Page, AZ with Karen

We're getting pretty good at setting up our tent. Karen even had time to relax and make a phone call to Mike. This is at the Wahweap Campground, north of Page on Lake Powell.

This is our view to the east: Navajo Mountain. The picture to the right shows our view of Lake Powell.

And this was our tent on Day Two when the wind was blowing so hard we knew we'd not be able to stay in it. We got a room at the Sleep Inn in Page.

One of our first stops was at Horseshoe Bend. We kept looking for the best way to get "the shot" of the complete bend. This was the only way.

Lower Antelope Slot Canyon was the first of the three slots that we visited. Everyone should experience a slot canyon at least once in their life.

This was our Navajo tour guide through the Lower Antelope Slot Canyon.

The Glen Canyon Dam Overlook is a great place to view the Colorado River as well as Glen Canyon Dam. The wind was relentless here, too. One of us didn't get as close to the edge as the other.

On Tuesday, we took off for my favorite part of this area: the Vermillion Cliffs. It's a great drive down Highway 89 and onto 89A, where it then travels up to Lees Ferry. We were able to walk the Lower Cathedral Wash under perfectly blue skies.

On our way south on Highway 89 Karen spotted these osprey building a nest on top a telephone pole. We watched them for 15 minutes or so as they'd fly off and come back with a beak full of nesting material.

I didn't build the cairn. It was already there but had been knockced over. So I was just "repairing" it.

We found these wonderful tree branches. I think they may be dried Utah Juniper pieces. We wanted to bring one back for each of our peeps. Keeping them intact in a car that was already super-tightly packed was a challenge, but we managed! I kept one, and Karen has the others. It reminded us of Carol carrying that tree branch back from the Grand Canyon.

For the most part, the Cathedral Wash was a pretty level-grounded trail. But there were four or five areas where we had to do some climbing or shifting on our butts.

Here's another something I wanted to take home with me. It's some sort of pod. It was on a much longer stem, with the three sweet, soft and clean pods taking off from the main stem. It lasted maybe a couple hundred feet before, one by one, the pods broke off from the stem. Based on what all I was carrying, did I really think I'd get it back intact?

Lees Ferry is always a nice stop. The Colorado River is at its finest there, with a wonderful reflection of the red mountains on the water. From the 1870s until 1928, Lees Ferry was the only river crossing around. In 1928 the Navajo Interpretation Bridge in nearby Marble Canyon was constructed, the ferry having, by then, capsized. Today, Lees Ferry is a major launching spot for raft and boat adventurers down the river.

Waving to our peeps!

Here, we are heading into the Water Hole Slot Canyon. This slot is different from the others in that we can go in on our own and spend as much time as we want. No guide is needed. It's not quite as cool as the Antelope slots because more light is filtering in from above...it's not as closed in as the others.

Even seeing this arch in real life, it was hard to comprehend its enormous size. Supposedly, according to Wikipedia, the width up on top is 33 feet wide. That's only three feet narrower than a three-lane highway!!

Yep, it was pretty chilly on the Lake Powell boat tour to Rainbow Bridge. It was a two-hour, 50-mile trip one way. Some of the time was spent down in the closed-in cabin, but much was spent on the upper deck for the best pictures. Coffee was free!!!

It was a great trail from the boat to the bridge, maybe a mile or so each way. We so wished for our peeps to see this natural wonder.

Here's our boat!

This is at Artist's Point along the Valley Loop Drive in Monument Valley.

It was so cold at Monument Valley, we knew there would be no way we'd be setting up and staying in a tent for two nights. So, off to Goulding's we went, the less expensive of the two local hotels. We had a balcony with an excellent view of the East and West Mittens and Merrick Butte, so we sat in awhile, played Cribbage and watched as the rain slowly stopped and the sun came out.

The Little One was feeling kinda free as a bird with its wings spread while Karen and I took off for photos.