Antelope Canyon (Park #7) first appears as a crack in the sandstone as you can see in this picture. Not very impressive from the outside. This year Bart and Alex stayed in the hotel room to swim and watch the Disney channel, while Diane and I took the two-and-a-half hour photography tour of Upper Antelope Canyon. It was the right time of day to possibly see sun beams cutting through the carved sandstone to reach the floor of the slot. Much to my delight we did get to see sun beams. The small canyon was full of people. But our guide was able to shoo them out of our pictures. He did an outstanding job. I think I got some wonderful pictures. I actually took about 700 pictures on that tour. Boy my thumb was tired.
I was hoping to see sun beams and I was not disappointed. We ran into the first one just 50 feet into the canyon.
The guide threw sand and dust into the beam so that the light could be seem.
A photographers delight!
We got to photograph four sun beams in the first part of the canyon.
Enjoy.
The guide did a great jog of setting us up to take a great picture and then moved the crowd so that you could take a picture that looked like you were there alone.
There was enough dust in the air that it was possible to capture some of the sun beams without the help of the guide.
This is a fun shot of a sun beam from a distance.
The sun beams bathed the canyon in an amazing glow.
Diane standing in a sun beam "Like an angel, standing in a shaft of light". Diane would have made Jerry Garcia proud,
There were no sun beams in the next portion of the canyon, which became more narrow. In places is was only 2-3 feet wide. Here long exposures and the tripod were a necessity.
A picture of Diane and I at the back entrance of the canyon. You can get a sense of how the water dug into the sandstone as it carved the canyon.
It was threatening to rain so they closed the canyon to new tours. That cut the crowds to almost nothing as we worked our way back to the entrance.
We ran into an unexpected bonus sun beam. It disappeared in about a minute. Amazing!
The textures and colors of the carved sandstone are just remarkable.
The guide said that this was the "heart of the canyon". Can you see it?
At this point the canyon was so lovely. There were only a few people in there.
So beautiful. And I really like the way that having Diane in the image gives it a sense of scale. The canyon is narrow and deep!
One last shaft of light on the wall of the canyon.
THis picture gives you a sense of the crowds around the sun beams.
Tom with some of the others on the photography tour. The guide can be seen on the right with his bucket of sand to throw into the sun beams. Such an incredibly beautiful place. Wow! I was physically and emotionally drained in the end. We went to the hotel and had a cool swim in the pool. What a wonderful day. We also wanted to visit Lower Antelope Canyon. But we had some heavy rain and it was closed due to flooding. Can't wait to visit it next time.
A beautiful Sunset just outside of Page.
We visited the Glen Canyon visitor center. Bart and Alex earned another Junior Ranger badge (#5).
We visited Glen Canyon Recreation area (Park #8) and took the Dam tour. It backs up the Colorado River to form Lake Powell which you can see here.
Here is a picture of the bridge over the Colorado River and the canyon downstream of the Dam.
First we got to walk on top of the Dam.
Then we got to go to the base of the Dam.
We also got to see the power generators located at the bottom of the Dam. It was a very neat tour.
The Grand Canyon (Park #10). One of the big three. We were very excited to take a peek into its depths. We only had a half day. But its easy to get around and the viewpoints are very accessible. We would get an eyefull today.
We got lucky. As we were driving towards the Grand Canyon we could see a big storm. We got a lot of rain during our drive. Some was pretty heavy. But by the time we got to the rim of the canyon the storm had passed and there was blue skies behind it.
The passing storm is still over the canyon
The family looking down from the top level of the tower at Desert View.
Diane at Desert view as the storm fades.
Bart with Marble Canyon and the start of the Grand Canyon behind him.
The family in the center of the Grand Canyon Village. Nice view.
Alex liked climbing around.
I get to see the canyon a couple times a year from planes flying over which is nice. But from the rim it is breathtaking. Amazing views.
The shadows get long as the day moves towards its end. The skies are still clear.
Bart looks sad because our wonderful afternoon at the south rim of the Grand Canyon is coming to an end as the sun sets.
Sunset over the Grand Canyon. A great way to end a great day. We now change our direction to the east, towards Chicago. Much yet to be seen but we were heading towards home.
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