First Day in the Southwest

On Wednesday we went horse-riding through Canyon de Chelly. You should all find this amazing since I am totally not a fan of horse-riding. We rode for 3 hours with our Navajo guide Patrick and it was a fantastic experience, even if I was quite sore afterwards! My horse was called Sherman and he was pretty wild at first but he calmed down after a little while but randomly decided to trot every now and then just to make sure I was still awake. I couldn't get the hang of this despite plenty of instructions on lifting myself up off the saddle so I didn't bounce too much. We realised afterwards that my stirrups were too long which was why I didn't like trotting (cos it hurt!). Horse-riding through Canyon de Chelly has been a dream of Mum's since she was a kid and it was very exciting to be there with her when she got her dream.

Myself with Sherman and Twister

Mum riding through Canyon de Chelly

After horse-riding we drove to another part of the canyon and hiked down it (yes I went hiking!) to some ruins which they call the White House Ruins (not after the on in DC). After the exhausing climb back up the canyon we set off on our drive to Farmington, New Mexico. The scenery was amzing and we drove over a mountain called Buffelo Pass which was a mixture of rock and forest. It was breathtaking and also a little nail-biting when we had to drive over winding, ice covered roads.

We hiked down to the bottom of here and around the cliffs

Driving through Buffalo Pass

Sunset through Buffalo Pass

Our reason for going to Farmington was to stay in a cave house which was built into the side of a cave, seven stories down, twenty-eight stories up. When we finally arrived in Farmington, we drove to Lindy's house (the manager) who then led us to the cave about five miles outside of town. She was very entertaining, a real character, and she led us down the side of the cliff to the entrance. It was dark and absolutely freezing but the cave was very cool (as in awesome) and luckily it was warm inside. I feel asleep in front of the heater like a cat.