Today was a laid back day with no heavy itinerary. We booked a 9am cruise on a passenger boat that took us to 2 nice canyons on Lake Powel. The canyons names are Antelope Canyon and Navajo Canyon. Lake Powell is an artificial lake, created in the early 1960’s by the Glen Canyon Dam. Ever since, this entire region has become a meca for water sports. People rent or buy house boats (like an RV but for lakes) and spend a week on the water. The cheapest cost few 10’s of thousands of dollars, the big ones several million.
The boat we took has 2 decks and is large enough to carry 200 people. We were the only ones on the bottom deck, inside. The rest (about 50 people, this is not high season) were on the top open deck. The kids started running around and in between the seats as if their dad owned the place. The tour lasted 3 hours and we saw some great sites. These side canyons are narrow and impressive with high towering cliffs closing in on you the farther you venture into the canyon. It’s hard to explain the beauty of white and red rocks meeting clear blue waters.
I spoke with a member of the crew who is a Navajo Indian. She speaks Navajo but her kids (5, ages 19-7) do not. When she went to school, the teachers would beat kids who spoke their native tongue. So when her kids were born she spoke to them only in English. Funny thing is that now there is a revival of Native American ethnicity here. So her children are actually learning the Navajo language at school.
After the cruise, we drove into Page (the nearby town) for food supplies. We drove around a bit and found a local public library. I took Shir and Orr in a for a bit, while Ron napped a while. They had some puppet dolls in the kids section and it was fun to play with the girls. It was a rather warm day (27 Celcius) so in the afternoon we returned to the lake for some beach fun. Ron and Orr were in and out of the water, while Shir, a little more hesitant circled in closer and closer until after about an hour she finally tipped in her toes.
That’s it for today. Good night.
Hemi