Saturday, April
9
It was a day of
sightseeing while heading in the direction of home. We still have over 1,800
miles to go, so it’ll take a few days. J
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Time continues
to be confusing. The Navajo Reservation
observes Daylight Saving Time, the rest of Arizona does not. So the Navajo Nation is an hour ahead of the
rest of the state. We had a reservation
for a canyon tour today at 12:00 pm. MST.
I received a reminder email which contained this caution: **PLEASE arrive early. Due to
high demands for tours, we ask all guests to arrive 1 hour early during the
months of October to March and 1.5 hours early during the months April to
September. If you have not checked in 30
mins prior to your scheduled tour, you will be scheduled for the next available
tour**
So, we stay in
Page which did not spring ahead as it is not located on the reservation. However, the people at the hotel tell us that
all tours run on the current Arizona time, not reservation time. What?
So, our tour was at noon, we needed to be there 1 ½ hours early, we had
no idea where we were going….so to be safe we left our hotel at 9:30, figuring
better to arrive way too early than too late.
Since the tour location was about 10 minutes from our hotel, we were
over 2 hours early, which was okay but now we needed to kill a couple of hours. Might as well check in while we’re here. Wait a minute! They have room for more people on the 10 o’clock
tour...Hey, Kim, would you be game to go on an earlier tour? Sure, why not? So confusion and a slight paranoia about being late worked out in our favor.J
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Antelope Canyon is a busy place! There is a 15 minute ride out to the mouth of
the canyon, which is really a wide crack in the sandstone wall. This is what the Navajo Tour site has to say
about the canyon:
Formed
over hundreds of years of water running through sandstone, Antelope Canyon is
both a sacred site for the Navajo and a favorite destination for tourists from
all over the world.
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After the canyon tour, we headed
over to where the Colorado River sweeps around a big chunk of sandstone. It looks like a big lasso around the rock to
me, but is called Horseshoe Bend because all you can see of the river is a
horseshoe shaped chunk of it. It’s about
a mile walk round trip but worth every step, even if you’re wearing a black
shirt and the sun suddenly turns on the heat. J To actually take in the entirety of the
scene, you have to go up to the edge of the canyon rim….very cautiously, in my
case. There was a cautionary sign on the
way to the overlook that warned of standing near the edge of what you think is
solid rock but in reality could just be an overhang with nothing but air
beneath it…and which could itself weaken over time and be a hazard. I took that sign very seriously. But we found a vantage point that was solid
underneath and from which we could see the entire view below. Saw some parents getting after their children
for presumably getting too close to the edge.
Again, I didn’t understand the language but I understood the anxiety
behind the reprimand.
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Headed to a
hotel in Kayenta, AZ, which is about 20 miles from the Utah border and about 25
miles from Monument Valley. Incredible
sights the whole way from Page to Kayenta.
After checking into the hotel, we unloaded the bikes and took a ride out
Hwy 163, the road to Utah and Monument Valley.
Rode about 50 miles and saw lots of rock formations along the way and
from where we stopped by the Utah sign, I think we saw a lot of the ‘monuments’,
too. It’s not like they can hide. J
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