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| Would you believe this is a nice museum on a very important piece of World War II History? |
Before leaving Monument Valley yesterday I asked the front desk clerk if there were any points of interest along the drive to Sedona. He shared with me that there was a very interesting display on the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II in the small town of Kayenta. He then broke into a grin as he told me that it was actually in a Burger King. True to his word, it was both interesting and in a Burger King, which with all due respect to Kayenta looked like the nicest building in town.
The displays were filled with authentic items that had been collected by one of the Navajo Marines that had been trained as a Code Talker. In addition to the artifacts there were stories of the roles that these great Americans played in delivering and sending messages on the battlefields. They had developed a code of over 200 characters and over 400 terms.
A couple of examples of terms used were:
To say aircraft carrier the code talker would say: tsidi-nye-ye-hi which in Navajo meant: bird carrier
To say fighter plane the code talker would say:he-tih-hi which in Navajo meant: hummingbird
To say flare the code talker would say:ow-chi which in Navajo meant: light streak
They were strategically dispersed so they could send and receive messages on land, sea and in the air. It was estimated that in the battle of Iwo Jima that they sent over 800 messages within the final twenty four hours of combat. They are given credit for giving our troops a significant advantage and saving countless lives. I knew a little bit about the code talkers and really appreciated the opportunity to learn a little more about who they were and the service they provided. It was well worth the 15-20 minutes we invested.
http://www.historynet.com/world-war-ii-navajo-code-talkers.htm
We're now in Sedona, Az., where we'll be for the next five nights. Sedona is a really fun place to visit. It's considered a "desert town" but it's not what typically comes to mind when you hear the word desert. It's got numerous red rock bluffs, steep canyon walls and pine forests. When we made our reservation months back we didn't realize it but the Sedona International Film Festival is going on this weekend and next week. What does this mean for us? Probably nothing although there are films playing at various venues around town daily. I saw in the program that Jane Alexander (Kramer vs. Kramer, All the Presidents Men & The Great White Hope) is being honored and in town. Also in town is Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws, American Graffiti, Mr. Hollands Opus and Close Encounters) and probably a few other Hollywood types. I doubt we'll be hanging out in the same places.
https://visitsedona.com/
http://www.sedonafilmfestival.org/
Sedona is just over 100 miles north of Phoenix. We were watching the local news out of there this morning and they were reporting that the first spring training baseball games were today (a most glorious time of year). The only problem was the weather wasn't cooperating too much. The high in Phoenix today was going to be 58. As for Sedona, it's currently 34 and we've had snow for the past several hours..........Play Ball!
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| Sunrise at Monument Valley |
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| Snowy day in Sedona.........baseball season is right around the corner! |
