Posts Tagged Arizona
Arizona, Utah and Vegas Trip - Route 66/Grand Canyon
In March 2009, I traveled with my family to Arizona, Utah and Las Vegas for my father’s 60th birthday.
Although sleeping in a bed with my brother and next to my parents for the first time in 20 years isn’t my ideal method of vacationing, it was an amazing trip overall. The sights, landscapes and visuals in Arizona and Utah are extremely impressive as I hope the photos below demonstrate. I highly recommend visiting these states if you are an outdoors lover. I divided up the next few blog posts based on some of the places we visited. I ended up writing a lot but if you’re bored at work have a gander and don’t be shy to post feedback.
The Trip
Brother Lee and I landed in Vegas at midnight and went to meet the parents at the Trump Hotel where we were staying.
Trump is currently the only hotel on “The Strip” that doesn’t have a casino. Despite the Donald’s overall gawdiness and my general distaste for the man, the hotel itself is beautiful and classy. Our room was quite large and very tastefully designed. Unfortunately, apart from the massive king sized bed that my parents slept in, Lee and I had to share a double-sized couch pull out. When Cher called housekeeping to ask for a cot we were met with a snicker and a condescending “This is the Trump ma’am, we don’t have cots”. Neither Lee nor I slept well that night and before 7 a.m. we were up watching “Skins” on the iPod Touch…. Skins is a fantastic British show that I will have to create an entirely separate post about.
After trying in vain to eat breakfast at Denny’s (of all places) due to a massive lineup we hit the road for the long four hour trek to the Grand Canyon. I had never been to the Canyon before and was excited to see it though I was pretty tired and just a wee bit hungry. After a couple of hours we made it to Route 66: formerly the longest (?) highway in the US though the first association I have to it is the Bob Dylan song. Here are some pics from along Route 66:
Route 66
After a long day of driving we made it to the Grand Canyon and pulled into some dumpy motel… at least they had Wifi! After a very brief rest (the way it was most of the trip) we went out to the Canyon to take some sunset shots. The landscape immediately before reaching the Canyon does not prepare you in the slightest for what is about to come. It’s flat, there are trees and then suddenly, without warning…. nothing. The earth just literally gives way and you are left gaping at this massive hole filled with a spectacular array of colours, shapes and sights. It’s almost too much for the eye to take in at once.
It’s pretty much impossible to photograph the Canyon since it’s just so massive. It’s definitely something to experience up close and personal. Unfortunately, the hike into the Canyon is pretty much a full day effort… not something my parents could handle at this advanced stage in their lives though I definitely intend on coming back at some point in my life to do this. Instead, that first evening, we enjoyed some wine and took some snaps while gazing out at the vastness of this giant crack in the earth. It’s amazing to think that the entire Canyon was carved out by the Colorado River over 6 million years and at different points in time had been under the sea, a sandy desert, and now a massive canyon with layers upon layers of exposed rock sediments that put millions of years of history on display. Apparently, fossils of sea creatures and other animals can be found embedded in the sides of the canyon. Amazing.
Here are some pictures that don’t come close to capturing the immensity of the Grand Canyon:
Grand Canyon
Antelope Canyon/Monument Valley
The next day, after doing a “Rim Walk” along part of the Canyon we packed up and set out for another long ride towards Monument Valley which straddles the Arizona/Utah border. However, we had decided that we just HAD to visit Antelope Canyon in Page, Arizona. My parents had actually traveled here in 2008 and my father’s pictures from this Canyon were just unbelievable. It truly is a majestic place that looks like another planet:
Antelope Canyon
The weather in springtime Arizona and Utah was not what I expected at all. On the entire trip there was only one day that allowed for shorts. Most of the time it was cool or actually cold enough for jackets, gloves and hats. This particular day was very strange because I was experiencing my very first sandstorm! Before entering Antelope Canyon, we were told to remove our contact lenses otherwise sand would blow in our eyes and it would be very uncomfortable. Of course, we were told this 30 seconds before leaving so there was absolutely no time to remove the lenses! Instead, we carried on snapping as many photos as we could while the sand literally rained down on us. By the end, we were pretty much covered from head to toe in red sand. Lovely.
This same sand storm made the approach to Monument Valley extremely eerie. It was about twilight when we were on our final approach to our next stop. The wind was howling outside and all we could make out from the rented mega mini van were these huge, strangely shaped rocks in the background. My parents kept referring to this as the “vortex” moment and forced us to put on some Pink Floyd. With “Shine on you Crazy Diamond” blaring on the speakers I could barely keep myself from breaking out in hysterics. I rolled my eyes and sang along anyway because I just love to sing. I have to admit though… between the sandstorm and the visuals it all did seem just a wee bit odd out there.
Even more odd was the house we stayed in that night. The entire sight is on an Indian Reserve including the Gouldings Lodge which is where we stayed. The house had four bedrooms so we all finally had our own rooms. When we pulled up to the house it was unlocked, door open and completely dark. Lee took the liberty of checking all of the bedrooms, closets, and bathrooms to see if there was anyone waiting to kill us or at least lecture us on Native American culture. The one place Lee, or any of us for that matter, wouldn’t go was the basement. So we just shut the door and hoped for the best. On top of this, the sandstorm outside had turned into a snowstorm!
After a somewhat decent night’s sleep we awoke to a full blanket of snow covering the ground. Looking out the window we finally could make out what we could only see the outline of the previous night. These wildly shaped rock formations or more accurately buttes dotted the landscape in all directions. After breakfast, we took a tour of Monument Valley and I was totally in awe of what I saw:
Monument Valley
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