Back to the North Rim for Navajo Fry Bread

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Most of today was simply riding back to the North Rim on the Transcanyon Shuttle, an awesome service that has some sort of working relationship with the NPS. But I really really wanted breakfast at El Tovar, too. So we got up at 5:30am, which sounds more awful than it actually was considering we had been up at 3am the past two mornings and we were all asleep last night by 9pm. Plenty of glorious sleep was had. We walked over to the hotel with all our gear- there were elk everywhere. So many elk that I wasn't really sure how to walk around them. Lots of tourists taking photos, too. The elk herds in Crescent City were alot more wary of humans than these guys and they seemed to not care a bit when we crept by. Also these are smaller.

I thoroughly enjoyed my polenta corncakes. The tops looks like ordinary yellow pancakes but the BOTTOM is a crazy layer of corn. So yummy with the pistachio butter and syrups! Also lots of coffee. Chris had an incredibly good steak breakfast hash and downed some dramamine, and I forget what Billy had. It was all amazing per usual. I love eating like a goddess on vacation. It's definitely not how I normally eat at home!

Then we sat in a van for about 4.5hrs. Our driver was wonderful, and occasionally told us a little about the history and geology of the regions we were driving through. We had two stops at gas stations, and he laughed at our, "Kaibab wobble." Once again, he knew what we'd been up to without us even saying, simply by our solid limps. Have I mentioned that stairs are a nightmare at this point? We were laughing so hard when we had to descend one flight of stairs to the bathrooms at El Tovar. I spent most of the time listening to an audiobook on my phone (it's actually what I listen to during my commutes to and from work these days). It didn't seem long at all before we were back at our lime green Kia on the North Rim! It was barely noon.

We were a little hungry and wanted to at least glimpse the North Rim in the daylight. After we changed in to clean clothes, we drove down the road to the Visitor's Center. One striking difference, besides the fact that it was cooler, were the trees. There are so many trees on the North Rim! A beautiful forest! I freaking loved it. There's not nearly as many accommodations, and the North Rim actually closes during the Winter because of snow. But it was scattered with a ton of small cabins with porches and chairs. And Chris and I are immediately turned on and drooling. I know I've mentioned it in previous posts but there's nothing more attractive to us on vacation than a porch where we can relax with coffee and/or wine and a good book. Someday, when we come back to the Grand Canyon, we WILL stay in one of these cabins.

The Grand Canyon Lodge is also beautiful. It has an incredibly large picture window with rows of couches just looking right out over the Rim. I found this interesting because that was something very different from the South Rim, which has zero guest facilities right on the Rim. I wonder why? Outside there are also porches and view points guests can lounge on. Yes, this is my kinda place. It's all about the North Rim. We ate lunch in the main dining room. I ordered the Navajo Taco... which is Navajo Fry Bread smothered with elk chili, cheese and lettuce. I had been thinking about Navajo Fry Bread as we drove north this morning. My brother, Galen, had mentioned it some time back. He had been on a missions trip doing VBS for Navajo kids on a reservation, and he was telling me all about this goddamned amazing fry bread. We drove by many makeshift market "stalls" at pullouts on the way north. I figured it must be for locals and Natives to sell crafts and food, maybe even the fry bread. So, I was stoked to first find it for lunch. It was very good, soft on the inside, crisp on the outside. This thing was ginormous, though. Halfway through, I ended up scraping off the toppings and just eating the delicious bread. And so I reasoned, if this is what the Grand Canyon disney version of fry bread tastes like.... what must the authentic version be like? It's gotta be orgasmic right? I was on a damned prowl for real fry bread that point on.

We bought coffee for the drive northeast to Page, and took one last wander in the gift shop. I had bought some souvenirs this morning, including a sign with Rim to Rim stats on it, a book called "Over the Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon" (which I am unashamedly excited about because the Yosemite edition I'd read years ago was fantastically done) and a book for Arya about Princesses going camping. Chris had bought a Rim to Rim t-shirt AND a hat but as I walked through each gift shop I was disappointed to find that none of the shops carried Rim to Rim shirts in women's sizes. They were all shapeless men's t-shirts. Excuse me- I saw at least 50% women on those trails, so what the hell NPS? Market overpriced brag tees to us, too! Oh well. Yosemite will always be my first nostalgic love anyway.

We backtracked over the highways towards Page for the next 2.5hrs, passing more desert of course but also beautiful walls called the Vermilion Cliffs. Then we drove up and over them. A short 20min later we'd arrived at Horseshoe Bend just outside of Page, intermittent lightning strikes in the far distance. We reasoned we'd be done taking pictures well before the potential storm clouds rolled this way. It was toasty here, too, as evidenced by an older woman being rescued into an ambulance, presumably heat stroke combined with whatever medical conditions she might have. So, it's only a half mile walk to the edge of Horseshoe bend, but you have to climb up and then down on a sandy trail both ways. After trekking across the Grand Canyon my body was less than enthused about all this walking but it was totally worth it. Horseshoe Bend is one of those places that somehow ends up being a background on your computer screen at home, and come to find out when you see it in real life it's ACTUALLY that beautiful and interesting, not just photoshopped. It's also impossible to get the entire shot, all of the river, in a photo, UNLESS you're either ten feet tall, brought a selfie stick (maybe?) or a ladder. I had none of the above going for me. So I got like almost all of the river bend in my photo as close to edge of the drop as I was willing to go. And I mean people were RIGHT up on that ledge. There is no barrier to keep people safe and I can only imagine how many people must fall off it every year. Others were on the sandstone rocks right on the ledge, which didn't seem very safe either considering it's SANDstone. So yeah. Billy went out on a ledge, tried convincing me, and I was tremoring and going, "NOPE! I'm good!" I had zero issues scaling up and down the Grand Canyon. But Horseshoe Bend gave my fear of heights the shakes lol. Go figure.

After that we drove another 5min into Page to our La Quinta. We had no idea what we planned to do for the evening. I left that part of the itinerary blank because who knew how timing might work out. We had arrived in time for dinner but where to go? I literally Yelped "Navajo fry bread" and came up with "Into the Grand." Interesting sounding place... river rafting museum, Navajo traditional dance show and a dinner including traditional food, including Navajo fry bread? SOLD! And really, this place ended up being really neat. We arrived at 6:30pm and were seated on their outdoor dinner patio, strung with bistro lights with a bar in the back and a guitarist playing and singing on stage in the front. For dinner, I ordered the chicken entree. It was good- tastes like ordinary BBQ chicken. When Chris and I were wandering through the river rafting museum we came across an Outdoors Unlimited raft. Holy shit, I told Chris, this is the SAME company Mendela (our kayaking guide in New Zealand) works for! I wondered what their relationship to Into the Grand was and tried to ask the hostess. So she sent over Hoss, the owner, to talk with us. You could tell he was excited just to speak with us about river rafting, it really must be a passion, and we found out it's a large part of his family history. I told him about Mendela, and he didn't have a direct relationship with her company, just that the company was willing to donate a boat for his museum. Super cool. We told him about our trek into the Grand Canyon because he strongly recommends everyone see the Canyon from the bottom up, and then gave us advice about rafting down it some day. Everyone finished dinner and we were served Fry Bread with honey for dessert. Okay, the real stuff actually taste like Beignet sweetened with honey instead of powdered sugar. It's very heavy and filling but definitely really good and worth trying. =) My quest was satisfied. Hoss gave a touching speech before the traditional dance performance, and we were once again honored publicly for our trek down into the Grand Canyon. Damn, far fewer people must do this kinda thing than I expected! He echoed our newfound belief that experiencing the Grand Canyon by traveling through it is a tremendous experience, very different than just visiting the Rim. Okay, I felt super special at that point. =D

The show was pretty cool, like a Native American version of a luau, which I hope doesn't cheapen the description. They were amazing to watch, a handful of teenagers in traditional regalia performing a rain dance, a butterfly dance (i think?) and two hoop dances. None of these were Navajo dances because those are reserved for ceremonial purposes only. But the dances they performed were traditional dances allowed in public and that are actually used for competitions. Our finale was a talented kid who actually placed 6th in the World Championships for Native American hoop dancing. He was mesmerizing to watch as he used his hoops to imitate flowers, birds, a cowboy, even Michael Jackson! I can barely use a single hula hoop! Loved it all. Very satisfied. Afterwards, Billy voiced his concerns in the car over the ethics of young kids using their cultural dances to earn money. Damn- it was Fiji all over again. I have no good opinion on it. It does make me uncomfortable to think about. I do appreciate and enjoy watching cultural shows, though. Also, I love Navajo Fry Bread. =)

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Photos

"This ledge is safe!"
Nonononononono

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Yum
Looks tasty