Gallup Shopping

Tonight we are in Flagstaff, Arizona, after driving from Gallup, NM through the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest National Parks.  Unbelievable beauty there and I do have pictures to prove it.

But, I did not do justice to our time in Gallup, New Mexico.  It was so good we spent two nights and three days there.  So I worked on a few pictures that I took.  Gallup is the last major urban center on Route 66 in New Mexico and lies 25 miles from the border with Arizona.

Our first dinner in Gallup was at the Hotel El Rancho, and it was a fine meal.  Our waitress was fun and the food was great:

Most of the major movie stars of the 40's and 50's frequented this hotel and many a cowboy movie was filmed nearby.  Autographed photos of John Wayne and his contemporaries adorn the walls.   Here is a shot of the lobby of this icon of a hotel:

But the real objective in Gallup was to shop for jewelry.  And shop we did.  Check out some of these pictures.  Richardson Trading Post dominates the block, but there are literally hundreds of shops that sell Native American jewelry in this town and most are a combination of pawn and new items.  Our expert, Dave, "the Chief" Tahamont prefers the older stuff, thus we went for the "Dead Pawn."  Really it is "Expired" pawn, but there is no word in the Navajo language for expired, so they use dead here in Gallup.  Apparently it's the only place where pawn shops use the term.

And by the way, these stores have a lot more than jewelry.  How about saddles, buffalo hides, blankets, dolls, stuffed animals, painted hides, Indian art, silver buckles and belts, etc. etc.  You could spend a day in one and not see all they had to offer.

Kathleen and Tere' shown here with Eddie, a great guy as were all of the sales folks we met.  Very knowledgeable and accommodating with no pressure at all.

Above is a shot of the four of us in a back room of Richardson's.  

The jewelry is beautiful and the craftsmanship unrivaled and there seems to be tons of it in Gallup!

And the locals do have a sense of humor as seen in this fellow's tee shirt, below:

Here is an example of a pair of ear rings that were pawned and never retrieved, what we would normally call, "Expired Pawn."  As I mentioned above, in Gallup they call it "Dead Pawn."

Above is a shot taken in Bill Keelers Pawn shop.  He really treated us right and we learned a lot from him.  He sold Kathleen a silver and red coral bracelet.  The satisfied customer is shown below:

Our last night in Gallup we ate at Virgies, a good Mexican Restaurant on Route 66:

Tomorrow we head up from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon.  This is a bit of a detour from our Route 66 Journey, but Tere' has not seen the canyon.  I will add a lot of pic's from our travels today because the scenery in the Painted Desert is stunningly beautiful and I captured some of it.  Don't think you can ever really capture it on film or a digital sensor, but I tried.  Until next time, stay tuned to get your vicarious "Kicks on Route 66!"