32.5/30 Baby Rocks

Leaving Page, Arizona, we head east on SR 98 toward Navajo National Monument near Kayente, AZ; and we also plan to visit some old friends from Malawi living in the middle of the Navajo Reservation.

“What are Baby Rocks?”, you ask. You’ll see in due time.

So after a beautiful drive through “green” desert (It had rained all last week in this area.), we arrived at Bill and Nancy Flood’s house near the clinic where Bill is a doctor, conveniently just in time for lunch (It was prearranged). Nancy and their youngest daughter, Macy (just graduated from college), welcomed us and Bill “escaped” from the clinic—they were swamped with patients and he would have to return soon.
We have known Bill and Nancy for over 35 years and have been lucky enough to catch them occasionally between tours to and from many exotic places. Bill is an MD in Pediatrics while Nancy has PhD in Geriatrics. After working in Malawi in ‘70s, they practiced in Hawaii, the Mayo Clinic, Samoa, Saipan (Guam), Colorado, and now Bill doctors at a Navajo clinic and Nancy teaches at Dine Navajo College in Tuba City in addition to writing children’s books.
We could have talked all afternoon, but Bill had to get back to the clinic and Nancy was busy helping one of their children in Colorado—by long-distance telephone.


Northern Arizona is a lot like southern Utah with its red rock outcroppings and monuments. Between stopping for weeds (I mean WILDFLOWERS) and photogenic red rock formations, our average speed is is not very great. Often the wildflowers grow near interestingly shaped features, as in this case.

No, these are not Baby Rocks.

Jean photographed this Globe Mallow (Sphaeralcea coccinea), while I was running around chasing the red rocks.




There are so many bizarre and unusual shaped rocks along the road, that most have no official name.



Here we have a red and white conical tower or chimney.


And nearby a very good-looking chocolate brown (not red) monument.

Are we to the Baby Rocks yet?





Finally! As we drove by this place, there was an official brown sign announcing to all: “Baby Rocks.” They are unusual, and they are not very big—so why not call them Baby Rocks?—the name got our attention.




We reached Navajo National Monument at 3 p.m. after a total distance of 98 miles. We were fortunate to just hit the day when local Navajo groups were coming together at the Park for a program called, Drums of Summer. Jean will show you some of the people and their costumes in the next blog.