"Mama, where's the missing antelope?
Why do we have to walk around these rocks?"
Obi innocently asked me while we were stepping down the steep don't-look-down stairs in Lower Antelope Canyon, Page, Arizona. She thought we would meet antelopes, lots of lots of them, in our adventure that day.
And I broke a smile as my answer as I scaredly looked at the stairs in front of me. The gust of ancient wind whispered a welcoming lullaby in my ears.
Welcoming myself back to the magnificent mother nature.
To the Navajoland.
***
It all started from a book.
Smithsonian level four, Endless Exploration.
Yup, Bo's book.
One of its many chapters is the World Wonders.
And we have Grand Canyon there, listed as one of the amazing places to see.
Then our eyes captured the flip-out card of Grand Canyon, showing an iconic photo of Horseshoe Bend in the eastern part of the canyon. We got to see that!
And we're back on the road again :).
The Frakarsas..
We have another series of adventures during this spring break. The kids have their holiday for a week and we just can't wait to explore this country more.
So, my hubby and I had planned a rather ambitious (as always :)) road trip.
Destinations: Las Vegas - Page - Lower Antelope Canyon and the surroundings - Grand Canyon National Park - Death Valley National Park - Yosemite National Park - San Fransisco.
Frankly, I have to drop Yellowstone National Park due to the time constraint.
So, at this point, it remains in my bucket list ;).
We were planning to do it all in 12 days.
Flying to Las Vegas then renting cars then stop in all those lovely places and small town in between.
We flew from New York City, - or rather Newark,New Jersey, to Las Vegas. It was a lovely flight, transiting in Chicago for a couple of hours, then overlooking the astonishing views of Nevada and Arizona. We just couldn't wait to see them up close and personal.
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| the view from above.. |
Arriving at Las Vegas on Friday evening, we grabbed our rented car and headed to our hotel. We stayed at Holiday Inn Las Vegas Desert Club Vacation. Using my points, we got our free night here.
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| our room :) |
We didn't do much that night, just enjoying dinner and strolling around the city. But we all were pretty much tired from our flight. Not to mention 3-hour time difference which is not that much but quite annoying.
The next day, we were heading to Page, Arizona, our gateway to the Grand Canyon. Before that, we drove around the Las Vegas strip, posed in the fabulous Las Vegas sign, grabbed some ice cream and souvenirs. It was fun indeed. Las Vegas and its ageless charms really captivated us. But as I said, LV is the gateway, so our real adventure soon began.
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| Cheeers... |
Las Vegas - Page is around 4 hours drive. We took the eastern entrance of Grand Canyon National Park. As we browsed around, Page is indeed beautiful. Such a scenic route we took and along the way we stopped several times just for photos and rest for a while.
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| photo break :) |
Not to mention the legendary Route 66.
If you watched Cars, one of Disney's famous movies (I'm a big fan!), then you got an idea what route 66 looks like. For us, who just recently live in the US, the idea of exploring Route 66 is super tempting. We were lucky that we passed at least 2 small cities which are part of this historical route.
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| Route 66 :) |
Another lucky thing is that Bo et Obi were very cooperative along the way.
No tantrums, no (too much) are-we-there-yet sessions and we all tried to enjoy the trip. I was of course equipped with laptops filled with their favorite movies, books, stack of paper and crayons, and munchies.
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| kiddos enjoying the trip.. |
Here in beautiful Page, we took some time to go to the Horseshoe Bend.
Coming from Las Vegas, we arrived almost late at this spot. I mean we arrived there as the sun began to set. And mind you, we have to walk (and hike) for about a mile before arriving at this exact spot.
You can imagine how crazy we hiked, in the middle of the chill windy desert weather, to catch the sunset before it would be completely dark.
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| Welcome to Horse Shoe bend :) |
Horseshoe Bend is basically one standing rock surrounded by Colorado river.
Its distinct shape and unique location surrounded by the Colorado river has made it very special.
Running to this particular spot catching it before the sun went down was worth it.
Then on our second day at Page, we joined Lower Antelope Canyon tour with Ken's tour. I guess the name refers to the herds of pronghorn antelopes used to roam freely in this area. And I have to say, the trip was amazing.
The perfect collaboration of water and wind have created an amazing array of unique, one-of-a-kind forms and shapes of sandstone. I just can't explain it. Better check these pictures.
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| Looks familiar? It's one of the screen savers in windows :) |
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| Deeper underground |
Well, that's the first part of our trip yhis spring break. And Page still got a lot to offer.
Let me get back to you with more stories and pictures.
Do you manage to go somewhere lately?
