"Traveling Shoes... October, 2010"

In July, I wrote of the death of my friend, Robert... and when that session of summer school was over, how I wanted to head Westward to Monument Valley, the Grand Canyon, and maybe Sedona, AZ just to heal.  I'm not sure why I have this need, or urge, or awareness that I can be better when I am somewhere like this.


Some would argue that maybe in a previous Life, I had lived in this part of the country... and may have residual affinity for an area that was so important to the people who inhabited this area...


The Navajo have such a strong belief in the Land, and they require that one have the deepest respect for Mother Earth.  There is a belief system that the Navajo have that describes existence as beginning with the 'First World' and extending to the 'Fourth World'... which is the existence/Life we experience.  The Navajo say that they were taught to live in Harmony with the physical world.   They believe that the Physical World and the Spiritual World blend into one.


Navajo Spiritual practice is about restoring Health, Balance, and Harmony to one's Life.


I like this idea.  This makes SO much sense to me, and being in certain places, I find this healing... this relief... a sense that things are going to be OK...

One of My Photos...

The part of Arizona where Monument Valley is located is what I would call "High Plains"...  the land is fairly level, but with these great structures just looming out of the Earth.  They are so breath-taking... I wish I could explain the feeling that I experience when I see these great structures... I am so awed by them.  The altitude here is about 7,000 Ft above sea level... and the tops of these structures are another 1,000 Ft above the floor of the Valley.  So in reality, these clouds really aren't that low at all... we were fairly high.

Another One of my photos...

These are probably the three most photographed mesas at Monument Valley... Left to Right, the two Mittens and then Merrick's Butte... The butte is named after a prospector who was trying to escape from Indians.  He didn't make it, but he did get something named after him.  It is amazing how quickly the skies became over-cast.  Driving into  this area, the sun had been shining, but as we neared this area, it became cloudy...

Another one of my photos...

There is a hiking path that takes one around one of the Mittens and circles back through between that Mitten and Merrick's Butte. It's about 3 1/2 miles and is just unbelievable... we found fresh deer tracks... and they were trailing along the path, and we were excited until we found something that appeared to be LARGE cat tracks that just seemed to appear.  We weren't nervous about deer, but possibly a mountain lion? YIKES!!!

The Mittens and Merrick's Butte at Sunrise...

So... this is one of the stops on the Fall Break Spur-Of-The-Moment Road Trip I took... It is amazing that I could feel the contentment returning to my Body... to my Soul.  It was almost the feeling of 'Being Home'... if that makes any sense.

I didn't see Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote there...

I had recently purchased a new camera and it arrived a few weeks before the trip.  These are my unaltered images... the camera is phenomenal... it's an Olympus SP-800UZ.

I will post photos from other parts of the trip soon...

Namaste...

~shoes~