Page, Arizona

Obligatory Fry Bread Photo. We ate several! Glen Canyon dam tour. Again another repeat from a few years ago but we had a great time. E was checking out he conglomerate that makes up the dam. This was a core sample for testing. The water level is really low right now they are expecting the snowmelt to raise the water over 30 feet in the next few weeks!! I found this hilarious! Learned MORE about hydro-electroic power. The dam, due to the water level, was running very low capacity. We stopped off at the visitors center that talked about the Grand Staircase Escalante and the Therizinosaurus dinosaur. It had sickle like claws that were a meter long and stood 9 meters high! We then took a 4×4 trail into the recreation area and along Grand Staircase Escalante our to the areas they were unearthed. Mom thinks it was terrifying but I really enjoyed it. The jeep was brave! This was taken from the top of a peak that was barely wider than the Jeep. We read about coal fires and went in search of one. Mom spied some smoke and we headed towards it. We found one coal fire. They happen when lightning strikes the ground igniting coal deposits. You could smell the coal burning and feel the heat pouring out of the ground. Tread softly!  Back on our drive. It was amazing how the landscape changed as we went around each corner. I turned 14 in Page too! Mom booked a kayak trip (another post on that later) and slot canyon tours for my birthday! We did the Lower Antelope tour with Dixie Ellis. It was hot, crowded and smelled terrible. There were far too many people in the canyon at the same time and some hadn’t showered in days! It was really neat to see all the carved Navajo sandstone in the slot canyons.  We learned that up above were boxes with rope ladders in case of a flash storm and flooding. They will toss down the ropes so you can climb out and not die, that was nice! Birthday ice cream pie! The next morning we stopped at the  Powell Museum to learn more about the geology of the area and the explorers that came through. After the museum we headed to Upper Antelope for the canyon tour. We had a great tour guide. She helped us all take some amazing photos. The colors danced in the slot canyons. This canyon was not “underground” like lower was. If a flash flood came you would just be washed out the other end, assuming you survived being smashed into all the sandstone!  We hit up Nemo’s Fish and Chips on the way back to the campground. Mom thought this sign in the bathroom was funny. With a lot of tourists I guess it is needed apparently! On Dad’s birthday (which was two days before mine if you are keeping track), we started out on a drive to go put our feet in the Colorado River. We got sidetracked and realized how close we were to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon so we detoured and made a day of the Grand Canyon. Things weren’t yet on season yet since there was still a lot of snow on the roads in. We had luck at the lodge and then did some small hikes.  Chilling out and enjoying the breeze and carpenter bees. I got in a little studying for my summer SPC class in the lobby. We earned our Jr Ranger badges and called it a day. Mom drove us back to Page. We opted to leave Page a day early to hit the road towards home.