Woods Wandering

Saturday, August 16, 2014

April 2014 Canyon de Chelly

After spending the morning at Antelope Canyon, we continued our scenic drive along Route 98 until we came upon Canyon de Chelly.

Canyon de Chelly National Monument was established on April 1, 1931 as a unit of the National Park Service. It is located in northeastern Arizona within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation.

A lot of interesting ruins and formations were along the scenic drive in the Canyon area.

Sunset as we left Canyon de Chelly

We spent the better part of the afternoon and into the evening exploring Canyon de Chelly. Consequently, as we began our drive to Gallup, NM it got very dark very quickly. Luckily there was another car on the road heading south so we followed them pretty closely. We were traveling about 50 mph when he suddenly slowed to a stop in the middle of nowhere, we couldn't figure out what he was doing but all of a sudden there was a cow beside the road munching on some grass. I could have stuck my arm out the window and petted him, scared the crap out of us. After that there were no more incidents on our way to Gallup. However, it was pretty late when we arrived and we had to settle for a crappy hotel for the night.

The next night we splurged on a place in Amarillo, TX and had a great dinner. We continued our journey back to Nashville spending the last night on the road in Russellville, AR. It was a great trip from start to finish. We had wonderful weather for our travels, we got to spend time with the Pfaff's in CA and we saw some beautiful scenery.

April 2014 Antelope Canyon

March 30th we departed LA for Nashville. Crossed the Mojave and stopped for the night in Flagstaff, AZ.

Crossing the Mojave

Rusty and I had previously seen in some magazine that Antelope Canyon was one of the most photographed locations in the world. We did some research on it and decided that depending on weather, etc. on our way back from LA it was a good idea to check it out and explore it. Antelope Canyon is located directly north of Flagstaff in Page, AZ.

After a good night's sleep we took US 89 north out of Flagstaff to N. Lake Powell Road. There was some beautiful scenery along the way as well as the turn off to the Grand Canyon. We snapped these pictures out the car window along the way.

Antelope Canyon is on Navajo land and is divided into two sections Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon. We went to Upper Antelope Canyon. You can only visit the Canyons for a fee and on a tour guided by the Navajo. Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon in the American Southwest. It is located on Navajo land near Page, Arizona.

Our Navajo guide was very well educated and spoke several languages fluently - Navajo, English, German, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, French and I am sure others. They secured benches in the back of pick up trucks and take you to the Canyon. There were 6 couples in our truck: 4 German couples, 1 Russian couple and us. Antelope Canyon is made up of petrified sand. They do secure the facility at night because flash flooding can occur at anytime and you could get swept away or drown if you were in the Canyon when that happens.