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| Enroute to Zuni Pueblo | Art in a men's bathroom |
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We arrived at Gallup around 6, too late to look into the many famous trading posts. Not that'd we'd buy anything because of the huge markups, but it'd be fun to window shop. Besides trading posts, Gallup is known for having about 40 murals on the walls of downtown buildings and we did check some of those out. After a long day, we treated ourselves to the buffet at Route 66 Casino. It was "two for one" night but I had to sign up for a player card. Doing that got me a free T-shirt. Woo-hoo! I was surprised to find an "Asian" dessert on the buffet - jackfruit and lychee, both of which I like. It was canned, not fresh, of course but that was fine. |
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| Downtown Gallup | Richardson's Trading Post | Turquoise encrusted cow skull |
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| Gallup mural | Gallup mural | Gallup mural |
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| Gallup mural | Gallup mural | Gallup mural |
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| Gallup is on old Route 66 | Place your bets on Route 66! |
We arrived at
Zuni Pueblo about 3:30 PM, too late for a tour. But we weren't too
late to visit their jewelry stores, which was the major reason for the
trip. Of all the various Pueblo styles, I love the Zuni inlay jewelry
most and what better place to shop for it than at the source? Not many folks make the
long trip from Albuquerque to Zuni. It was also
very obvious that it was slow season; we were either the only or one
of two other couples in the four stores we visited. (The only other
folks we saw were a dealer couple from Arizona.)
So we made some
excellent deals! I bought more jewelry here (three rings and five pendants)
than anywhere else on the trip; the prices were unbelievably low and
the workmanship excellent. But Susie got the best piece - a 1
1/2-inch long by 1 inch wide thunderbird ring with inlaid turquoise,
coral, onyx and mother of pearl that just pops off her finger. It was
also the most expensive piece of jewelry we bought on the entire trip
- just $50! Probably $125-$150 in a store...