spontaneous road trip to the reservations

part I-the road trip.

off to arizona with june, christina, and thayne to junes native homeland, the Navajo reservations. the desert never ends. and we literally were thanking the heavens every 2 seconds for air conditioning. we had to stop and sight see along the way and found the cutest little bo-dunk cafe and just had to eat there, despite there insanely over-priced food.


part II-the arrival.

we literally hopped on the horses the second we got there. my smile didn't come off my face from then on. the natives ride bare back most of the time, so-without hesitating, we tried to blend in and ride 'em bare backed not knowing my butt would be bruised up the wazoo. junes older brother, reggie, took us on a "hike" to show us how far long the reservation stretched. it was jaw dropping how beautiful the never ending land was.

part III-the races.

this was an awesome day. the natives all get together and have a huge reservation reunion which included kid races, hoola hoop races, watermelon eating races, and of course bare backed horse races. we just sat there on our little blanket, eating REAL Navajo tacos. my word, i will only and forever eat Navajo tacos there. and it was kind of intimidating being the only white people out of hundreds of natives. we were definitely the minority

part IV-lake powell.

part of the reservation included a branch of lake powell. promise words can't even describe how freaking happy we were considering the fact that we were outside for those races for 6 hours in 100 degree weather. any kind of water for that matter sounded like heaven on earth.

part V-the Navajo tribe food.

meat. meat is all we had for 3 days straight (and i'm still clogged). mutton, pork, steaks and hot dogs (ha, we actually brought the hot dogs to help out with the meals, little did we know we would look like a bunch of white idiots bringing nasty, fake meat). i really am not exaggerating in the least bit when i say all we ate was meat. and not just meat, home-made tortilla's over the fire. all they use to make these master-pieces are flour, baking powder and water. i never knew something so simple could make something so delicious. me and brad vowed that we would only eat home-made, over the fire, one inch thick, flour tortillas for the rest of our lives.

part VI-the Navajo people. (junes family)

just thinking about her family and their traditions is making me smile. they all still spoke Navajo, which sounded like gibberish to me. i think i might have even offended one them when i came into the living room and said "are you guys speaking gibberish over there".
never have i come across such hard working, respectful, and peaceful people. i was blown away at how close they still live there lives to the traditions of there ancestors. they actually just recently installed electricity into there home a couple of years ago.
they love and respect the nature around them in such a way that you can't imagine. you want to just sit and watch the land for hours just so you can try to understand the love they have for the earth. i want to raise my kids so they respect and love nature as much as they do. even though we were in the middle of the desert with nothing but sage brush, it was beautiful to them.....and i really liked that.
but the thing that i loved the most about her family is how respectful they are to people. they never spoke ill of anyone, or anything for that matter. you can just tell they have such a peace about them.
what i'm rambling about here, is just how refreshing it was to be around people that respected you, for the soul reason because you are a part of this earth and have a place in it. it was incredible to be with people that genuinely wanted to help you see and understand the beauty around you.
it was a priceless experience that taught me some good old life lessons. and also helped me realize how freakin lazy of a person i am. i have much more respect for those natives now and really do hope to see them again.

(thought this was cool...)