Entry 30: Rest Day Monument Valley // Today Was For Jichan

Part of the whole reason why I wanted to make this detour to Monument Valley was because of my Jichan.

He passed away last October and before he died, we would watch some of his favorite movies. Most of them were old westerns directed by John Ford and most of those movies Jichan loved where all shot in Monument Valley. John Ford would allways have the buttes and mesas of Monument Valley as the backdrop for each of his cowboy films and that choice of landscape just elevated the authenticity of the wild west.

I know Jichan visited Monument Valley with Granma once before and since I was moving back to California and while I was taking such a roundabout way, I felt compelled to make the pilgrimage to the place where the movies that captivated both me and Jichan were made. 

Monument Valley did not dissapoint. Even though the day started off with rain and fog, I felt the romance of being a cowboy in a lawless frontier.

its been almost a year since Jichan died and I still miss him. He was a pillar of the Japanese community in San Francisco but I never really learned that about him until after he passed away. I mean, I knew he was involved with the church and Japantown but not the fact that he was such a pivotal figure. I mean what the HELL!? The only thing he really liked to brag about was how big his pension was.