Hello all!

Today was a sad day for the group as we had to say goodbye to Tuba City, AZ and make our way down to Phoenix to stay the night before our early morning flight. It wasn’t all bad though as we had the opportunity to go to a flea market on the reservation where we all were able to buy some local creations to remember our amazing week. We all bought things like jewelry, blankets, pottery, hats, and other cool finds. We also all got to try to corn cake that we made the night before.

After the flea market was when we had to say some tearful goodbyes to the amazing people we spent the week with including Vanessa and Keller. It was sad to leave them but we enjoyed our time together so much and will be taking their culture and stories back home with us.

We then started our 4 hour drive down to Phoenix where Mark, the dad of our trip, used his major driving skills to get us to our next hotel safely. Having not eaten much since breakfast, we were excited to go to this incredibly yummy Mexican restaurant near downtown. It was a nice final full meal together. The end of the night included reflection full of affirmations, reminiscing, and creating our “post-trip action plan” to take all we learned back to Erie.

We all had a life-changing experience living and learning alongside the Diné. In the Navajo culture, they don’t say goodbye but they say hágoónee (see you later). So, hágoónee Tuba City.

xoxo, Navajo