Pesach 2007 RV Trip – Day 10 – April 5 – Antelope Canyon and Monument Valley

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Orr cried a bit at 5:45. This gave me an opportunity to wake up and go jogging while enjoying a beautiful sunrise over Lake Powell and the mountains mesas and buttes in the distance. A mesa is a rock plateau that is longer than it is high. A butte is a rock plateau that is taller than it is wide. That’s our lesson of the day, and now back to the blog.

We had an easy morning. Our first scheduled event was a noontime tour of a special slot canyon called Antelope Canyon.

We were taken by a jeep truck to a location that is owned and controlled by the Navajo. One of their local women discovered this place in the 1930’s while herding sheep. She was 15 at the time. The canyon is a short 200 meter walk, but is very narrow, curvy and has walls that are sometime 100 meter in height. At noontime the light shines in from above and creates glorious color effects of red brown, orange, and white. I was in a photographic frenzy.

We shared the jeep ride with a family from New Jersey with an identical configuration as ours – an 11 year old boy and twin girls of 8. It was like a glimpse in to the future. The parents and the girls all agreed that it was fun to be twins. The boy said he manages by playing a lot of video games.

After Antelope we drove eastward into Navajo Nation (what they call their reservation) to reach monument valley. It was a beautiful drive with many red rock formations along the way. We arrived at the monument valley area around 4pm and I stopped the RV several times to take pictures. Again, simply amazing sites.

We are staying at a campground in a “town” called Goulding, named after the guy who set up a trading post here in the 1920’s. Indians brought Jewelry they made and got supplies in return. It was very rough living and during the 30’s (depression years) Goulding almost gave up, until he managed to convince a Hollywood director to film some movies in the monument valley. The rest is history.

Tomorrow we hope to get on a tour of the valley with a local guide.

Good Night,

-Hemi

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