Page / Lake Powell - Antelope Canyon & Horseshoe Bend

Woke up today excited about our tour only to find the day was overcast.....which is not good as you need the sunlight to highlight the canyon.  As luck would have it the sun came out briefly as we headed out to the canyon and was enough to get some great shots.  We also got lucky getting the SUV ride out instead of the bumpy open air mode most people got - we could see them bumping all over the place, lifting off the seats and getting covered in dust as the trail was 4WD thru sand.... yeeha.

Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon and was amazing - worth the money to go on tour and we saw lots of others queuing up at the gate awaiting a guide as they were trying to beat the tours offered in town.

Anyway here are some photos...............

Entry photo - amazing things ahead

First chamber

Heart

Sand pouring

Same photo as National Geographic

Why they are called slot canyons.....

The Flame

The tour lasted about an hour and a half so we were back at the RV by 12.30 for lunch and then headed out on our own to Horseshoe Bend - a small hike and worth the view.

Daryl always has to get right on the edge!!!!

Horseshoe Bend - guess you can see why....

Next we cruised out to Wahweap Bay where there is a marina, campground and resort lodge etc - nice area but today the photo's don't due it justice.

Glen Canyon Dam in between Page & Wahweap.

View from on the dam bridge.

We have walked over this twice now.

As you might have guessed, Page is a tourist mecca and has about 3 million of us visit every year.  You can rent a houseboat or do boat tours also.  Population is around 8000 so I guess they have to get used to the tourists.

Holbrook - Page.....via Grand Canyon North Rim

Leaving Holbrook we set off up the 77 / 6 on our way to Page.  This took us up through the painted desert to Keams Canyon then over the top of canyons to Tuba City - amazing territory with beautiful landscapes but quite off the beaten track.  At Tuba city we head back to the 89 which is to take us up to Page, however when we get to the turn off we find a detour as a mile and a half of the road on the direct route has been lost to a landslide......

This turned out to be some detour and was to take about 200 miles around the Vermillion Cliffs - it had already been a long day and was getting dark as we hit the first one horse town.  We got petrol just in case and asked about RV parks but the guy did not know of any until Kanab, half way around the detour.

We move on and climb 3000ft in 3 miles with the coupe on the back - windows were down and the the heater on to help the RV make it up - hot stuff.  At the top we found a National Park RV camp in Jacobs Lake, where we quickly pulled into for the night.  This is a dry camp - i.e. being self-sufficient again with only toilets available.

We discover that Jacob's Lake is the turn off to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and it opens on the 15th in 2 days time so we decide to stick around as we wont be back this way (or so we think).  In the morning we find a full hook camp is just around the corner and opens that day, so we quickly back up camp and move around there.  There are showers etc and we find we are not the only ones sneaking around the corner for a little more comfort, especially those in tents.  Bit cooler up here and we are back to duvets as socks are just not sexy.

Next day is the opening and we jump into the 40 coupe & head out to the North Rim for the day.  There is supposed to be a large herd of Bison by the rangers entry station but once again they are in hiding when we go through.  We do see wolfs, squirrels and Blue Jays during the day.  We visit the main lodge area first and climb out to the point - very windy but fantastic views.  Then we cruise out to Cape Royal which has a window in the rock and Imperil point, then back to the lodge for a coffee.  We sit on the deck with our drinks overlooking the canyon - what a view.

Today we head off on our way to Page again via Kanab and have booked on to a tour to Antelope Canyon tomorrow - everything here is run by the Navajo and you can only go there on a guided tour.......expensive.
Hopefully we will get some good photos!!

Leaving Tucson..... Lake Roosevelt - Holbrook

Tony invited us to join him and some buddies for Pizza before the Friday night meet.  The pizza had everything on it - pretty good but oh those calories!!!

We have had indicators fitted to the coupe (as fun as it was sticking my arm out the window for every right hand turn.....Tui) but the guy has been having trouble, so now we have a manual indicated & I get to laugh at Daryl on every corner.....

Saturday morning we hit the road to head north and choose Lake Roosevelt as our destination.  We arrive and find there is a state park 'Windy Hill' for $6 per night.  Turned out to be a great park with Ramada's (shade roofs), showers & toilets plus a great view over the lake.   We set up camp in our chosen spot and relax for the afternoon as it is well over 100 degrees.

Daryl cooling his tootsies

Sunrise (or just after it!)

This place is not too far from Phoenix so quite a few people here with boats for the weekend - the place emptied out the next morning.

Happy Mother's Day - Good to talk to both our Mums. XXXX

In the morning we head out and just down the road visit the Tonto National Park where we climb up to the cliff dwellings overlooking the lake.

Passing over the Roosevelt Dam we head on up to Payson, then over to Holbrook where we stay tonight.

We have a few hours of daylight so jump in the coupe and cruise part of Route 66,

 

then head out throughout the Petrified Forest & Painted Desert - although we did this last time it was just as amazing this time and even more fun cruising in the coupe.
 

TeePee's in the Petrified Forest



Painted Desert, Arizona

Tucson Arizona.....Home of our 1940 Ford Coupe

From Lake Havasu we headed down to Tucson again as Daryl has been watching a good old 1940 Ford Coupe down here which we are now the proud owners of! yeehaa.

It has taken 3 days to sort out transferring funds & registration, etc but she is now ours and will keep Daryl busy for some time...... again yeehaa

This morning we visited the Pima Air & Space Museum, which has over 300 planes set in 80 acres.

Tonight we went to a Wednesday night get together with the local hot rod club.  We drove the Coupe down with Tony, the previous owner, and he introduced us to the local hot rodders.  Daryl is back in his element and grinning form ear to ear like a Little boy again...................

We're back ...... On the road again

Hidehi Campers

We have returned to the US after a fabulous summer in good old NZ.  Unfortunately the weather got too cold back home so we just had to come back to the States for another 6 months of sunshine.

We arrived to find our baby (RV) all tucked up safe and sound in her sleeping bag at Duane's place and she turned over first pop - excellent!    Many thanks to Duane for letting her sleep there over the last of the winter months.

Well it's not winter here and they are already in drought conditions - reaching in the 80 degrees on arrival it has done nothing but climb with today being over 40 Celsius....hot but nice!

We spent a few days getting the RV ready to hit the road including a service, signed up at Costco, a bit like Moore & Wilson but on steroids, and found a few other places to shop at also. Food stocked up and cleaned out - the only damage being a jar of apricot jam tipped over and leaked...sticky mess.

Thursday we hit the road and headed for Lake Havasu as Daryl had a car to check out - very windy drive but today was stunning and after checking out the car we cruised out on to the island and parked up with the air cond on watching the jet boats etc cruise around before coming home for a dip in the pool.  BBQ still works fine although Daryl may have something to do with this.....

We meet up with Bob who is selling this lovely 1935 3 window coupe, hot Flathead powered, we took it for a couple of drives, at this stage still undecided, as it had rust in the pillars, and popping out in a couple places, nice paint work, but you can tell it has had a good old bondi job & paint up.

Las Vegas - Desert Hot Springs

It's been an interesting couple of weeks.  We meet Aaron & Alexis in Las Vegas picking them up from the airport - they have been flying for over 24 hours and understandably need to sleep, so we drop them off at their hotel.  They have a concert booked for tonight........we collect them around five and go for a drive down the strip and then out tot he outlets shops so Alexis can get an outfit for the night. 

That night Alexis has her purse stolen and we discovered Daryl's credit card has been skimmed at a gas station and some Russian guy has gone on a $1500 spending spree - all on alcohol & candy!  Must be gonna have some new years party!  Dealing with Air New Zealand's One Smart card over this turns out to be a nightmare and we are basically told nothing can be done until after the 6th and even tough all the transactions are only pending - they put them all through....... 
Eventually, the money is credited back but we still have not received a replacement card or any decent communication from them.   Hopefully Alexis will get her $500 off her credit card back also.

The next few days, they go to concerts at night and sleep during the day.  We all go to see the Eagles in concert - they still have it and played all the their hits.  Suspect it was a little tame for Aaron & Alexis but we enjoyed it.

New Years Eve and they are off to a party with friends they have met.  We cruise downtown about 5pm as the road is being shut off and walk around until we find a restaurant for dinner - very nice and a nice bottle of German Riesling to go with the seafood.  Yummy. 
Afterwards we wander most of the length of the strip which is all closed off to traffic so easy walking and filling up now it is getting later.  We get a Margaretta in a large tube and walk around people watching before heading back to the RV park and watching the fireworks show at midnight on the box.   
Aaron loses his passport and so a day spent reporting to police and filing paperwork with embassy to organise another one to go home on.....   Hopefully that is the third thing and we have no more bad luck!  We take them out the the Hoover Dam so they can say they have seen something while in Las Vegas before they head to LA tomorrow.

It is freezing in Vegas being winter and we have both ended up with the flu!  There is an epidermic over here for the flu in America. 

Next day we went out to Skywalk Grand Canyon for a look and were very disappointed having seen the South rim already.  This one is run by the Native Indians and has a 9 mile rough dirt road to get into it, then you have to purchase entrance passes and add on the skywalk, so $76USD each.  You then have to go on their buses.

Finally we leave Vegas and head down to Desert Hot Springs not far from Palm Springs.  It is much warmer and the first day is in the 80's (30c) so we feel better for being warm.  The RV park has natural mineral pools but is also like a retirement village - not too many younger people like us......

We check out the stature of Marilyn Munroe in Palm Springs and have lunch there the next day - very nice area and we are back in shorts and t-shirts. 

Quartzsite - Xmas

It was great to get so many messages on facebook & skype for xmas and to be able to see the grandkids opening their presents.  Of course, our xmas came the next day so we kind of had two in a sense but it is never quite the same when you are away from home.

We had a good kiwi Christmas diner with a nice drop of Malborough pinot noir, so not all was lost.


Quartzsite is a small town mostly filled with RV parks in the Arizona desert.  Not much here but RV parks and sales yards..... (and apparently a bookshop run by a naked guy, which we missed!). Today drove to Blythe which is just across the border into California, which only had slightly more than Quartzsite and petrol was a $1 dearer in California.

Tomorrow we head straight up to Las Vegas, where we will met Aaron & Alexis for a few days.  They have planned a number of concerts to catch and we are all going to the Eagles together.