TAKING THE OFF-RAMP

You'll Wonder Where the Yellow Went

ALL DAY LONG, drivers do double takes along Interstate 40, 3 miles east of Holbrook. No, it's not another Jurassic Park-gone-concrete. If Tyrannosaurus rex is the "tyrant king," then Holbrook is the king of kitsch. Situated in the middle of one of the richest paleontological sites in the world, the town has embraced its prehistoric predecessors. Along with others of his ilk, this concrete creature stalking northern Arizona's Painted Desert is getting a paint job of its own, courtesy of Carver (who uses only one name). During a recent renovation at Dinosaur Park, near the entrance to Petrified Forest National Park, volunteers spruced up the 'saurs, giving each a shiny new coat of paint to ensure that these T. rexes will tease and terrorize travelers for a long time to come. -Sally Benford

A Thousand-year Birthday Bash

THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF the 83,840-acre Canyon de Chelly National Monument marks the latest notable event in a 1,000-year run of triumph and tragedy. The beautiful, undulating, 1,000-foot-tall red cliffs sheltered the Puebloan people (also called Anasazi) before they mysteriously vanished. The Navajos took their place, farming along the stream, tending sheep introduced by the Spanish and growing peach trees, probably acquired from refugees of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt against the Spanish. The Navajos held out in their canyon fortress until famed scout Kit Carson led the military expedition that torched their fields and forced them into a painful exile. The government eventually relented and the Navajos returned to the canyon. To protect some 700 archaeological sites, President Herbert Hoover made it a national monument in 1931, during the Great Depression.

Canyon de Chelly (pronounced de SHAY) probably derived its name from the mispronunciation of tségí, meaning "rock canyon" in Navajo. Despite temperatures that range from 105 degrees to -30 degrees, Navajo families still raise crops, livestock and peaches on the canyon floor. Concerns about the preservation of the cultural and natural resources within the canyon prompted the U.S. government to establish a national monument, giving the Navajos the right to rent horses and guide visitors into the canyon, with the exception of hiking the steep trail to White House Ruins.

So after sheltering human beings for a millennium, life in the canyon remains constant despite the wars, moon walks and iPods of the outside world. Information: (928) 674-5500; www.nps.gov/cach. -Janet Webb Farnsworth

Dude, It's a Pterodactyl

"DUDE, THERE'S A pterodactyl in your back yard!" This statement prompted me to run in hopes of catching a view of a Jurassic-period creature metamorphosing from the ground like a mystical phoenix bird in a very suburban neighborhood.

No 150 million-year-old "flying lizard" awaited, but the creature standing stoically on the block fence eying the golden koi in the small lily-covered pond was just as imposing. Its long bill, piercing golden eyes, stately legs and gray-blue feathers identified it not as a dinosaur but as a hungry great blue heron, hoping to slurp a fantail down its gullet before my father charged him in defense of his beloved fish.

Making Rugs the Old-fashioned Way

NAVAJO RUG PRICES have soared in recent years, as evidenced by the $401,000 sale price of a diamond-patterned 19th-century weaving in 2001. But for collectors like Steve Getzwiller, it's not the money-it's the authenticity that matters. That's why at Getzwiller's Nizhoni Ranch Gallery in Sonoita, southeast of Tucson, you can still buy the real thing-traditionally made rugs. The Spanish brought herds of Churro sheep to the Southwest in the late 1500s, and Navajos used their long wool to make tightly woven, water-resistant blankets. Larger blankets were later used as rugs. Weavers passed on to their children the formulas to make yarn dyes by boiling plants and rocks. Many weavers switched to synthetic dyes and commercially processed yarn to meet growing demand in the early 1900s, but Getzwiller offers contemporary and historic weavings made by traditional Navajo weavers who use naturally dyed, soft Churro wool. The hand-spun wool makes the rugs much smoother and heavier than imitations, due to the smooth fibers and lanolin in the wool. Information: (520) 455-5020; www.navajorug.com.

off-ramp Monument to One Man and 1.4 Million Lions

EACH JANUARY, Lions Club International members converge on Fort Thomas to lionize the monument honoring club founder Melvin Jones, born on this military outpost in the Gila River Valley, some 146 miles east of Phoenix off U.S. Route 70. Jones spent the first seven years of his life at Fort Thomas, which was then plagued by raiding Apaches and malaria and typhoid fever. His family moved to Chicago, where Jones eventually opened his own insurance company and enjoyed substantial success. In 1917, he and other civic-minded businessmen formed the Lions Club to support humanitarian efforts, especially help for the visually impaired, which was inspired by an address Helen Keller gave to the group in 1925. Today, the organization boasts 45,000 clubs with 1.4 million members, many of whom will gather on January 13 for the 38th annual rededication of the Melvin Jones Memorial in a quiet valley no longer worried about either Geronimo or malaria. Information: www.lions-mjm.org.