Home on the Rez

I realized that most of our postings are not about "rez life" but most of them are about our Southwest adventures. This weekend we are home after a great Thanksgiving weekend in Phoenix. We rode South Mountain for 41/2 hours, ate, shopped, camped and rode some more on our bikes north of town at the McDowell Reservation. The weather was perfect in the 70's. We did take pictures this time. :)

Back to Home on the Rez:
Hmmmm....it can be difficult trying to explain to people about our home/work life out here on the Navajo Reservation. Most people in the United States hear Native American and someone always says something like, "oh, I'm part cherokee". Navajos are very homogenous in looks. They still practice many of their traditional culture/religion. Where we live, it is secluded and although there are many social and economical issues, the Navajos are very family oriented and love their land. Anyway, if you've never heard of the Navajo people, I will try and give some main details. First of all, the Navajo Reservation is situated in 3 different states: New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. It is the largest reservation in the US expanding an area as big as West Virginia yet the population is only around 200,000. The Navajo People still have their language and many of the older people can only speak Navajo, so Tracy uses translators when she is seeing her patients. They are also people who are connected to the land. (jesse knows much more than I do about the Native culture.) To put is simple: it's beautiful.

Yes...to say that we are remote and spread out is an understatement. We live about 79 miles from the nearest bordertown that has the basic accommodations such as a McDonalds, Safeway and Walmart. Chinle, the nearest rez town, is about 30 miles southwest of us and offers Burgar King, Basha's Grocery Store and now a brand new Subway, which is the main attraction. They've even built a brand new sports complex that will open soon with a POOL!!! A SWIMMING POOL!!! I can not wait! They also built a huge gym for the local high school basketball team....I think it seats around 5,000 people......and it fills up quickly. Indiana Hoosiers have no idea that the Navajo Reservation surpasses them on the basketball fever. They even cancel school for days if the team makes it past the regionals and people will drive down to Phoenix (6 hours away) to watch the ball games.
Rez life also offers the yearly "parade of lights" the first Friday of December. We walked out our front door to watch the exciting parade consisting of 4 main floats decked out in christmas lights. It lasted about 5 minutes but everyone around came and parked their cars alongside the highway for the exciting event. These are a few highlights of our Rez Life and we are thankful to experience a different culture all blended into the Amercian life.
We have built friendships where we live and we are actively involved with our local church. (There's only one church in Tsaile.) :) It's difficult to think of our lives anywhere else.

Living at an elevation of 7300 feet the weather is very cold in the winter and perfect in the summer. When we tell people that we live in Arizona they immediately think of Phoenix. Geez...there's more to Arizona than thousands of people cramped into subdivisions and tall concrete buildings. The state of Arizona has many different climates ranging from desert to mountains, cactus to Aspen trees. Please come visit us on the Rez!!