When the thermostat goes down, so do the room rates at Thunderbird Lodge in Canyon de Chelly National Monument in northeastern Arizona.
The 74-room lodge will reduce its rates for the 2007 – 2008 winter season up to 43 percent off summer-season rates. The lodge will also provide a complimentary continental breakfast, 10 percent off canyon tours and 10 percent off gift shop purchases for overnight visitors who stay on Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights.
The winter rates are in effect from November 1, 2007 to March 1, 2008. Rates per night are $63 for a single room, $69 for a double, $75 for a triple and $81 for a quad. Suites are also available starting at $94.50 for two people. Rates do not include taxes.
Winter temperatures typically range from 40 to 60 degrees with lows averaging around 20 degrees. While the monument does receive some snow, it is generally no more than a few inches.
Thunderbird Lodge is the only lodging facility in Canyon de Chelly National Monument. Rooms are equipped with comfortable beds, full bathrooms and satellite television. The lodge sits on the site of a trading post built in 1896, and its cafeteria-style restaurant is located in the trading post’s original building. The Thunderbird Lodge gift shop and rug room offer some of the region’s finest examples of Native American jewelry, crafts and Navajo rugs as well as other mementos.
Thunderbird Lodge also offers authorized group tours in Canyon de Chelly in six-wheel drive touring vehicles operated by experienced and knowledgeable Navajo guides who explain about the canyon, one of the most sacred as well as historically and culturally significant places in the Navajo Nation. Guests see prime examples of Anasazi ruins, pictographs, petroglyphs and the sites of confrontations between the Navajo and the Spanish, Mexican and American governments.
During the winter, half-day tours leave from Thunderbird Lodge at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. and take visitors into the lower halves of both Canyon de Chelly and Canyon del Muerto and last 3_ hours. Guests typically enjoy an open-air ride, but during inclement weather the vehicles can be covered with clear caps engineered by the lodge’s maintenance staff. With the exception of hiking the White House Ruin trail, travel in the canyons is permitted only with a park ranger or authorized Navajo guide.
Through March 1, 2008, rates for half-day tours are $40.95 for adults and $31.50 for children 12 and under. During the winter, tours are conducted only if at least six guests participate. For reservations, call 1-928-674-5841 or toll-free at 1-800-679-2473. For more information on Canyon de Chelly National Monument and Thunderbird Lodge, go to www.tbirdlodge.com.
SOURCE: Mesereau Public Relations
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".