If I was going to take a look around this place, the Southwest I think I would go to these places...

Phoenix, Arizona - the Heard Museum on Central in downtown Phoenix, they have an excellent display of arts crafts and cultural items. If by chance I had a chance I would have a sandwich at Long Wong's there is one on Indian School Road and 14th East next door to the Phoenix Indian Medical Center, on the northside, the soup is all you can eat, the atmospere is relaxed and the people friendly. It is good for sandwich and a place to study or read a book. They have by Arizona State University near campus, it is good place.

Scottsdale, Arizona-downtown, take a look at all the shops and art exhibits in the center of town, there are many interesting shops, I would drop by Ray Tracey's place, he is personal friend and has an art gallery. He is a Navajo boy who used to make real small tomohawks with a heart shape cut out of the hatchet that hung around the neck, he got a small part in a movie with Goldie Hawn and with the money he received bought a home in southern california. Here is his link he has a gallery in Santa Fe and in Scottsdale, he lives in Scottsdale, Arizona....his link http://www.gallery-piazza.com/GalleryPiazza/Artists/RayTracey/R_T.html  He is pretty nice guy and is doing pretty well, he is from Lower Greasewood, Arizona a small place North of Holbrook Arizona...

Sedona Arizona, take the old road, highway 89, get off the Black Canyon Highway, the interestate and take a leisurely drive Camp Verde, the home of the Yavapai Apache. They have ruins from long ago right along the road, and from there you drive north and if you want to visit a ghost town, that would be Jerome, it is just South of Sedona. It is the home of free spirits, I guess you could say old time hippies, it is a nice place. You can drive though Sedona and there are many shops, galleries and stores there. It is the home of the wealthy and the prices reflect it. It is the location of many movies and the home of several movie stars. You might run into one at the Circle K there. Stop by Garland's House of Rugs, it has the largest selection of Navajo Rugs in the Southwest. You can just take a look around and see rugs from each area, the mellow yellows and browns of Burntwater, the brilliant reds, black and gray of Ganado reds, and those made by the Tauglechees, Jumbos and some others from Two Gray Hills. The prices are high but you can look and maybe see some Navajo people come and barter a sale of their work there. Stop by the Many Hands Gallery, some  of the best Hopi pots, and art work from many tribes are there from the ironwood of the Seri, the baskets of Apache, Pima and maybe a Navajo Wedding Basket and the jewelry and work is the best of many places around.

Drive North and drive through Oak Creek Canyon, it is switchbacks up into the red rocks, you have seen time and again in the old movies, stop at Slide Rock, where a natural slide in a slot canyon provides alot of fun, but it is cold now but you can see it, it is a nice place.

Flagstaff, Arizona-the gateway to northern arizona. If you want to stay anywhere I would say stay in the Monte Vista Hotel downtown, It is a an older hotel but has old world charm and the price is good. it is surrounded by small coffee shops and caters to the student crowd of NAU, the local college. If you like Chinese Food, go down to the main drag a block South along old Highway 66 and you will find good food. The juke box still have my old songs from 1968, they haven't changed them, they are still ready to play for anyone wanting to taste good food.

Take a look at the Northern Arizona Museum on the Fort Valley Road heading out to the Northwest from Flag to the Grand Canyon and you will find there is a Hopii Katchina Carver sitting in the lobby he has been there for thirty years and works there making katchinas. There is an excellent show of katchinas, jewelry and rugs, while you are there will be presentations on the Navajo Creation Story, the free pamphlets will tell you a little about it if you don't have time to hang around. Looking North you can see the San Franciso peaks our sacred mountain of the west. Near the Hotel Monte Vista, you will see the Indian Center headed by Steve Darden, he wears his head in a bun and does workshops on child abuse and neglect all over the Navajo Reservation, and he has pleasant personality. By the way he is on the city council representing all minorities in that area.

The South Rim of the Grand Canyon will provide an overlook of the Rainbow Trail, the long way off North rim and a chance to see what is called on the Seven Wonders of the World. In the parking lot along the stone rock fence you will find the die hard indian jewelry sellers who sell all year around. You can make a good buy for about $5 to $20. These people are from the Western Part of the Navajo Reservation, around Tuba City, Gray Mountain and Cameron. Take a few pictures. If you want you can walk down the canyon trail and take a donkey ride but it will cost you around $75 and sitting on the donkey you will feel that he will pitch you over the edge to fall straight down thousands of feet into a maze of canyons all the colors of the rainbow and older than anybody can remember. On a good day you can see the little ribbon of the Colorado. You might have sandwich at the local eatery but it will be pricey so you might want to bring some of your own sandwiches with you. There is nothing like hot cocoa or tea sitting there looking at eternity.

The Hopis, if you head east you will find Cameron Trading Post, they have more jewelry and rugs to look at and you can see it there, then drive north and go to Tuba City, a small town and be sure to gas up. Stop at the Tuba City Chapter house, you will see a sign that says REZLAW, Larry K. Yazzie, attorney at law. He is a child hood friend of mine who practices there in the tribal courts, he is tall and slender with an easy smile. His sons play basketball for the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. He is from a place near the Gap in what is called the Bennett Freeze Area. Ask him about eagles and birds of prey, he will tell   you alot and more, he is a falconer. He has worked in getting tribes in the western states to form an associaton called Native Wings, where they exchange protected feathers for ceremonial purposes, He is the real mccoy, no fooling around for him. His wife is Ojibway and maybe living with him there or working in Phoenix as a graphic artist. She is originally from Ohio and a pretty nice lady. He has trailer there and a home just North of Phoenix.

Just east of Tuba City is the Hopi village of Moenkopi and if you want there are some ruins in the local area and just ask and you will be told what you can and can't do. You can't take a camera into any of the Hopi Villages, if you do and they catch you will be fined and lose the camera. Hopis are friendly people. If you drive east about 60 miles you will run into the Hopi Cultural Center, they have good cafe for a square meal and nice museum to look around in. If you stay there the rooms run about $55.00 a nite. Just south of there the roads winds through the Hopi villages of Shungpovi, Old Oraibi. There are little shops along the road and you can stop and look at the Hopi Katchina, hopi overlay silver jewelry and maybe a chance to buy some PIKI bread. It is old traditional bread, rolled up and looks like an old newspaper, it is cornmeal layed over a hot stone and rolled into that fashion. It is an ancient food and costs about a $1.00 each.

Old Oraibi is a home for traditionalists, they have no water, electricity and no cars are allowed to drive through there. They close their village at sundown, but they have a few shops open in the day. They aren't really shops but peoples homes and again no cameras are allowed.

Driving further east you will find Second Mesa, drive to the top and park your care, register for a walking tour from the older ladies who do this and you will find yourself at the Center of the World according to their traditional ways. You will find carvers, jewelers and pueblo bread sellers sitting on makeshift boxes and selling their wares on milk crates. They are friendly and will answer any questions you have. Take your time and look around. You will see a continuing community on an old mesa with calm and serenity for anyone who want to visit. You might want to tip the lady, three dollars or so. When you are done then drive down and gas up at the gas station there. By the way looking Northwest you can see Big Mountain the home of the Navajo Resistance group led by the Whitesingers who don't want to leave that area. I expect there will be some talk about the relocation of them since they are to move February 1 but are still resisting. You will see the tip of it, and there is a couple of places called Hard Rock, the site of mission on barren lands and Dinnebito, Navajo Water it is called in English and it is dry. People there have to hall water from Tuba City to survive.

Looking North you will see Weepo Wash, a wash made famous by Tony Hillerman in his novels, beyond that on the horizon is Pinon, central community of Navajo land, and to the Northeast you can know that at the horizon is Canyon De Chelly, Chinle. That about sums up this first part of this travelogue and i will post something more on the morrow....
 

Hopiland-Old Oraibi

As you drive along Highway 264 you will see a sing on the Southside of the highway that says Oraibi. It is the home of the traditionalists of Hopiland, this village is ancient and the people there purposely have not sought to have water lines, electricity or other modern day conveniences placed in their pueblo. They believe in living the old Hopi way, hauling water, using firewood for heat, kerosene lamps and no motor vehicles in their village. You can park on the northside, there is a parking lot there and you can walk through the village during the day, you will find that some of the homes are shops to sell jewelry, pottery and bread. They have small signs on them. The village is on the south side of the mesa and overlooks the land South where the Turquoise trail winds it's way from Flagstaff to Leupp, then north to Second Mesa. The land is sparse and way of living is hard. In summer you will find places spread far apart, sand dunes really where corn grows in bushels and this is the hall mark of the Hopi, they can grown corn on rocks. In the history of Oraibi the traditionalists do not recognize the Hopi Tribal Government, the State government and United States. They believe and practice the order of succession through their priesthood society and clans and use the Kiva as a meeting place. They believe the community decides what is to happen to it, as a result of this a break occurred and the village was split and the ones who wanted modern conveniences moved out leaving the traditionalists behind. The elders of Oraibi were led by a number of the priests, one of these was Thomas Banyanca, an elder who appealed to the United Nations for assistance as he believed the United States had no authority over the village and therefore had no right to have any responsibility over the village. Banyanca addressed the United Nations regarding his concerns for the future of his people and human race. The words he said are in the link attached.

http://www.soft-light.com/gini/native3.html

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/9007/HopiDeath.html

At present there is a stir, one of the families at Oraibi in one of the pueblo homes there, a man by the name of Honywynewa has put in solar panels on his pueble. It has created quite a stir with the village. His house has lights, they are 25 watt bulbs and it has been that way for a year now. How the village will deal with this intrusion from the 21st century is still yet to be determined. You can see the place, it is the only one with solar panels.

As for the rest of the villages on First Mesa, Second Mesa and Third Mesa they have electricity. The people there are really two peoples, one is Hopi and the other are Tewas, each has a distinct native language and they are not similar at all. They are related to the Pueblos along the Rio Grande. Anyway just thought to tell you a little about Oraibi and Solar Panels….