Day 10 and it's going to be a long and great one. We were up and out of the motel early with a good breakfast at the same restaurant where we'd had dinner. Last looks at the Grand Canyon and then we're off down to the Painted Desert once more. We stopped at the Little Colorado River Gorge which would be a major natural phenomenon attraction if it weren't so close to the Grand Canyon. Perched on its edge was a huge flea-market of Indians selling everything.
We headed up Highway 89 for the third time -- this time able to see how far in the distance we had been before, then turned east on Highway 160. Across plains and prairies with the ever-present changing cloud arrangements decorating bur way. Of course the sky darkened and the rain came, but not much this time, and the lightning looked like it was within our reach.
We took a side trip to the Navajo National Monument. More ruins, more vibes, more informative brochures and plaques to read. After days of searching and pricing, Jason finally bought his kachina doll, a Buffalo Hunter, at the gift shop.
We hiked down the trail to overlook the Betatakin cave dwellings, an entire city built into a huge cave in the cliffs by the long-disappeared Anasazi. It was completely awesome and unreal looking: if Disneyland were to add an Indian Ruins attraction, this is what it would look like. We'd missed the guided tour that takes you down into it by about 5 hours, but it was just as impressive seeing it from above. And it was just like hiking into the Grand Canyon -- once you got to the bottom and looked around you'd have to walk all the way UP again. We made sandwiches out of the trunk and got back on the road.
Honey, I've been there, and you've been here
And you ain't had no time to drink that beer
'Cause I understand you've been running from the man
That goes by the name of the Sandman.
He flies the sky like an eagle in the eye
Of a hurricane that's abandoned 
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