Hubbell Trading Post--Final

There were a lot of special moments on this trip.  Even before we got to the trading post.  As we were driving from Keams Canyon to the roundabout at Burnside we spotted a flock of sheep close to the road.  There were guard rails on both sides so we couldn't pull off, but we really wanted a picture.  So we stopped in the middle of the road and Betsy handed me the camera and I took this picture.  There were several sheep but I've cropped it down a bit.  It was only after I'd taken the picture that I noticed the dog in with the sheep.  As we sat there for a moment I looked up the hill, and there about one hundred yards away I saw the silhouette of the sheep herder standing under a shade tree.  As we looked at each other he slowly raised his arm and waved and I waved back.  Just for a moment there was a connection.

 

 

 

 

Betsy was painting one day on our "patio" in the back and a man came by and he was the archaeologist for Monument Valley, Canyon de Chelly, and Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.  I invited him into the hogan, where he'd never been, and ask him to look at the fireplace artifacts.  He immediately focused on the black and white bowl and drinking cup and said they were Kayenta Black on White and probably dated to 1100 AD.

 

 

We also made two trips to Window Rock which is the capital of the Navajo Nation.  I wanted to go because Tony Hillerman always talked about it in his books and I wanted to see it.  In a park there is a monument remembering the Navajo Code Talkers of WW II.  The "code" they used was the Navajo language and it was the only code the Japanese couldn't break.  The U.S. government kept it secret for years, in case it would be needed again.  Finally in the 1970's they recognized the Code Talkers for their service and the many lives they saved.

 

I mentioned before that at 6 PM the trading post would close and everyone would go home except Betsy and I and one other site worker.  A couple of evenings we walked around all the old buildings without anyone there and in the quiet you could feel the history and people of this place.

 

Another piece of information we learned was that Hubbell named this area Pueblo Colorado for the stream and wash that bordered the post property.  However, when mail service finally reached this part of Arizona Territory all of the mail sent to him ended up in, you guessed it, Pueblo, Colorado.  So he renamed the settlement Ganado, after Ganado Mucho who was a local chief.  A son of Ganado Mucho was Many Horses who was a life long friend of Hubbells.  To the west of the post is a hill where several of the Hubbells are buried.  All have headstones, except Mr. Hubbell, and his son Roman, who chose to be buried in the Navajo manner.  With them is Many Horses.

 

One of our favorite people was James, a maintenance worker.  He was Navajo of course and just a delight to be around, always a wealth of information and had a great sense of humor.  One day he must have been in charge of a group of local teenagers who were doing work at the site, and he brought them by so they could meet Betsy.  He told me that he wanted the young people to have opportunities to learn from others.  When we were leaving I ask him to tell us how to get to Holbrook on the back roads and he suggested I-15.  Up there I doesn't mean Interstate it means Indian.  (It was a beautiful road with towering mesa's, and wide open spaces.)  We shook hands, and with a gleam in his eye, he said, "If you need any help and you're north of Interstate 40 you talk to a Navajo, but if you're south of Interstate 40 you'll have to call them Apaches".  James is the worker who takes care of the hogan and back patio.  I left him a little creature that I'd put together out of rocks and a chicken feather.  I think he'll enjoy it.

 

 

   

 

 

 

 











Hubbell Home & Trading Post

When you walk into this home it's like you are in a treasure chest of paintings, weavings, and basketry.  Everywhere you look there's something that takes your breath away, but there's so much that it's hard to focus.  There are four bedrooms off this main room, and over each door is a fully beaded Native American saddlebag.  But the main attraction are the paintings and drawings of the artists that stayed here, like Dixon, Payne, Burbank, Lee.  Wow!



                                                                                        This is what you see when you first walk into the trading post, which they called the "bullpen".  I meant to ask why, but then some bright , shiny object would catch my eye and I would forget.  I did watch and saw some of the locals stop by here, but the vast majority of visitors were vacationers.                                                                                                                                                                  

This is a picture of the traders desk.  We spoke with Edison, the current trader, while Betsy shopped for something to remember the trip, and the conversation was a history lesson of the Navajo people.  If an older Navajo brought something in to sell they would carry the item in one bag, but the second bag would contain a gift of homemade bread or something else to eat.  Edison would go get drinks to share with the seller.  They would first eat, talk about friends or relatives in the sellers area, what was happening in that area, and then look at what the seller had brought to sell.  The same as Mr. Hubbell would have done.


This is just a small portion of the rugs & blankets in the weaving room.  I had the uncanny knack of
picking out the most expensive one's as my favorites. Story of my life --champagne taste on a beer budget.  One nice thing was that on the price tag would be the name of the weaver along with a picture of he or she.
                     

 

This is Edison, the trader.  Edison grew up on the reservation, and remembered as a young boy riding in a wagon pulled by horses to go get water from the well which was two miles away. Somehow he managed to go to college, and was a teacher away from the reservation.  But he is where he belongs now. Betsy selected a couple of items to remember her trip the day before we left and Edison ask us to stop in before we left the next day.  Early the next day we did stop in and said our goodbye's.  Edison explained that people had been coming to this place for decades to trade, or visit.  Some have stayed for years, and some only for minutes.  But everyone has left a bit of their life force,   He thanked Betsy for leaving a part of her creative energy here at Hubbell Trading Post. 

Painted Desert/Petrified Forest 6/23/2014

Today Betsy painted all morning and then we took off for an afternoon and evening of exploring.  Both of us have wanted to see the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest National Park and since it was only an hour away we hit the road.

I have to apologize to the Painted Desert for the above picture, since it really doesn't show the beauty of this area.  If we set our camera on the higher quality setting it takes absolutely f-o-r-e-v-e-r to upload.  I'm sure our buddy Larry, the photographer, would have a wonderful time getting the correct settings to depict all of the colors and hue's.

 

 

One of the main attractions for me is The Painted Desert Inn.  This is another Harvey House (see earlier post regarding La Posada in Winslow), and it was redesigned in about 1940 by Mary Colter.  I've read that travelers on Route 66 could see this building for many miles as they traveled along.

It must have been a welcome sight without air conditioning in the car.  They could stop and get a cool drink, a decent meal, compare notes with other travelers, let the kids run off some energy, and just relax and take in the view.                                                                                                                        

 

We drove further on the park road and found a spot that celebrated old Route 66.  We also learned that Painted Desert/Petrified Forest National Park is the only National Park that contains a portion of Route 66.  At this point we found an old rusted out automobile.  Here's

a picture of me and the old auto.  Looks like both of us have been down the road a time or two.  If you look to the left of the picture you'll see some telephone poles.  Next to them would have been the roadway of Route 66.

Next stop was Gallup, NM to the east.  We had to backtrack a few miles but what the heck.  Gallup is the epicenter of Native American silversmithing.  Many wholesale and retail shops.  And it's another Route 66 town.  We found a shop that we had visited several years ago, but it was closed for the day.
So we went to the biggest Native American jewelry store that I've ever seen.  Whoa, baby!  After that we headed east on Route 66 to an eatery called Earl's which has been in business since 1947, same year we were born.  The neat thing, besides the fact that food's pretty good, is that Native American's are allowed to show you their creations while you eat.  If you don't want to shop while you eat the staff will provide a sign for your table telling the salespeople not to stop.  Betsy looked at everything, but didn't buy. 

Our final stop, was the McKinley County Courthouse Plaza in Gallup where there are different Native American tribal dancers every weekday night.  We were treated to songs and dances by Zuni's and it was entertaining.  The Mistress of Ceremonies went through the crowd and ask where we were from.  There were visitors from AZ, OK, TX, OR, MI, NM, and Germany and Italy! 

   A long but great day.









Canyon de Chelly 6/21/14

Today we visited one of our all time favorite places--Canyon de Chelly (pronounced d'Shay) which is about 30 miles north.  Betsy wanted to paint, and I'm always ready for a visit here as it's one of my top three Arizona destinations--Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, and Canyon de Chelly in no particular order.

Canyon de Chelly is thought to be one of the oldest continuously inhabitated locations in North America, possibly as far back as 2000 BC. The walls of the canyon at it's mouth are about 300 feet tall, but as you follow the canyon the walls rise to almost 800 feet above the canyon floor.  Several ancient peoples have lived in the canyon since it offered protection and water so they could grow crops.

The Navajo people found this canyon in the 1700's where they planted corn, and tended to flocks of sheep.  Today, about 400 Navajo continue the traditional lifestyle within the towering canyon walls.  The Navajo have long considered this canyon sacred, therefore visitors are not allowed in the canyon without Navajo guides.  You may however drive the north or south overlook roads for spectacular views into the canyon.

Betsy loves this place because it's such a challenge to capture on canvas, and its beauty. Whenever I visit, I somehow know that I am where I need to be at that moment.

Traditional Hogan 6/21/14

We were out and about today and ran across this hogan display which is more typical of what an actual Navajo hogan would look like.  The log's are chinked with mud, the roof is also dried mud,  the floor is dirt and instead of a central fireplace this one has a cast iron stove, which would serve as a source of heat in the winter and for cooking.
 
Betsy is painting up a storm, and enjoying every minute of it.  We talked with the head Ranger and learned that our hogan is almost never open to the public, but if we would like, we could invite people in during our stay.  So while Betsy paints, if someone wanders toward the hogan, my new job is to serve as tour guide.  If we're eating or just want to be left alone the hogan came with a sign saying that the hogan is occupied and please respect the privacy of the occupants.

We found out that about 200 people visit the actual trading post per day, but of the 200 only about half stop at the visitors center.  Also learned that there are more visitors on weekdays than on Sat or Sun which seems a bit strange.

Arrival at Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site 6/19/2014

We drove from Winslow north on Hwy 87 to the intersection with AZ 264 which took us to Keams Canyon on the Hopi Reservation.  We stopped at McGee's Trading Post for our daily fix of jewelry.  On to Hubbell, where Betsy met her prime contact and signed in and we received the only keys to the hogan and another key to the front gate.  We parked as close to the hogan as we could and started hauling stuff in and in no time we seemed to have everything put away.  We think that our travel trailer experiences of living in confined quarters will help in the next few days. I've already posted a picture of the exterior of the hogan so here's what it looks like inside.  Top left photo is of the LR/DR/BR.  Next picture is of the fantastic fireplace.  It's made almost entirely of petrified wood and there are pottery bowls, a stone axe head, what appears to be a fossilized tusk, a metate for grinding corn, and some fossilized sticks in the chimney part.  Everytime I look at it I see something new.  The final picture is of the kitchen area.  We don't have A/C but the airflow is good and we brought fans in case it gets hot.  We were told that we wouldn't have internet but we do.  Cell phone service is spotty.  Really weird radio reception--can't get anything FM, but get a couple AM stations.  One AM station is religious broadcasting and the announcers speak in both English and Navajo.  Sometimes even the songs they play are in both languages.  The other AM station we can pick up is an all Navajo language station with some music. I was listening yesterday and the announcer was talking about something in Navajo and then said the English words "absentee ballot".  Must not be Navajo words for that.  All of the staff here are wonderful to work with.  The trading post closes at 6 PM and everyone goes home, locking the main gate, except Betsy and I and one other site employee.  We made dinner last night, then walked around the deserted property and it felt so odd.  The one other site employee that stays here is leaving today after work and won't return until Sunday or Monday so it'll be just Betsy and I for the next couple of nights.

To Winslow and Beyond

 Well gang, we've begun our adventure.  The Outback is stuffed with enough artist supplies to start a store.  Plus food & clothing for a week.  We're headed today to Winslow, AZ which is about 350 miles north.  One of the many things I like about our new home state is that you can start out in the AM in the low Sonoran Desert and a few hours later are driving through a Ponderosa Pine forest where the temperature is 35 degrees cooler.  We've been to Winslow before and it's one of those towns that by all rights should have dried up and blown away years ago.  But the folks are hanging in there and trying to bring it back.  For us, it's got a few things that we like.  Such as The Eagles song Take It Easy which has the line "standin' on a corner in Winslow, Arizona".  Several years ago the town put up a bronze statue of a handsome young dude with a guitar, and painted a huge mural on a building (complete I might add with a "girl in a flatbed Ford".  From early morning to late at night people arrive to have a picture taken of them standin' on a corner in Winslow, AZ. I found this pretty young thing wandering around and she said I could take her picture.  Another thing we like about Winslow is that it's an old Route 66 town.  The two main streets in town were Route 66.  One went west, and the other was the eastbound route.  Lots of old motels, signs, and history.


But the real reason we wanted to stop in Winslow is a wonderful old hotel called La Posada.  We stopped for lunch here a few years ago and were absolutely awe struck by this place. It was built by the Fred Harvey Company who partnered with the Santa Fe Railroad to bring tourists west in the early 20th century.  The architect was Mary Jane Colter who Harvey had hired in 1903 to design fine hotels, restaurants, and gift shops along the route of the Santa Fe Railway.  Her inspiration for La Posada were the great haciendas of the Spanish, but moved to our American southwest.  Unfortunately the hotel opened in 1930, just as the Great Depression started, and it never prospered.
It closed to the public in 1957.  In 1959 it's museum
quality furnishings were auctioned off.  In 1961 the Santa Fe RR purchased the building for it's Arizona operations and it was gutted and transformed into offices.  In 1993 the RR announced plans to dispose of La Posada.  It seemed that the end had come to this once lovely building.  But then something extraordinary  happened.  A couple heard of the plight of the grand old hotel and purchased it in 1997.  Since then they've spent millions in restoration costs, buying back whatever furniture they could find that belonged to the hotel, and re-landscaping the grounds.  We wanted to see more of this wonderful old hotel so we decided to spend the night there.  This is one of those places that has a magical feeling to it.  Thank you to the courageous new owners.

Hubbell Trading Post 1

We're getting excited about our next big adventure to Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site which is just outside Ganado, AZ on the Navajo Nation Reservation.  Our home for the week of June 19th thru June 26th will be the hogan shown to the left.  I've also included a map showing where Ganado is in relationship to Tucson & Phoenix.  We're not quite in the middle of nowhere, but we're getting close.

I guess you might be asking what we're doing there.  About 4 years ago Cousin John and I visited the trading post and a few days later I was checking out their website and noticed that they had an Artist In Residence program.  I mentioned it to Betsy and told her she should apply, but her response was "I'm not good enough".  I disagreed, but she was the one that had to apply so I dropped it.  The next year she and I stopped at the post on our way to Canyon de Chelly, and I again brought up the AIR program, but met with the same response.  Finally, I wore her down and she applied last year for this years program.  It is a rather long process--providing examples of your work, getting recommendations from 2 or 3 professional artists, and telling them what your artistic mission is.   Sure enough, she was accepted.  Was there any doubt?  Her duties will be to demonstrate her art to visitors to the post, and donate a completed work to the National Historic Site.  In return, she and I will be allowed to live in the guest hogan. 

John Lorenzo Hubbell bought the trading post in 1878, which was about ten years after the Navajos were allowed to return to their homeland after being forced to relocate to Bosque Redondo (Ft. Sumner), NM.  During their stay at Bosque Redondo the Navajos were introduced to new items.  When they returned to their homeland they relied on traders like Hubbell to provide those items.

But Hubbell did something else for the benefit of the Navajos.  He encouraged them to continue their new found talent in silversmithing and rugweaving, and consistently demanded and promoted excellence in craftsmanship.  His encouragement and support of Navajo artisans is remembered and honored to this day.

Early in the 20th century artists began discovering the wonders of northern Arizona--Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Painted Desert, Vermillion Cliffs, Canyon de Chelly, etc, etc.  Many, such as Maynard Dixon and Edgar Payne found their way to Hubbells trading post and he welcomed them with open arms.  Most left a completed painting or two as a token of their gratitude.  Hubbell's home is covered floor to ceiling with works of art from the who's who of early western artists.  It's truly astounding to see the works of these premier artists in this remote location.

In the 1930's, after Hubbell's death, a stone hogan was built on site to commemorate his hospitality to all who visited.  That hogan is the very same where we will reside.  A hogan is the traditional Navajo home and it can be made of almost anything--stone, timber, branches, or mud.  Many are round, but some of the fancier one's are octagonal.  The only rule is that the entrance is always facing east, so that the occupants can honor and welcome the new day.

The Hubbell family operated the trading post until it was sold to the National Park Service in 1967.  It still operates as a trading post, fulfilling the needs of the nearby Navajo with household, ranching/farming, and food items.  In addition, the post has an excellent selection of old pawn Navajo jewelry and rugs.  The trading post is the longest continuously operating post on the Navajo Reservation.

We're starting lists on what clothing and food to take.  Recently the weather in Ganado has been in the mid to high 80's which will seem like heaven to us lower Sonoran desert dwellers.  But in true high desert fashion the night temperature falls to the 50's!  We'll actually have to find and take blankets.  We've been told that there is no TV, no cell phone service, no internet, and radio reception is weak at best.  Good Lord, we might have to have a conversation! 

The big question, since Betsy will be busy painting, is what am I going to do.  That is a concern, but I am of the opinion that whatever I'm supposed to be doing will find me.  But just in case I'm taking a few books, a couple dutch ovens to cook in, my Native American flutes, a harmonica, some hiking stuff, and an I-pod. 

Betsy has a couple days off and we plan on visiting Keams Canyon on the Hopi Reservation,  Gallup, NM is an hour to the east, and probably another trip to Canyon de Chelly.

Hopefully we can find internet access and post to the blog so stay tuned.