Park Hopping Ep. 2: “It’s All About the Angle”

There were flaming curves and light beams everywhere. Some parts were dim; others were so blindingly bright. Many times I had to duck my head, and others I craned my neck to see. Where could I possibly be talking about? Take a look…

Antelope Canyon in Page, Arizona! The entance of this canyon was so very interesting to me. I guess I was expecting it to be something like the Grand Canyon, but it wasn’t at all. Imagine a deep and thin crack in the ground, leading to an almost cave-like entrance… that’s more like it. Once we got to the “mouth” there were several flights of steep stairs we had to climb down; some that were so steep we had to climb down like a ladder: backwards. It was exhilerating! At the bottom of the last staircase, we entered this big pit; almost like the foyer of the canyon floor plan:) I’d say that the foyer was the most crowded area of the entire tour. It got a little chaotic in there, but once the tours started moving along, it evened out.

Traveling Tip:

There are two Antelope Canyons, actually: The Lower Canyon and Upper Canyon. We toured the Lower Canyon, for two reasons. One, the Lower is a longer tour and is a loop. We wanted to be able to explore thouroughly, climb, and scramble along the floor and canyon walls. Two, the Upper Canyon isn’t as lit, so the colors don’t come out unless you are there at the right time of day. We wanted orange pics, not brown! Another good reason is that the Upper Canyon tours were completely booked, we were lucky to get a tour for the Lower:) Make sure to research ahead of time how you want to explore…winging it isn’t always the best option!

Along the way, our tour guide showed us (Ann) some cool angles we could get to bring home the best pics possible. For instance, there was one angle he showed us that made the canyon outline the sky in a seahorse form. He also pointed out some interesting formations in the walls that were just cool, angle or not.

Our guide through the canyon was awesome; highly recommend checking out Ken’s Tours if you get a chance to visit!

I gotta say Ann was having a blast! She was having a very hard time with having to move at a steady pace at the canyon:) But that’s a good thing ’cause that means that we can now show y’all these boss pics she got!

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That same week we had the priviledge of touring the Glen Canyon Dam of Glen Canyon NRA. It was so interesting to me to learn how the dam works and the process that it took to build it. When our guide had us look over the sidewall of the dam it made me so dizzy! I may have learned a bit more with Dad’s help than from the guide alone; it pays to have an enginneer in the family to explain things in more detail and in ways we can understand:)

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Where was home-base during this week you may ask? While we were out exploring, the Range Monster parked it at Lone Rock Beach in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. It was absolutely incredible! We had been in the dessert so long that we started craving water, so boondocking at a beach was a rare and welcomed find! We were constantly playing in the sand, made a new doggie friend, and somehow managed to not get so dirty that we had to get showers (remember, boondocking=no/limited showers). The water was absolutely beautiful and I wanted to swim in it so bad, but sadly it was waaaaay to cold for me! Matthew and Benji accepted the challenge, though, and worked up enough courage to jump in.

We were mesmerized by the sunsets and totally at rest at Lone Rock. It was such a neat experience to boondock in such a beautiful place, in the middle of the dessert mind you! Bonus: Dad (aka-the most awesome and talented big rig driver) didn’t get the truck or rig stuck in the sand! That’s right guys, Dad drove our close to 30,000 pound rig over pure white sand and managed to find the right route to not get us stuck. Throughout the days we were there we watched plenty of cars, trucks, rigs of all shapes and sizes dig their tires deep into the soft sand, but we escaped the sand pit without one tire even spinning!

Thanks for coming along; stay tuned for next episode and let us know your thoughts in the comments. See y’all next time!