Bluff UT

From Goulding’s we made our way indirectly (because there is no direct path to anywhere from anywhere out there) to Bluff UT. Check out the latest ad for Chevy’s Volt as it cruises somewhere out West – without a care for the distance even if it is electric. I’m just sure the picture is along the road up from Monument Valley to Bluff.

Bluff is literally a two motel town. Ann was able to find rooms for us at the Recapture Lodge. It was so named after a group of Indians stole horses just down the road and Army troopers (way back when) were able to recapture the horses several days later. And, of course, stealing horses back then was like stealing from the bank – big time repercussions. 

Recapture Lodge

We had a Ford like this in '49

The Recapture Lodge was (once again) something from out of the 1950s. You could almost see a 1949 Ford coming off a dust road for a night at the Lodge. Al and I wandered around the back of the motel (the only other motel was just a short distance away too) and checked out the junk - and there was lots of it mostly in the form of long worn out swamp coolers. The town waste processing tank and pumps looked like they were not visited by maintenance for the past 20 years. (There’s something about living in a town like Bluff where a sense of let’s-do-it-tomorrow seemed to prevail.) 

Several old trailers were parked in the back. Our rooms were just fine. And there wasn’t a spare room to come by, reason: this was the one weekend each year when the Navajo's have their national festival. See more about it at the Navajo Festival web page.

Interesting Place... Interesting Weekend

It seems that the Navajo Nation would be holding their once a year parade the next day on Saturday. As we were checking in the lady behind the counter (one of the owners) explained that Saturday (the next day) is the one day in the year when the town grows from 140 people to 1,400 people – literally overnight. Turns out she and her husband owned the motel and had for the past 20 years. When I asked him what upgrades they had completed over the years he answered “well, none really”. But, you know what, it really didn't need any. (One exception was the Internet connection: it was terrible. OK - don't complain because we were on vacation but... Don't count on doing any work with this Internet, and you may not even receive emails. I could see the transmitting tower high on a bluff (hence the name) overlooking the city. It appeared to be a dedicated service in what can only be considered an out-of-the-way location.)

The lobby was jammed with people signing in for their rooms. But “lobby” doesn’t quite describe it. The size was small – maybe 20’ by 50’. A stairs at the opposite side from the registration desk went up to a balcony that looked like the front of a previous building. In fact, I would guess the front lobby was an add-on some years ago, albeit one with a lot of interest. Because in one corner was an old piano while in the other corner was another old upright piano – two pianos in one lobby. Really cool. The next morning, as we shared a table with a couple from the Netherlands, I watched the two young children (maybe 10 and 12) of a French couple staying there too. The older brother covered his sisters eyes and steered her to the upright piano. He uncovered her eyes and she said “ooohhh” then commented in French as she pointed to the classical music on the front board (like one of John Thompson’s many music books). Apparently they both played piano and recognized the music. Their parents, a French couple, home schooled their children, we learned, and were able to take them to America when other children were busy with normal school days.

That afternoon Al and I discovered a swimming pool on the other side of the drive that was well camouflaged by local vegetation. We were interested in the home-brew solar array nearby. For a while we couldn’t figure out what it was used for. Hoses and piping were strune around the unit, seemingly not connected to anything. Finally we heard children’s voices coming through the bushes and found what I would characterize as a darn nice pool. The French children were having a good time and, frankly, the water looked really inviting.

Early Saturday morning we had breakfast in the lobby with a Dutch couple that was on “holiday”.  (Hmmm… Why don’t Americans go on “Holiday”? For that matter why don’t we go on more “vacations”? No! We’re too busy competing with countries that don’t go on “Holiday”, like Asian countries.) It seems the Dutch lady did “all the planning” and he did “all the driving”. They were happy about the arrangement. He was semi-retired and it looked like they comfortable and able to lead the “good” European retirement life. Each had their respective assignments so off they were going that morning to the next site for them –

Hovenweep. I saw them driving out of town a hour later at a snails pace because the Navajo’s had piled into the city to watch the parade, and they were going the wrong way to traffic.

Location

Bluff is located in strange geological place. Interact with the map below - try Google Earth so see details. Zoom in for a really interesting view. To the left is so-called Comb Ridge. Check it out below.

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Comb Ridge from the air.