Thursday, September 30, 2010

WHAT VIEWS AROUND PAGE,AZ

On Thursday, September 23, we drove to Page along Echo Cliffs. On Friday we drove along the Vermilion Cliffs to Jacob Lake and down route 67 to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Scenery along all of these routes were breath taking . We enjoyed a leisurly drive taking in each view.



At Lees Ferry we crossed this bridge and saw our first glimpse of the Colorado River.














The white bark and the yellow leaves of the Aspen trees dotted the landscape on route 67 and in the Grand Canyon. It reminded me of leaves changing colors in PA.

Right before we entered the gate to the Grand Canyon we saw a herd of buffalo in the meadow. On the way home we saw about 100 deer in this area.






The lodge at the North Rim was beautiful - inside and out. We walked down the steps to the overlook.




Bright Angel trail was about 1/2 mile long and very steep. Some of these people from a bus tour were having problems going down. I'm not sure how they made it back up. But the view was worth the walk.





We drove here, the highest point in the park.


From this point we could see the cliffs and the Marble Canyon we traveled along today.


A 20 mile windy drive brought us to Cape Royal. It is the only point where you can see a little bit of the Colorado River.
This is the wedding site where you can be married.


I think the river is there somewhere.
We had a lovely full moonlight drive back to Page, 155 miles.On Saturday our next adventure took us just a few miles away to Antelope Canyon. It is on Navajo land and we had to pay a $6 entrance fee and then $25 to take the tour. We had a three miles sandy, bumpy ride in the back of these trucks to the Canyon. Lorilee was our guide, she told us her grandmother found these canyons while herding sheep years ago.




A beautiful 1/4 mile walk through the canyon. The only bad part was it was extremely crowded. The canyon had three chambers and gets very narrow.




We were there at 11:00 and the sunlight sent beams of light through the openings. Photographers were there "chasing the light".




Our next stop was at the Glen Canyon Dam. We saw a very interesting film on how and why it was built in 1959. There were no roads here before that and much of the canyon was never explored before they were flooded, so many artifacts may have been lost forever. The city of Page was built for the workers building the dam.


The Glenn Canyon bridge. It had to be built before the dam so workers could go from one side to the other without a 200 mile drive.
A view of Wahweap campground along Lake Powell. It is on National Park land. We didn't stay here but at Page/Lake Powell campground.


We took a 1 1/2 mile hike up a steep sandy hill to see Horse Shoe Bend. The Colorado River goes around this sandstone. I laid on a cliff and looked down on it. Larry was a little nervous about what I was doing. Another amazing sight!

The trail we walked down and then back. It was like walking on dunes at the beach.


Wednesday, September 29, 2010

MONUMENT VALLEY

We went to Page, AZ and spent 3 days. We went to the North rim of the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell and Antelope Valley. I have great pictures but I'm having trouble getting them posted. I will try later. On Sunday we drove to Monument Valley in Utah. This is Navajo land and you have to take a tour with a guide. The only RV park is the Goulding's.

The Goulding's had a trading post here and then brought Hollywood to the valley to make many of the western movies.


















Some of the movies filmed in Monument Valley.



John Wayne's characters home from the movie She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. We watched this movie in their theatre one evening and it was fun seeing the buildings and the valley in the film .







We took a three hour sunset tour of Monument Valley. Our first stop was at this hogan, a Navajo home.





It was a very bumpy 3 hour ride in the back of this truck - all dirt paths!


Sammy was our guide. This is his weekend job, he teaches preschool during the week. Larrry enjoyed talking with him about life on the Navajo reservation.

Beautiful scenery, especially at sunset.



The mitten.


The three sisters or W for welcome to Monument Valley.



Indiana Jones movie was filmed here. He dropped down out of this opening.






Totem poles at sunset.