Day 5 - "They Thought We Were Savages!"
Today was most definitely the most bizarre day of the trip. We got up around 9:30 am, checked out of the Nativo Lodge, and grabbed breakfast on the go. The first stop of the day was Tinkertown, a funny roadside attraction nestled in the mountains north of Albuquerque. How do we describe this place to anyone who hasn't seen it? It was an open-air log complex of which several walls were constructed with glass bottles and mortar. Inside the maze of the buildings were thousands of hand-carved wooden figurines all set up in elaborate motorized scenes. A bunch of the scenes played music (requiring quarters). One scene in particular made us think of Kristina's dad... the wild west saloon exhibit cycled through Willie Nelson's "Red Headed Stranger" concept album. Much love, Mr. B.!! We laughed a lot at the quirkiness of this place overall... it reminded us a lot of Charles "Tremendous" Jones' estate (Marcia's grandfather and a legendary motivational speaker) and his funny collections.
We left Tinkertown and traveled west into central New Mexico, next stop slated to be the Acoma (AC-o-ma, not a-CO-ma as we Gringos had been pronouncing it) Pueblo Indian Reservation and Ruins. We were denied at the entrance because apparently there was a religious ceremony going on and no one except members of the tribe could enter. Bummer. We thought about turning and trying to play on the fact that Marcia and Kristina are each 1/16 Native American, but that still didn't qualify us as members of the tribe. On the way back to the interstate, Emily and Kristina chatted with Martha, an employee at the gas station (apparently much of New Mexico is technically still considered tribal land, so the gas station and all the employees were Native Americans). When she found out we were from PA, she wondered if we knew where Carlisle was... we said we did, and we lived near it. She proceeded to tell us that people from Carlisle came and took kids from their reservation back in the early 1900s to put them in school and keep them from the reservation because "they thought we were savages" and wanted to teach the kids "a trade." It was a slightly uncomfortable conversation. From this point forward in our trip, 90% of the people we encountered were Native Americans... pretty crazy.
We decided we wanted to buy some local pottery so we drove across the bridge over the highway and stopped in the very small town of Paraje (par-A-hee). We bought some nice hand-made stuff from a mom and pops store and had a conversation with the workers in the shop. The owner pours the ceramic and comes up with the designs and she sponsors a program for reservation high-schoolers to be her apprentices. They fill in and finish her designs and work in the store selling the pottery. Nice nice people with good dinner suggestions (as you will see shortly!).
From Paraje, we drove to the first section of El Malpais National Park, better known as the Badlands. It was GORGEOUS. It's a mixture of red sandstone rocky outcroppings and flat desert land. There are volcanic mountains that surround the area that deposited a huge amount of lava thousands of years ago. The place is truly breathtaking.
After checking out section one, we headed on to section two. On the way, we passed the Continental Divide, 7,882 feet above sea level. We got out of the car to take a quick picture, but upon approaching the car to leave, Emmy noticed some white smoke sneaking out from under the front of the car. She shut the car off, did a fluids survey, and called Denny P to get a second opinion. After a few minutes of conversation and three people stopping to see if we were okay, we got back on the road towards El Morro. We attempted to see El Morro (known as Inscription Rock) which is also pretty famous, but it had just closed when we got there.
We drove on to Gallup, NM for dinner and ate at a legendary restaurant along Route 66 called Earl's Family Restaurant, a recommendation from our friends in Paraje. It was kind of strange... they sell permits to local tribes to come in and sell wares outside of the restaurant and table-to-table inside. But we did buy some great local stuff. People have been trying to hawk merchandise on us all day, including a guy trying to sell us a medicine bag at a gas station...
We arrived in Holbrook, AZ at 9:30 pm PST (changing time zones one final time) and checked into our TEE PEE!!! Said the slightly creepy proprietor upon our arrival, "Oh, good. I don't have to worry. All my little lambs are in for the night."
Love,
The Girls
We left Tinkertown and traveled west into central New Mexico, next stop slated to be the Acoma (AC-o-ma, not a-CO-ma as we Gringos had been pronouncing it) Pueblo Indian Reservation and Ruins. We were denied at the entrance because apparently there was a religious ceremony going on and no one except members of the tribe could enter. Bummer. We thought about turning and trying to play on the fact that Marcia and Kristina are each 1/16 Native American, but that still didn't qualify us as members of the tribe. On the way back to the interstate, Emily and Kristina chatted with Martha, an employee at the gas station (apparently much of New Mexico is technically still considered tribal land, so the gas station and all the employees were Native Americans). When she found out we were from PA, she wondered if we knew where Carlisle was... we said we did, and we lived near it. She proceeded to tell us that people from Carlisle came and took kids from their reservation back in the early 1900s to put them in school and keep them from the reservation because "they thought we were savages" and wanted to teach the kids "a trade." It was a slightly uncomfortable conversation. From this point forward in our trip, 90% of the people we encountered were Native Americans... pretty crazy.
We decided we wanted to buy some local pottery so we drove across the bridge over the highway and stopped in the very small town of Paraje (par-A-hee). We bought some nice hand-made stuff from a mom and pops store and had a conversation with the workers in the shop. The owner pours the ceramic and comes up with the designs and she sponsors a program for reservation high-schoolers to be her apprentices. They fill in and finish her designs and work in the store selling the pottery. Nice nice people with good dinner suggestions (as you will see shortly!).
From Paraje, we drove to the first section of El Malpais National Park, better known as the Badlands. It was GORGEOUS. It's a mixture of red sandstone rocky outcroppings and flat desert land. There are volcanic mountains that surround the area that deposited a huge amount of lava thousands of years ago. The place is truly breathtaking.
After checking out section one, we headed on to section two. On the way, we passed the Continental Divide, 7,882 feet above sea level. We got out of the car to take a quick picture, but upon approaching the car to leave, Emmy noticed some white smoke sneaking out from under the front of the car. She shut the car off, did a fluids survey, and called Denny P to get a second opinion. After a few minutes of conversation and three people stopping to see if we were okay, we got back on the road towards El Morro. We attempted to see El Morro (known as Inscription Rock) which is also pretty famous, but it had just closed when we got there.
We drove on to Gallup, NM for dinner and ate at a legendary restaurant along Route 66 called Earl's Family Restaurant, a recommendation from our friends in Paraje. It was kind of strange... they sell permits to local tribes to come in and sell wares outside of the restaurant and table-to-table inside. But we did buy some great local stuff. People have been trying to hawk merchandise on us all day, including a guy trying to sell us a medicine bag at a gas station...
We arrived in Holbrook, AZ at 9:30 pm PST (changing time zones one final time) and checked into our TEE PEE!!! Said the slightly creepy proprietor upon our arrival, "Oh, good. I don't have to worry. All my little lambs are in for the night."
Love,
The Girls
posted by Kristina @ 10:30 PM
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