Parade at the Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial

This is the 94 year of the Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial.  Indian Tribes come from all over the United States to participate.  There are parades, rodeo, dances, wine tasting, and the crowning of the queens.

Indians are very patriotic and take pride in serving in the military and are proud of the Navajo Code Talkers from World War II.  The code that was never broken.

 Cans with bean to make noise when danced are strapped to the leg.

24th July Celebration in Ramah, New Mexico

We went to Ramah, New Mexico for the 24th of July Celebration.  They had an inground BBQ pit where they cook large quantities of meat for ward dinners with the 24th being their largest.

They inserted a 3'x4' cement pipe in the ground with the top level with the ground.

There is 18" of washed river rock in the bottom of the pipe.

They had 2 thin metal round sheets with handles 2/3 the size of the pipe and a heavy gauge steel lid that will sit on the top of the cement pipe.

Procedure:  to heat- take the 2 thin metal sheets out of the cement pipe.  Start burning wood in the pipe.  Hardwoods and cedar are good.  They started burning the wood at 10am until 2pm.  There will be about 12" of coals and the cement pipe will turn white.  

Put the 2 thin sheets of metals on the coals.

Season the meat (they used pork roasts) and put into the turkey bags and tie.  Wrap the bags in soaking thick multi-level newspapers.  Place bags into soaked burlap bags and crisscross tie the burlap bags with bailing wire.

Put the burlap bags in the cement pipe on top of the thin metal sheets.

Put the lid on top and cover with3 feet of dirt.

They had everything in the cement pipe at 4pm Friday and served dinner at 5:30pm Saturday.  The meat cooked for over 24 hours.  It was delicious and very tender.

Monument Valley District Meeting

 Tuk is Bob and Nan French's dog.  They were kind enough to share him with us.  He is a special little dog.

 Hogan

It was a wonderful day to be with friends exploring Monument Valley.

 Four months later another district hosted a tour of Monument Valley.  They had a native tour guide that took us on back roads that most of the tourists do not get to see.  This a picture of us in front of a fun rock formation with Elder and Sister Berry from Vancouver Washington.  Elder Berry grew up in Cedar City, Utah.  He is about 4 years older than Grandpa.  They do not remember each other.  They arrived two days before and are serving in Sawmill, Arizona.  We picked them up and took them with us.a

 This Sister Dalton and I looking up at the "Eagle Eye".  Sister Dalton and her husband are from Idaho Falls and are serving in Lupton, Arizona.  Sister Dalton is a rock hound.  She is alway exploring the rocks wherever we are.

 This is the Eagle Eye.  Does it look like an eagle eye to you?

 We all laid down and looked up at the eagle eye.  There was a great echo so we sang I am a Child of God.

 My man!

 We are at Artist Point and heading out of the park.