Day 2 - Tour of Duty

Well we got a sleep in today - only had to get up at 4.30 this morning to get to the Airport by 5.45 at the latest. It was pitch black and really cold, maybe only a tad over zero. Inside the 'airport, whi8ch was basically a souvineer shop we sat and waited for take off time at 6.30 am. To kill time we watched the tv which showed various tours to go on. I got worried when watching one, because it seemed to describe our tour but just seemed to involve a bus trip to the Glen Canyon. More worrying was that we were surrounded by old people. After getting tired of watching the video loop we changed seats and listened to an aussie couple talk to a couple from Vermont in New York. I remember them talking about waterskiing and the snow a fair bit. I was getting restless so went outside and took some photos.

Sherry was pretty nervous about flying on a small plane. After all, most of the pplane crashes are in small planes. As we walked onto the runway to board the plane we were split into two groups and Sherry, myslef and two others were seperated from the group and taken to an even smaller plane.

Take off was awesome. The plane only needed a small runway, hlaf the size of this one. The runway was big enoughb to land a commercial plane, only a few wakes ago President Obama landed here to promote tourism in the canyon. As we lifted off I thought I may need the sick bag. As we rose in the air the wind made the ascent really pushed the plane all over the place. Looking out the side was scary too. There were only four of us in the plane and it felt like I was riding on a hanglider.

At first we headed directly east and I was thinking - what? Didn't we pay enough money to get a flight directly over the canyon? Turns out there is a no fly zone directly over the village so we had to head east and then cut back.

I thought the pilot was really informative. he took us over part of the canyon and then cut back before dropping back over as we headed towards Glen Canyon. We saw the famous Horseshoe Bend that we would be rafting down later in the day.

Then it was on to Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell (named after the first person to successfully naviaget the Colorado from top to bottom) which is the largest man made lake in the United States. There are people for and against dam creation. On the one hand it creates a water and electricity supply to millions of people, but on the other hand it spoils the natural environment as well as being unusuable after 700 years.

Landing was really cool. He circled around and waited untikl another plane was taking off and then he cut in really low and from an angle. Touch down was so smooth. Maybe he was the Red Baron.

After thanking him for a great flight we grabbed our breakfast packs and sat down. There was a funny noise coming from the garden area where we were eating - sounded something like a cricket from memory. After taking one bite we were told it was time to go. Lucky we werent that hungry. We stuffed everything into our backpack and headed outside for our tour at Antelope Canyon.

Here was this cowboy looking Indian dude wearing cowboy hat, jeans, shirt, big belt, massive bracelts. His name was Lenard but his Indian name was Slowhorse.

We couldn't both fit onto the back so Sherry sat outside while I sat inside and the cabin with Chief Slowhorse. Also inside was one of Canadian ladies I had flown with and the Austrlian woman. We all had a massive laugh when we hit the bumpy sand tracks. It was the bottom of a river bed and Lenny said he had to drive quickly so as not to get bog. After the first bump we heard a 'Oooh!' from the back which was funny. Sherry didnt have a good time in the back. Turns out she was right on the end and had to hold on for dear life so as not to fall out the back.

Slowhorse didnt sound too appreciative of the Grand Canyon. He referred to it as just 'dirt and rock'. He said that the tracks across the sand bed were from 'drunken Navahoes'. Not quite sure whether he was telling porky pies, as later on he also said that to get to our raft we would have to bungee jump down to the river.

We parked and walked in. It was one of the most amazing places i ever seen. it was like it waves made of sand. Awesome colours and light. Lenard said he used to come here when he was younger to get drunk because the cops didnt come looking out this far. His top saying was 'If you put your camera here, you'll get an excellent photo'. he was all about the visual experience and even asked for people's cameras so that he could take the perfect photo. He kept on pointing out that various things looked like Mr Potatohead, Batman, A candle etc. he said it was because of all the weed he and the Indians smoked while in here.

The Love Heart

There was a cool thing that i could hum in to make an echoing noise. Womaen couldnt make the wall hum because there voices weren't deep enough. Mine worked a treat.

Out the other end Slowhorse told a brief history about the Indians and how they worshipped the sun. Medicine was hand picked by a medicine man especially for each sick person. When they are doing their dance they laugh and are happy and stomp the ground to pound the sickness deep into the earth. Also he said that Indians always turned and thanked the sun for another day when it set. No matter what happened they say 'today was a good day'. he then talked about his drum and then sung a really cool ancient song. I wonder how it translated?

After a quick lunch we then got on a bus to the Glen Canyon Dam. Going through a 2 mile tunnel was cool. There were ventalation shafts every 300 yards or so. At the end it looked like a transformers sign. We then had to don helmets for our walk down to the floats because apparantly the area had a chance to experience rockslides.The helmet just fit me. Geez I have a big head.

We started at the base of the 700 foot high Glen Canyon Dam. Dam's are really impressive and even though I've seen Hover Dam this was pretty impressive. Especially considering the rock walls around.

On our raft we had Lindsay the guide, 3 ladies from New York, 2 aussies from Sydney. I gave them a scare when i stood up and sort of lost my balance. I really wasnt having the best day with walking and general human functions.

I almost fell over walking along a path at a stop where we checked out some ancient Petroglyphs. These petroglyphs could be intepretetated in a number of ways. The most plausible seemed to be a guide to living in this area - as they had a hunting order, diagrams of young boys being taught to hunt (to become men).

My joke about the sheering and the sheep didnt go down well but I thought it was relelveant due to sheep not liking it in the canyon due to the 'sheer' of the walls. Anyway, it was nice to just 'float'. You could not hear a noise when the engine was cut. Occasionally a fishing boat would cane by and as we floated around Horseshoe bend i started to feel a bit tired. Lindsay said that its because of the dry heat and losing water. No sweat, literally. So from now on whenever we feel tired or grumpy Sherry and I say to each other - You need a drink of water.

We rafted all the way down to Lee's Ferry - which signified where the Grand Canyon proper started and also where the white water rapids begun.

The bus ride back was crap - Just too long. We stopped at some trading post. boring! lets get home. The River Runners movie was pretty informative - and really made me glad that we had rafted on the river. back at tairport we jumped in the car, stoping off briefly back at the hotel to get chanegd before ducking out for dinner. We ate at The Steakhouse.

All the waiters wore jeans, long red shirts and cowboy hats. I ate the ribs. Delciious, the beans werent as good as the other place and the baked potoato didnt come with butter or sour cream. I asked for butter but didnt ask for sour cream. Damn. A family was sitting at a table next to us and the father blew his nose. I tried so hard not to laugh because it sounded like a fart. I kind of snickered through my nose and I think a bit of coke came out. God it was funny.

At home I watched an aweome documentary on Natiopnal Geogrraphic. I also saw a cool ad with Steve Nash. He wore a head set and was just going way over the top. Funny as. My equal favourite ad with the 'Oh nooooo! Your tires all flat and junk. Did I doo that??...Soooo....'