Go West, Young-ish Woman

When I was a kid, I heard someone say the Grand Canyon was the biggest ditch in the world.  So I didn’t have any particular desire to visit it until I grew up and started seeing pictures.  Once I did that, I had to see it for myself.  So in early May, my dad and I decided to take a road trip.

Well, a road trip that started with a flight.  We flew from the East Coast into Las Vegas and rented a car from there.  I can’t say Vegas really charmed me, but it was where my parents met and got married.  (When I lead with that, I always have to wipe the shock off people’s faces by adding that it was at Nellis Air Force Base, not a Chapel O’ Love, and they were married by a priest, not somebody dressed as Elvis.)

The casino where we stayed the night--and didn't play a single slot machine!

The chapel at Nellis AFB where my parents got married

I’m not an off-road sort of person, so our trip didn’t involve any backpacking, white-river rafting, or long-distance hiking.  Our itinerary took in no hard-to-reach places, and we didn’t make it to the North Rim because we were in the area two days before the road opened for the summer.  Most of my pictures look a lot like the ones all the other on-road sort of people take, from all the same places, but they’re different to me because I was there, behind the camera.  And boy, was that a good place to be!  So I’ll try to keep it simple, with a few of my favorite pictures and an anecdote or two….

Hoover Dam

The very first stop on our trip wasn't on the itinerary.  My dad remembered that our route took us right past Hoover Dam, so we figured we'd take a look at this feat of engineering.  I was actually more interested in the bridge than the dam, but still, engineering.

The Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, seen from the Hoover Dam

Grand Canyon, South Rim

My dad’s nickname in the Air Force was Stormy, and after my foggy trip to the Faroes last summer, we joked that I should be nicknamed Misty, because everywhere we go, bad weather follows us.  The two worst weather days on our trip were the days we were at the Grand Canyon: clouds that swallowed the sunset the first day, thunderstorms that closed the road to Hermit’s Rest the second.  But how many pictures have you seen of the Grand Canyon in bad weather?

But we did catch a few nice glimpses from Moran Point on the morning we drove back through the park on our way to Kayenta!

Above the clouds, it's always sunny!

Monument Valley

I felt like we were in a Ford truck commercial the whole time we were in Monument Valley, and not just because it looked like the set of one.  This was where, in Brad Paisley’s words, we “got a little mud on the tires.”  Ninety-five percent of the seventeen-mile dirt road was flying red dust, but the other five percent was a mass of huge puddles left by the rain the day before!  Worth it, though.

Navajo National Monument

This was a spur-of-the-moment side trip recommended by our server at a diner in Kayenta.  We had a few extra hours in the morning before heading to Page, and this was more or less on the way.  I only have a little point-and-shoot without a proper zoom lens, but from the end of Sandal Trail, you can see the remains of a cliff dwelling abandoned by the Anasazi in the thirteenth century.

This is an artificially zoomed-in section of the picture above.

Antelope Canyon

I’d never even heard of slot canyons until a former student of mine visited Antelope and posted about it on Facebook, and I’m so glad he did!  Because Antelope Canyon is on Navajo Nation land, you can only visit it with a tour guide.  Of the several companies that run tours, we went with Adventurous Antelope Canyon, and we were delighted with our experience! 

Not only did we see Antelope, the most popular slot canyon in the area, but we also got to visit Owl and Rattlesnake Canyons, and because (for some reason I couldn’t guess) fewer people want to see these, my dad and I had our tour guide—and in fact, almost the entirety of both canyons—to ourselves! 

One of these is Owl Canyon and the other is Rattlesnake. My dad and I can't agree on which is which.

Navajo Village

This little attraction is Page is easy to miss (it’s literally tucked in behind a gas station on the edge of town), but it was one of my favorite things we did—another spur-of-the-moment addition after we saw signs for it the day before.  Our trip focused on the natural beauty of Arizona and Utah, but Navajo Village gave a morning dedicated to the history and culture of one of the native peoples of the area.  Our hosts showed us around a hogan, demonstrated spinning wool for blanket weaving, and performed a spectacular hoop dance for us! 

I’ll share a picture from inside the hogan, since it’s too easy for photos of people to be separated from their proper attribution online, and it would seem like a poor thanks to that hoop dancer, even though we had permission and encouragement to photograph him, to put up a picture that could be separated from his name and the name of the Navajo Village.  If you want to see the dance, go see it in person and support this terrific small business!

Horseshoe Bend

Before we visited Horseshoe Bend (another ad-lib decision, since we were going right by it), I had heard only two things about it: someone just recently died taking a selfie there, and it was a must-see.  Now, having visited, I understand both: there are plenty of cliffs to fall off of, but the view is worth the risk!

This is a panorama. Horseshoe Bend is too big to get in one shot!

Bryce Canyon

We hadn’t planned on visiting Bryce Canyon either, but it turns out I’m not very good at reading calendars, so we ended up with an extra day at the end of our trip before our flight left from Las Vegas.  So we thought, why not?  And it was one of the best things we did!  But with all due respect to Ebenezer Bryce and his irrigation ditch, couldn’t they have come up with a more descriptive name for this sandcastle fairyland of red cliffs and hoodoos?

Zion National Park

We didn’t have time, on our way back from Bryce, to take the shuttle to the most scenic spots in Zion National Park; we had to stick to the one road where private vehicles are allowed.  But even so, the mountains are majestic.

 

Back in Las Vegas, we ended our trip with a visit to the Bellagio fountain show on the evening before our flight.

Finally, a bit sunburned and still shaking red dust out of our shoes, off we went, back to the land of lakes and forests, where the sky may be a little smaller, but the air smells like growing things.  I am so grateful I had the opportunity to visit the Southwest, and to see it with my dad, who is a remarkably patient travel partner.  The only question now is, where to next?

Misty and Stormy :-)