Exploding with Happiness!: Spring Break!

March 22

A new adventure begins! For Sara and Laura's LAST spring break, we decided to visit the Grand Canyon. And we will, but not until the end of the week.

Our Arizona adventure began yesterday, when Laura and Sara flew to Phoenix from Oakland and I joined them from LA, and the three of us flew together to Flagstaff. We picked up our rental car at the airport and set out to take care of the girls' top priority: Mexican food! The consensus at the rental car desk, among clerks AND customers, was that we should go to La Fonda. It was delicious and the plates were huge. We gave up trying to finish about halfway through our meals, but we did find room for the fresh sopapillas and honey that arrived at the end of our meal.

Stuffed, we set out on Route 66 (THE Route 66) and then Route 89 to Page, up near the Utah border. By the time we reached Page, it was after dark. We checked into our hotel and relaxed, plus I visited Walmart across the street and stocked up on sunscreen and groceries for our week.

Today's primary focus was Antelope Canyon - both Upper and Lower. We toured the Upper Antelope Canyon in the morning. Our Navajo guide, Nate, told us about the region, pointed out landmarks and explained what we would see, all before we even reached the canyon. When we entered the canyon, it was every bit as spectacular as all the pictures. Each turn yielded another amazing view of the sculpted sandstone walls, carved over 1.8 billion years by water and wind. The shapes and the light draw loads of serious photographers and sightseers. We wandered through the narrow canyon passages with Nate pointing out for us different shapes and the best points from which to take pictures. He even took pictures for and of us!

After our tour, we had a couple hours until we planned to tour Lower Antelope Canyon. We decided to take our sandwich lunch to Horseshoe Bend, a spectacular meander in the Colorado River that has cut deep into the earth. We hiked a short way over sand, rocks and scrub to the edge of the cliff - or at least as close as we dared. The 1,000 foot drop-off is completely unprotected, with weathered sandstone ledges jutting out over the river. We were awed and terrified. We took pictures and then sat on a rock, eating our lunch. However, it was not a relaxed picnic. Watching other tourists jumping around near the edge, posing for photos, was very stressful. I was just glad that I didn't have any little kids to keep track of.

Our tour of Lower Antelope Canyon was, if anything, even more spectacular that Upper Antelope Canyon. The Lower canyon is deeper and more of a V shape. To access it, you have to climb down a series of steel steps to the canyon floor. It was also less crowded, which made it seem like we had more time to work our way through. Kordel, our Navajo guide for this tour, was excellent. He showed us settings for our cameras that we didn't know we had that gave us terrific photos. He too pointed out shapes of animals and people that were easy to recognize in the sculpted sandstone walls and took some pictures for and of us.

To finish our sightseeing for the day, we set out late in the afternoon for the Glen Canyon Dam overlook, from where, you guessed it, you get a great view of the Glen Canyon Dam. We took some pictures and then continued on across the bridge next to the dam to Wahweap Overlook. From this elevated plateau, we had 360 degree views of Lake Powell, the Vermillion Cliffs and countless magnificent geological features. It was a lovely place to wind up our day.

Having not satisfied Laura and Sara's craving for Mexican food (it can't be satisfied), we had another great Mexican meal, this time at Fiesta Mexicana in Page. We are now near food coma state, relaxing in our hotel room. Tomorrow, Monument Valley!