nights in Holbrook, very close to the Petrified Forest National Park, so of course we spent several hours there, and drove to D.B. Burnham trading post in Sanders, AZ, to buy some stellar rug yarn, and later to Windslow to enjoy a top tier dinner at La Posada restaurant. If you are ever in the area, all three stops are worth the drive.
Our altitude in Holbrook is about 5,000 feet and the nights are getting down to freezing. No sun today, so it stayed cool for our walk around the Blue Mesa in the Petrified Forest National Park.
Cisco & me in the Petrified Forest
I put the Pendleton blanket back on the bed, and we were happy to have it!
We then headed north on Hwy 191 towards Ganado, where the Hubbell Trading Post still operates.
Hubbell trading post
To qualify as an authentic trading post, you have to have a store, where commodities, such as milk are sold, a pawn shop, and a gallery. I was amazed at the rugs and woven baskets! Just as I was ready to check out with my small purchase, I enjoyed the opportunity to listen to a Navajo woman, speaking her language, bartering with the trading post “guy” (also Native American) over the sale price of the handwoven rug she had just brought in. These posts are alive and thriving, hopefully to the benefit of the indigenous people. I would love to come back here and hang with one of the weavers for a couple of months at some point.
We traveled northward on Hwy 191, a route I’d recommend to anyone who loves scenery, toward the Utah border and into Moab. The desert in the 4 corners area is amazing. Called 4 corners, because of the convergence of the 4 edges of the states of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. Doesn’t happen anywhere else in our glorious US. The carved, red promonatires, make it really hard to keep your eyes on the road. Then, as we approached Moab, the snowcapped peaks in the distance counterbalanced the desert drama with amazing affect. More on Moab to come.
Teresa Van Haalen Ventures 