Saying goodbye to John Wayne country...

During our last day at Gouldings, we went to the Museum. It houses lots of memorabilia from the days the Gouldings promoted business at the Trading Post by hosting John Ford and his movie makers to film many John Wayne films. What fun to see reruns of the films and recognize the monuments in them as the ones we had seen during our "epic" tour of the Valley of the Gods! The museum also displayed the store and upstairs quarters where the Gouldings lived.

The Trading Post

John Wayne Flick

Driving back to Arizona, we stopped at the Navajo National Monument where we saw a couple of educational films (basket-stitching, ancient Pueblo peoples) and did a little shopping. Heat of 106 degrees helped the decision to skip the nature trail!

Navajo Hogan

We're settled in at Page, AZ for the July 4th holiday week. Took a drive to one of Lake Powell's several marinas and enjoyed lunch. We were surrounded by families with ski boats, water skis, wake boards, and last but not least, houseboats! Made me think about what my next "rig" should be...

Next Rig????

Floating Restaurant

Sandstone "beach"

Following lunch we drove to the Glen Canyon Dam. Prior to 1955 there was no Page, AZ. At that time the Department of the Interior developed a water reclamation project to build the Glen Canyon Dam to: 1) provide a water supply for Arizona and 4 neighboring states 2) provide recreational opportunties 3) provide hydroelectric power for the region. Work on the dam took several years and then it took another 17 years for Lake Powell to reach it's present size, the 2nd largest man-made resevoir in the USA. We took a "dam tour", had a great guide and learned a lot about, well, a lot!

Bridge & Colorado River

Unique Lake Powell Landscape - white ='s 14 year high water mark

View from the top

Today took us to a whole new dimension in canyons, signing up for a guided tour through a slot canyon. Located on the Navajo reservation, these slot canyons can only be visited "on tour". No freewheeling here! And thank goodness.... we drove 20 minutes on paved roads to get to the entrance to the park...

Antelope Canyon Tours

Then the driver jumped out, engaged the 4-wheel drive and we took off on a 4-mile drive over sand dunes...rutted from many, many tour vehicles before us. What a bouncy, bone rattling ride! But it was well worth it when we arrived at the canyon entrance and entered a dreamlike world beneath the desert.... our guide was a more proficient photographer than I, she took over my camera, re-did the settings and pointed out the best shots and angles during the whole tour! Fantastic!!! It was difficult keeping up with the tour as we were taking photos, listening to "guide talk" and trying to walk on shifting sands beneath (about 4 inches deept and very, very fine dry sand) but the photos made it all worthwhile.