Rosa's Big Adventure

We spent Sunday on our own. The idea being to see something new and do some tourist shopping in Tuba City, the Navajo city that sits at the entrance to the Hopi Mesas. (Hopi is surrounded by the Navajo nation.)

So, Sharon, master logistician, came up with Coal Mine Canyon, an obscure canyon off Highway 264. Our first challenge was to find it, various directions put it in several locations, finally I found a set of coordinates for the canyon that that got us right there. We had been warned that the dirt road leading there was rough, but Rocinante got us there without incident. Who needs an SUV when you gots a 1M?

The rest of it pretty much speaks for itself. The canyon is realtively small, but spectacular. There are not-too-arduous paths down to the bottom, but since Sharon declined to go very far and my legs are still post-surgically weak I did not go as far as I would have liked or even been able (I think). But still I managed to cover almost a mile around the rim.

Those of you who follow our travels and attend pen shows know that Rosa is generally with us in our travels, though often feeling greatly overlooked. Tired of being cooped in the car, this morning Rosa insisted on walking down along the canyon rim with me. But along the trail she fell (or jumped?) from my pocket. Fortunately she landed on the trail where she waited patiently almost an hour for rescue.

After rescue, Rosa contemplates.

An exhausted Rosa sleeps off her fears.

 For her terror and agony, she later got a beaded silver Navajo necklace at one of our souvenir stops.