MONUMENTAL cont

Saturday was one of the best days of my life.
The other 3 took the shuttle bus down to trading post for retail therapy and I hiked up the trail into the canyons behind the campsite. What looks like a solid wall unfolds into a wonderland.  Very hard to describe but magical almost mystical , total silence , huge rock faces carved over billions of years that you can almost feel...spent 2 hours  just sitting on a rock taking photos as the sun and clouds changed the landscape  every few minutes.
At 1pm we reconvened for a tour  into the actual valley which was led by a Linda who usually drives the school bus. She was born in the valley 1961, mother still lives in  a traditional hogan . The tours are in big Jeeps, the road is non existent and has to be the best thing I've ever done. Amazing place, maybe better than the Grand Canyon IMHO.
We rounded the day off by going back to the theatre for a showing of Stagecoach when everybody kept picking out the scenery they had visited in the afternoon. Hasn't changed ( much) in 75 years. Fascinating museum of the cinema history of the valley, the Navajo Code Talkers who developed an unbreakable code using their native language during WW2, and the culture and history of the Navajo people who as we all know , were shat upon from a  great height  and still struggling for equality. Words fail me. And if Emilio ever reads this, thanks again .