November 2 & 3 Arrival in and at Page AZ

Scenery on drive to Page

Driving Day! We were on the road at 9 and I had my sweatshirt off by 10. It was a beautiful day out. The air was slightly cool but felt fine in a t-shirt. The drive to Page, AZ was pretty boring but at least there was barely any traffic. There were 2 routes to choose from but Bill chose the one with the least hill grade. I would have chosen the one going through Monument Valley. We’ve been there several times but at least the scenery would have been better. The closer we got to Page, the nicer the rock formations were.

View from our campground

Our campground, Page Lake Powell Campground, is very nice, but no grass. We’ve officially arrived in AZ! Xena does not like going to the bathroom without grass. Sometimes it takes us several tries to get her to go. Anyway, we are on the main road, just south of town. Page is bigger than we thought. We drove in to find where we are go to for our Antelope Canyon tour tomorrow and saw the school and many shops that we won’t have time for. Stopped at the post office, then made our way to Wal-Mart for more water.

Dinner was leftovers. Need to make some room in the fridge. Later we had apple pie for dessert.

My favorite shot in the canyon

Most are taken pointing up

November 3 – I didn’t sleep well at all last night so I was up plenty early to get ready for our tour of Antelope Canyons, which is a slot canyon on the Navajo reservation. Bill has wanted to go into one for years. Our tour was at 9:30 and we needed to be at the office at 9. We were on time and checked in and browsed the gift shop. Bill picked a t-shirt to get when we got back and we made sure we went to the bathroom there as there are no facilities at the canyon. There were 4 jeep loads going to the canyon, 2 were extended tours, meaning they were going for an hour longer for photography. Ours was 1 of 5 tour companies but there was only 1 other jeep there so luckily no real crowds.

Bill at the exit

The ride out and back was an experience in itself. We jounced and bounced once we left the paved road and were driving into the canyon. There is no way to get there without getting stuck without being on horseback or with 4 wheel drive. The canyon floor is sugar sand and you can barely walk in it. The jeeps carry 12-14 and they leave a few minutes apart so we’re not all entering at the same time. Each group has a guide who points out rock formations and gives you tips on where to stand to take photos for the best shots. I don’t think my camera was set properly as it looked like everyone else was getting clearer shots. Oh well, I did the best I could. You get an hour in the actual slot canyon. The guide walks you through to the other side which is 500 feet, then you can make your way back but you have to be on the jeep at the appointed time. The best description is spectacular. The swirls of the walls and the light creeping in from the top, it was truly an amazing experience. Bill would like to come back and do all the time slots to see how different the light makes the canyon look inside. Not a bad idea.

Obviously the dam

Once back in town we got his shirt and drove down to see the Glen Canyon Dam and the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area visitor center. It was interesting to see how different the area looked 20 years ago. The water level of Lake Powell, which is a reservoir created by the dam has severely dropped in 20 years. The drop is due to increased water usage down river as well as up river. The visitor center has a huge display on water conservation, but too bad so few pay attention. The marinas have had to literally move their buildings to be back on the water. We drove to Wahweap Marina, which is in the National Recreation Area, and it’s very nice with a huge hotel and even in the off season there were still lots of houseboats in the marina. We drove around in the campground and it was equally nice. If you are into water and boating this could be a good place to stay a spell. Some of the houseboats were huge. We can’t figure how they get them in and out of the water and into storage they are so big.

Along the road from our campground to Wal-Mart there are several boat places. It appears they sell, repair and store mostly houseboats. On our way up the road today we followed a police escort of a truck hauling a houseboat and taking it to storage.

Horseshoe Bend

Bill and I like these layered sandstone
rock

We came home for lunch and relaxed a while. Bill did the dishes and made some calls to reserve our spaces for the trip home across Texas. I prepped my green beans and potatoes to cook for dinner. Then we head out just a couple of miles to Horseshoe Bend. It’s where the Colorado River snakes around and makes a horseshoe bend. We had heard on the tour this morning it was a short hike to the viewpoint. Well, it was a hike, not all that short, but the worst part is that it’s downhill going and uphill coming back. On the way down we passed 2 ladies and a man headed back and we ended up passing them when we came back. I’m not a super hiker by any means and we stop for me to catch my breath, but they must really walk slow or stop a lot. We had to admit it was definitely worth the hike down and back. The view was awesome and the rocks too. You get a perfect view of the horseshoe and the green water of the river below. Bill gets totally paranoid that I will get too close to the edge and fall in someplace. I do tend to venture very close to the edge but so far I’ve been pretty surefooted. I was pretty tired by the time we walked back up the hill. I was ready to go home but Bill had other ideas. He wanted to wash the truck in one of those do it yourself places. My official job was to put the money in the machine as needed and change the machine’s spraying functions as told. The truck does look much better so hope it lasts a few days.

I put my potatoes and beans on to cook and we were both on the laptops looking up info on seasonal and volunteer work at National Parks for next season. Bill wants to focus on the northwest. I wouldn’t mind the northeast. There aren’t many seasonal jobs listed but there are lots of volunteer jobs. We’d only take one that provided free camping. However, there is one at a lighthouse where you live in the lighthouse and I would LOVE to do that. We didn’t really make any headway but at least know there are some possibilities out there.

I heated up the leftover rotisserie chicken to go with my potatoes and we had a nice dinner. Later for dessert Bill had the last of the pie with some cheesecake filling on it and I had shortcake with cheesecake filling and fresh strawberries. We figured for sure we earned it today with all the walking we did. I went to the bathhouse for my shower tonight since I needed to wash my hair and we didn’t hook up to the sewer here. I hate those places. This one was plenty clean but there’s no place in the shower to sit your stuff. At least I had plenty of room for washing my hair without worrying I’d run out of hot water.

Time to get this posted and off to bed.