Happy Birthday John!
We started the day at Lee’s Ferry Lodge (highly recommended).
Then we spent a lot of time looking at this.
Can’t see 'em? If Catherine blows the photo up and Windex the computer screen, she can find 4 blurry dots that are the California Condors! We saw at least 21 and maybe 24 depending on who’s counting. It turns out they are really easy to find. You go to the handy dandy condor viewing spot marked by:
Then wait a few minutes and they wake up, and fly around in circles. Binoculars are required, but thankfully they are really BIG BIRDS! Here’s Denise looking at them.
That was the highlight of the day. After viewing, we headed up the dirt road (coincidentally the other end of the same dirt road where we camped to go to the Wave… Denise wants to drive every inch of every dirt road in AZ). The dirt road became one lane due to the traffic jam.
A tumble weed traffic jam!!! Then we found an amazing view:
Denise wanted to go back to Jacob’s Lake which is the town (in AZ a town is defined as a crossroads with a gas station and, in this case, a national park visitor center) that you pass through to go to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The North Rim is closed this time of year due to snow. Catherine didn’t find out if the visitor center is closed.
We had lunch on the Navajo Bridge over the Colorado River (it’s the little canyon before it turns into the Grand Canyon). No throwing stuff off the bridge, it might kill someone (at least according to the signs).
Then we headed down to Lee’s Ferry Landing. Lee used to operate the ferry across the river. Now many of the folks that raft down the Colorado River put in here. The Paria River comes in (it’s brown) and joins the blue Colorado River and causes the Paria Riffle, the first white water for the rafters. The water was fairly warm when we stuck our fingers in. That confused us.
Denise looked for rocks while Catherine identified the ducks as Buffleheads (which I’ll be able to see out my front window at the end of the trip).
Then we headed back up 89A to 89 to Page AZ. Denise kept drawing in her breath and making noises like Catherine was putting her in mortal danger every time we went downhill. Catherine has compromised by going 5 under the speed limit on vacant roads. Really. Denise is also excellent at pointing out the yellow suggested speed signs and Catherine thinks Denise would prefer they be interpreted as kilometers per hour instead of miles per hour. However, Denise loves looking down at the valleys – so it’s all worth it (assuming Catherine doesn't kill her). This scenic overlook looks back over the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument.
We turned off 89 to 98 just before Page (did AZ DOT find a deal on 8s and 9s or just want to confuse tourists?). We found the Navajo power plant and the entrance to Antelope Canyon. According to the travel guides, this is the most beautiful slot canyon open to the public in the world. We decided the travel guides must be getting kick backs from the Navajo. We did have a private tour with a Navajo guide and there walls corkscrewed above your head. Maybe it was the time of the year, but the lighting wasn’t as spectacular as expected. When the lighting is better, up to 5000 people go through the ¼ mile canyon each day (that would be shoulder to shoulder). Buckskin Gulch is skinnier with better color in the rocks and you don’t have a guide describing what animal or person he sees in each rock formation. We are spoiled. The guide also played the flute which looks like a recorder, but sounds better than Catherine ever did. Here are a couple of the photos.
We then headed up 98 to 160 to Monument Valley. 98 was more beautiful plains (that should be full of pronghorn, but we never saw one), red rocks and snow. We’re spending the night in Kayenta and should have beautiful weather in Monument Valley.
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