We left Camp Verde behind on Tuesday planning to head for Albuquerque, but got sidelined at Gallup NM for two nights. Guess the glitter from all the silver got our attention. Don't know if you knew it or not, but Denver has nothing on Gallup for altitude. Denver is always touting its status as the "mile high city" at 5,280 feet above sea level, but Gallup gets my vote at an official 6,516 feet. Of course, Denver would win out for bells, whistles, and nightlife. Gallup has 20,000+ people in a land mass of 13.5 square miles while Denver has 600,000+ in the same amount of space, not to mention all the suburbs which up it to 1.2 million. The sidewalks definitely roll up at dusk in Gallup.
But, Gallup is known as the Indian capital of the world with 4 major reservations surrounding it and the largest number of Indian jewelry and art galleries in a concentrated area than anywhere else. Of course we went shopping for new and dead pawn jewelry, and picked up several nice pieces at really good prices. Considering how small Gallup is we were shocked to find that within 50 miles of the town there are an estimated 45,000 people involved in the Indian jewelry trade, artists, suppliers, brokers, buyers, sellers, etc. Found a rather fascinating article about the business in the New Mexico Business Journal if you want to read more.
It amazed me that everywhere we went looking at jewelry or any other type of artwork, shop personnel would reel off the maker's name, tribe, reservation or town of residence, year the piece was made, and if turquoise, the name of the type of turquoise and mine it came from. This is apparently considered the minimal amount of information any purchaser would want to know. Try getting that kind of information out of your local big-box store jewelry department!
While there, we drove up to Canyon de Chelly (pronounced d'shay) for a day. The area is within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation and is know for the cliff dwelling ruins of the Anasazi that lived in the area in the 1000-1300 time period. The bottom of the canyon is off limits to visitors unless with an authorized guide, as Navajos still live and farm the area. But, there are multiple lookouts along the rim and you can see the ruins from a distance. If you visit, be sure to take along binoculars in order to see them better. There is one hiking trail going down to the canyon floor, but we didn't take it as the wind was blowing 25 mph and the temperature was in the 50's. I know, I know, we wussed out, but so be it.
The following are a long stretch of pictures from the canyon - click on them to enlarge. Hope you enjoy them.
North Rim
North Rim
Ruins along the North Rim, the picture was taken from across the canyon, around a half mile away.
Of course, it puts it into a little bit of perspective when you pull back the lens and realize that the buildings are around 300 feet below the rim and 400 or so above the canyon floor!
Pinon tree
Navajo home on canyon floor
Rock formations
Guess who checking out the sights
Knowing my high klutz factor, Heinz threatened to put a harness on me when he spotted this sign.
Ruins, photo taken from across canyon, approximately a mile away.
Once again, to put it into perspective, the previous photo shows the ruins that are located in the strip of shadow across the middle of this one. They are approximately 400 feet from the canyon floor and 300 feet or so from the rim.
According to the ranger, the north rim is best viewed in the morning, and the south rim in the afternoon, so to kill a little time in between we drove back into Chinle, AZ, just a mile or so outside the canyon lands. While there, we ate brunch at a little restaurant called The Junction Restaurant. Heinz got an omelette which he said was average, and a blue corn pancake which was very tasty. I got a breakfast burrito, which turned out to be enough to feed a small army. It was made with a Navajo tortilla (much thicker than Mexican ones and more of a bread flavor), eggs, spicy sausage, tomatoes, and when ordering it I thought I was ordering green chile sauce. Turns out that when the waitress asked if I wanted red or green chile, she meant did I want fresh red or green chiles chopped up in the burrito. Glad I asked for green, pretty spicy, but very flavorful. Heinz was envious, but I did share a bite or two, after he mumbled and whined for awhile.
Now we're in Albuquerque, NM for a week. No big plans, mostly just hanging out and chilling. Plan to do a little light-weight sightseeing and some basic maintenance on the trailer and truck - nothing big, just washing and tweaking a couple of odds and ends. We thought there was a wood hobby shop on Kirtland AFB where we're staying, but it turns out that someone got injured and they shut it down a year or so ago. Heinz is bummed as he hoped to finish up the closet and settee storage while we're here.
Yesterday we checked out the local Mexican markets and tried to decide on what to fix for dinner. It was a tough decision after we ran across the item below.
Whole lamb's head. If you don't care for this one, there's a whole cow's head
in the fresh butcher section.
I finally decided on Enchiladas Suiza with homemade tomatillo sauce, with Heinz supplying the Margaritas (recipe for both at the end of post).
Here's your friend for the day. We met this fellow up on the South Rim of Canyon de Chelly.
Recipe Corner: Enchiladas Suiza
Makes 4 servings
1 1/2 lb. chicken breasts, skin removed
2 tsp salt, divided
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tsp black pepper (or 5-6 peppercorns)
1 small can Hatch green chiles, divided (I use hot, choose your green chiles according to your tolerance for heat)
2 tbsp chicken bouillon (low salt), I use Better than Bouillon concentrate
1 1/2 lb tomatillos, husked and cut in half
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro
2 tsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup sour cream (you can use non-fat if calorie watching)
8 corn tortillas (blue corn* preferably)
1/2 lb queso fresca* (shredded Monterey Jack if you can't find the queso fresca)
*Try your local Mexican market for these items
Place chicken in large saucepan. Add 6 cups water, 1 tsp salt, 2 garlic cloves, black pepper(corns), 1/2 can Hatch green chiles, and chicken bouillon. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken to a platter and cool slightly, then shred chicken and discard bones.
Place tomatillos and remaining Hatch chiles in chicken broth and boil over medium high heat until tomatillos are soft, approximately 8 minutes. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup liquid. Transfer tomatillos to a blender; add remaining garlic cloves and cilantro; blend until smooth, adding reserved liquid a little at a time if necessary.
Heat oil in saucepan over medium high heat. Add tomatillo mixture; reduce heat to medium and simmer until thickened, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low, add remaining salt and sour cream. Stir about 1 minute, set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Warm tortillas in microwave for 10 sec or so to soften. Divide shredded chicken evenly between tortillas, add crumbled queso fresca to each; roll up. Spread 1/3 of tomatillo sauce into bottom of 9" baking dish. Arrange enchiladas in 1 layer, seam side down. Cover with remaining sauce and crumble remaining cheese on top. Bake 30 minutes or until cheese starts to brown (if using queso fresca, cheese will not melt).
Serve immediately. Very nice with a simple side of chopped lettuce and tomato to give a cool complement to the spicy sauce.
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Heinz is researching various Margarita recipes in a quest to find the "perfect" one. Here is the first of probably many to come:
2 oz Tequila (try Blanco for a different taste angle)
3/4 oz fresh squeezed lime juice (MUST be fresh-squeezed - makes a world of difference)
3/4 oz cold water
3/4 oz Agave Nectar (sweetener found in health food stores/Mexican groceries - usually by the honey)
Mix together Agave Nectar and water. Add to shaker containing ice cubes. Add tequila and lime juice. Shake well. Pour liquid only into glass containing fresh ice cubes. Enjoy! Do not salt the rim of the glass. A very light drink (not like in your local Mexican Restaurant) that is refreshing and could be sipped all day long - not that WE would do that on our trip... well... :)
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