Day 13- WIlliams, AZ to Cortez, CO

The first order of business this morning was to get some better photos of the Grand Canyon. Originally, the plan for this day had included a somewhat strenuous hike into and back out of the canyon, but for some reason, the handlers weren't too keen on that idea anymore.

While at the rim we were treated to the sight of three California Condors doing acrobats. It's kind of hard to see from this picture, but it's there. Handler 1 is hoping she can blow this picture up some.

After that, we backtracked along the same highway we had taken the day before to Page, AZ. Our purpose there was to see Antelope Canyon, a slot canyon famous among photographers for the amazing pictures you can take inside of it. There are actually several such canyons in the area. Upper Antelope Canyon (which is very popular and has a lot of tourists crowding it), lower antelope canyon (which is a lot less familiar and which we went to see) and canyon X (which has almost no tourism, but didn't seem all that pretty from the photos).

Here's some examples of the pictures we tookk inside.

It really is quite a beautiful place.

It's owned by a single family of Navajo and Handler 2 determined that they had quite the racket going.

We contniued on, back into Utah and through Monument Valley. This place is made famous by the fact that a lot of Western movies were shot here.

Handler 2 wanted to try Navajo fry bread. He was told by a soft voiced roadside vendor (all of the older Navajo seemed to be soft voiced...the kids all just seemed like hipster youths) that fry bread could be obtained at a nearby restaurant. It turned out to be much like a Denny's, with all southwestern fare, and lovely handmade pottery water pictchers at each table. The meal was good, but apparently Handler 2 got the wrong thing delivered to him, because there was no fry bread to be seen. All in all, it was a nice stop though.

Just a note, but all these areas are part of the 'Navajo Nation', which is actually quite a large area. So large, in fact, that a Hopi Indian Reservation is contained within its borders. Everything we visited today was Navajo owned and operated. Taxes on gas and other things were tribal taxes and not governmental. All the roads were Navajo routes, indicated by an arrowhead shaped sign.

Neat huh?

We passed through the town of Mexican Hat, named for this balanced rock that looks like a guy sitting with a large hat on his head.

We ended the day in Cortez, Colorado, just outside of Mesa Verde, where we would be visiting the following morning.

Quote of the Day-

"Play us out Navajo cat."