Too Hot to Blog, part 2

When when we left the hotel in Las Vegas, it was like somebody was pointing a hair dryer at us. It was a hot and dry wind, and indeed, my hair was dry before we reached the car. The drive through Nevada was pretty dull, but it improved drastically when we got to the Virgin River Gorge in Arizona. Before we knew it, we were in St. George, Utah. My husband was having a Starbucks craving, so we stopped at a visitor's center to get directions. They also gave us some good tips on where to stop and stretch our legs along our drive.

I really enjoyed the beauty of the landscape, but I haven't dealt with my pictures yet, so I'll have to catch up with that later.

We stopped at Pipe Spring National Monument where we were just in time for a ranger-led tour. After that, we were rather in the mood for ice cream, but nobody seemed to be selling it. Now it's possible that there was a freezer case in one of the gas stations we passed, but I felt that the signs and flags which advertise ice cream all over Sweden were strangely absent.

We also drove through a bit of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. It was really gorgeous, and I'd love to go back sometime when it was cool enough to go hiking there. It was around 5 PM when we arrived at our motel in Page, Arizona. After so much driving, my daughter was really glad to take a dip in the pool. We walked around to see what our dinner options were, and we ended up at an Italian Restaurant, Stromboli's. I had an excellent calzone that was easily enough for three meals.

On Tuesday, we started the day at the local Visitor's center, where we got lots of ideas. We started by driving out to Lower Antelope Canyon, but half the canyon was closed after the previous day's rain. The tour was still full price, and there was over an hour's wait, so we decided to try something else. We drove out to Horseshoe bend and did that hike. It was only 1.5 miles round trip, but it was 103 F (39 C) and humid, so it really wiped us out. We went back to cool off in the air conditioning of our motel room.

After a quick lunch at Subway, we took the tour of the Glen Canyon Dam. We all found that really interesting. My husband had to hurry back to the hotel for an important phone call, so my daughter and I went to the beach at Lake Powell. The water was relatively warm, and the view was spectacular, but there was quite a bit of noise from the boats. For dinner, we ate leftovers at the motel.

On Wednesday, we started the day at Lower Antelope Canyon, and this time the whole thing was open with only a half-hour wait. The canyon is on the Navajo reservation, and they only allow access with their guides. They do give special passes to photographers (normally defined as anyone carrying a tripod) which allow them to lag behind the tour at no extra charge. Since I have an ISO 3200 camera and an image stabilizer lens, I rarely bother to lug around my tripod anymore, but I was able to beg a pass. I remained within earshot for part of the tour, and it was really interesting, but the time spent with just me and my camera was really magical. Not wanting my family to have to wait too long, I nearly had to run to catch up. Near the end of the tour, the guide played his flute, and I was really glad to experience that. The acoustics in the slot canyon were incredible, and the music was haunting.

Our next stop was the Antelope Point marina where we inquired about renting kayaks or a jet ski. Unfortunately the jet skis were fully booked, and it was too windy to kayak. We had lunch on what they called the world's largest floating restaurant. I don't know how they define that, but clearly they have not seen the floating restaurants in Hong Kong. We then drove to Waheap marina where they were not only fully booked but much more expensive. We ended up spending the afternoon at the beach.

Thursday morning had been left open because my husband had another call, but that was canceled at the last moment. However, he wasn't feeling well and feared it might be heat or sun stroke from the day before. We later concluded that he was also coming down with a cold. Since it was too late to book either the boat tour to Rainbow Bridge or the Colorado River float, and it was too hot to go hiking, our options were limited. We decided on a Hummer tour to a different "Secret" slot canyon. At least off-roading in a Hummer would be air conditioned. We had a couple of hours to kill before that started, so we asked for advice on what to do. They told us about Blair's trading post and the special private collection that they have upstairs. This was the collection of Navajo treasures and other antiques accumulated since the family opened the trading post in the 1930s. It was really interesting, and we were glad for the opportunity to see it. They don't advertise or anything, and one would still not know about it even if you wandered into their shop. But when we asked about it, they were happy to show it to us. We almost lost track of time there and had to hurry through lunch to make it back to the Hummer tour.

We showed up for our Hummer tour just in time only to find out it had been canceled due to flash flood warnings. We could reschedule for the next day or get a refund. We were very disappointed and asked if there was anyplace else they could take us. After all, we'd already been to Antelope Canyon, and after a while, slot canyons start looking pretty similar. If we skipped the secret canyon, could we just go off-roading? They thought about this for a few minutes and decided they could. So we watched the thunder storms from the safety of the vehicle, jumping out occasionally to take some pictures. My husband and daughter really enjoyed the off-roading. I thought it was fascinating to watch the water fill up a previously dry wash and start moving down the valley. It happened right in front of our eyes. Fortunately, our guide knew the area well and kept us away from the flood-prone areas.

That evening we went for Mexican for dinner. From the restaurant, our daughter could see kids at the playground, so after dinner we took here there to play. She played so well, that we stayed a bit too long and had to cut short our after-dinner walk when it got dark on us. On the advice of the Hummer tours guys, we went back to the scenic viewpoint after dark to see the dam at night. The trail was tricky by starlight, but it was a really nice experience.

Following a tip from the lady at the Visitor's Center, we drove down to Lee's Ferry on Friday. The drive was very scenic, and it was nice to walk around there. We saw where the green Colorado river is joined by the brown Paria river and the colors mix, a bunch of interesting rock formations, and the historic area which was once the only place in 600 miles where people could cross the Colorado river. As an extra treat, we got to see three endangered California Condors in the wild. It would be great to go back to that area when it is cool enough to do some hiking.

In the evening, we attended a program at the Navajo Cultural Heritage Village in Page. As we left for this, I realized that I'd left my backup camera battery in the motel room, but since we were running late, I figured I'd take my chances with the battery rather than being late. Big mistake! With the first picture I attempted to take there, my camera died. I was heartbroken, but everything they were saying was so interesting that I didn't want to miss 20 minutes or more by going back to get the battery. I tried taking some pictures with my phone, but it's battery soon died too. They ended the evening with a dinner of Navajo tacos (pretty much the same as all the other Indian fry breads that I've tried over the years) and dancers. The dancers were very good, but they were from other tribes. I was a little disappointed that they did not do traditional Navajo dances. Those are used in religious ceremonies, thus it would be inappropriate to use them for entertainment, but it still would have been nice if they'd been able to show some sort of watered down version.

We left Page on Saturday morning and drove to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. I'd originally planned to visit the north rim on this trip, but it was just too far out of the way. The detour by the south rim increased our driving time by less than an hour, but of course that didn't include all the stops at Navajo jewelry stands and overlooks for the mandatory oohing and ahing. My husband is quite uncomfortable with heights, and the last time we were at the Grand Canyon he did not approach the railings. I used to tease him that the Grand Canyon's not that impressive from the parking lot. This time, he did much better. In fact, a casual observer would not have noticed that he was uncomfortable. Our daughter was impressed by the overwhelming vastness of the hole in the ground, so I guess the detour was worth while.

Our next stop was Kingman, and on the way there, we took Route 66. My husband really enjoyed the historical context of this, and thanks to the movie Cars, so did our daughter. We hoped to stop of an ice cream, but almost everything was closed at 5 PM on a Saturday. We eventually settled for ice cream bars from the freezer box at a gas station. Being accustomed to the Swedish obsession with ice cream, I was surprised by the scarcity of ice cream in Arizona.

We spent the night in Kingman, and in the morning, we visited the Route 66 museum there. We then took Route 66 via Oatman to the California border. Oatman is an old mining town/tourist trap. Besides the T-shirt shops, they had staged gunfights in the middle of town and wild donkeys wandering everywhere. A vendor sold carrots for the tourists to feed to the donkeys, and our daughter really got a kick out of that. The baby donkeys that were still nursing had stickers on their foreheads with a carrot and a line through it. This was to remind the tourists that they are not old enough for solid food and could choke. While I didn't get a picture of this (didn't want to chase and scare baby donkeys), this really cracked me up.

We got back on the interstate at the Colorado River. In Barstow, we once again tried to find ice cream on Route 66, and we were lucky enough to find Fosters Freeze. Our daughter, who had complained a couple of times about being cold and asked us to turn down the A/C, was not well. She was feverish and wouldn't even drink her root beer float. It was rather late by the time we got back to our hotel, and she threw up twice: once on each bed. So the next week's plans were scrapped and catering to the sick kid dominated. While it was definitely a bummer to have both a sick husband and sick kid on vacation, we were lucky that the kid didn't get sick in Arizona. At least now I could park her in front of the Disney Channel and my mom and stepfather could help take care of her.

(Of course I took a ton of pictures, but it will take me a while to sort them, so I'll try to post them soon.)