In the upper left photo, you can see
"petro-glyphs" on the canyon wall - these are pictures etched in the stone by the early inhabitants. You can tell that the etchings of the riders and horses were done after 1500 A.D., because the horse was introduced to North America by the Spanish explorers. Click on the photo for a better look. The upper righthand photo shows the etching of a cow as well as the symbols for the sun and the moon. It also shows a currently-used Navajo "hogan" or dwelling. Our guide told us that the Navajo family uses this building to store farm implements. The "hogan" is regarded as a sanctuary for the family and the entrance always faces east, toward the rising sun.
-----The photo at lower left is that of the "Devils Tower", which can be seen from the South Rim drive of the canyon, and is about 700 ft. tall.
-----The Navajo still farm on the floor of the canyon. When we took the half-day jeep tour with a Navajo guide, we were bowled over by the beauty of the land and farms.
-----We also drove both the North Rim and the South Rim, stopping at all of the lookouts. At one of our stops, Irene heard a young woman exclaim: "Looking out over these heights is giving me aggitta". Irene immediately asked her where she was from, as the only people she ever heard use this Italian expression for heartburn come from NJ. Her name is Trish Stypka, originally from Chicago, but lived in Somerset, NJ for many years with her partner, Jane Kreinberg.
-----Jane's family owns Jasco Tile, on Route 22 in Union NJ, five minutes from Casa di Trevi and from Cranford, where we lived before moving out and going fulltime RV'ing. Jane was originally from Livingston, NJ. They're both chiropractors and had their offices in Somerset. What was really funny was that Trish thought it was an American word, as so many people use it regularly in NJ, like "schlep" (to drag along with you). We had great fun and lots of laughs talking to them. They sold their practice nine years ago and have been fulltime RV'ing since then. They are getting ready to settle down in St. Augustine, FL and will RV only occasionally. They've seen everything!
