Things you need to see in the Navajo Nation

I can have my kids read history books, or discuss current events, but seeing things in person is a whole different experience. Talking about the Bennett freeze and it's effect on the Navajo economy was quite the conversation to have when they see houses without power right in front of them. 

Traveling, though, also gives us a different lens to process luxury versus necessity, as well as consider different priorities for different families or communities. Would you trade strip malls and everything in them for a wide open landscape in their place?

Outside of Tuba City we ventured north to the Antelope Valley Slot Canyon. This is run by the Navajo Nation, and the tour was worth every mile it took to get here. 

From the surface, the slot canyon doesn't look like much.

Once you head down into the canyon it's time to pick your jaw up off of the floor and take a good look around. This was hands-down the most beautiful place I've ever been. 

This was Kevin the entire time. Looking over his pictures that night we had a huge laugh when the kids pointed out the time stamp on his photos (12:38, 12:38, 12:38, 12:38. . . ), as he was taking about ten snaps a minute. 

Our tour guide, Sheldon, was a great photographer and offered to take some family photos for us, in addition to being VERY patient with our slow amble through the canyon.

If left to our own devices we would have stayed there all day. Its smart to run hourly tours, so folks like us don't just stand there for eight hours staring up at the changing light.

From the canyon we headed out to Lake Powell in the Glen Canyon Recreation Area. We had about 15 minutes to check out these cool dinosaur tracks at the visitor center before the government shutdown took effect. 

We ended the day with a wade in the lake, which seemed better suited for boats than for swimmers, but I'm still glad the departing ranger let us walk on in to the park as he closed up shop. 

The morning that we left we said goodbye to the three stray dogs living in (or around) our RV park; if our trailer was any bigger I think that the kids would have tried to take them all with us. 

This article below isn't from the most academic of sources, but I came across it while we were there and found it to be insightful and worth discussing with my older kids. Race discussions in our family tend to be of the joking-around-about-ourselves variety (as we are a multi-racial family, and apparently I'm pink, not white), so it's good to throw in a different perspective for them now and again.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/joeflood/how-the-redskins-debate-goes-over-on-an-actual-indian-reserv?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=buzzfeed