We travelled on and experienced the wide open landscapes that are visible from Mesa Verde, Colorado. Greener and seemingly more welcoming than the red desert land further south. Note the snow-topped mountains in the distance:
On the road southwards we celebrated Norway's national day with the standard fare for Norwegians on this day: Sundaes!
We also visited the Navajo Nation's capital, Window Rock, and the rock formation that gave it its name. Surrounded by a quiet little park, this was a lovely place on a late afternoon:
Gallup was a no-nonsense Western town. Next to the main road, the longest freight trains I've ever seen clattered endlessly by, giving the place a distinct Brokeback'ish air. (There's one of the trains going by behind the Gallup sing in the picture).
We stayed at the El Rancho Hotel in Gallup. Here's the reception. If this doesn't have that whiff of the Old West and cattle drives and cowboys, I don't know what has!
They even had this chair-and-sofa ensemble, made entirely of bull hide and lots of bull horns!