Our next stop after Arches and Canyonlands was supposed to be Mesa Verde. We even had a tour of the Cliff House scheduled.
Sadly, the government shutdown nixed those plans. Mesa Verde is closed.
We decided to drop Mesa Verde and Monument Valley off of our itinerary and head straight to Page, Arizona.
Of course, that meant that the tours of Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon had to be rescheduled.
The only time we were able to schedule a tour of Upper Antelope Canyon was Friday morning, when the weather forecast was predicting that we would be experiencing the height of Tropical Storm Priscilla. We went ahead and booked the tour anyway. Time will tell whether we get to go on it.
Horseshoe Bend
We decided to visit Horseshoe Bend early this morning. What we didn’t realize is that the sun rises an hour earlier in Page than it did in Moab, so by the time we arrived at the parking lot for Horseshoe Bend, the sun was annoyingly high in the sky.
Oh, well. We will have other opportunities to visit it at better times of the day. We are only 15 minutes away.
This was the best photo I could get, considering the position of the sun.
Glen Canyon Dam
Next up was a stop at Glen Canyon Dam.
Once again, the government shutdown interfered with our plans. The Carl Hayden Visitor Center was closed.
However, we were able to access the overlook behind the visitor center. We were not able to walk across the dam, which I had been hoping we could do.
Antelope Canyon boat tour
Today was the last hot day we will have in Page, so I was eager to get on the water and experience Lake Powell.
The marina where we are staying offers boat tours, so after visiting Glen Canyon Dam, we headed over there to book one for the afternoon.
We had been told by someone who lives in Page that the storm was due to arrive around 5:00 p.m., so we figured we would be safe as long as we got our boat tour in before then.
Wrong!
No sooner had the boat left the dock than the heavens opened up.
Lightning flashed. Thunder cracked. We were hit by a deluge of rain.
I was sure the tour boat captain would immediately turn around and head back to the dock, but all she did was advise us not to touch the metal railings on the boat.
It turned out to be a great tour, despite the fact that our tour guide wasn’t able to deliver her spiel because the sound of the rain hitting the metal roof of the boat was too loud.
When we got back to the marina, we had to wait about half an hour for maintenance workers to clear the rocks and debris off the road from the flooding before we were able to head back to the parking lot.
I feel like we made the most of the day, in spite of the impediments put in our way.
Meanderings & Mind Munchies 