“This landscape is animate: it moves, transposes, builds, proceeds, shifts, always going on, never coming back, and one can only retain it in vignettes, impressions caught in a flash, flipped through in succession, leaving a richness of images imprinted on a sunburned retina.” ― Ann Zwinger
Sunday-Thursday (6/2-5) – Page, AZ
We spent Sunday driving from Cottonwood to Page, where we set up camp at my least favorite campground to date: Page-Lake Powell Campground ($38 per night with Good Sam discount; full hookups). Why was it my least favorite? Because it’s basically a gravel parking lot with rigs jammed in together. We were surrounded by three enormous (40+ foot) motor homes, and there were no trees. However, our port-side neighbors, Bill and Mary, were friendly. Like many full-timers, they have a blog: www.RoughingItGently.com.
We ate lunch at Big John’s Texas BBQ at long picnic tables outside near the smokers. I had probably the best salad with pulled pork I’ve ever eaten, along with a perfect corn muffin, so it required a picture.
One of the reasons we went to Page was to visit Antelope Canyon, which is a famous slot canyon. The best tour to do is the lower canyon. However, we underestimated the popularity of these tours and how far in advance you might have to book. So what we did instead was go to the Antelope Point Marina and take a boat tour. It was a wonderfully refreshing outing, and because we were on the last trip of the day, there were very few other boats out there.
Captain Ryan was friendly and turned out to be a native of Page, so we peppered him with questions. One was this: How common are the dust storms? When we arrived in Page in the late afternoon the day before, we had just gotten into our vehicles after a WalMart shopping trip when what seemed like a hurricane blew up. Trees were bending, and the wind was howling, but instead of rain there was dust. We were horrified. It turns out, according to Captain Ryan, they are a daily occurrence at that time of day. It has something to do with humidity coming in and hitting the dry earth and dust rising up—don’t ask me to explain. I’m not a scientist! He said the natives call it Anasazi seasoning, since it gets everywhere, including your food.
After our boat tour we had dinner at the State 48 Tavern, which was quite good and really hopping. Apparently it is the place to be in this tiny town.
On Tuesday we made a planned trip to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. (By the way, did you know that this year is the 100th anniversary of Grand Canyon National Park?) Dave had visited the south rim many years ago, but never the north, and I wanted to see it all! From Page it is about a 2.5-hour trip to the north rim. On the way we came across Navajo Bridge, which is a breathtaking feat of elegant engineering suspended above the Colorado River. We walked halfway across the pedestrian bridge and came back, and along the way we saw a condor perched in the underside of the highway bridge. Some people nearby said that there are only 97 condors in existence right now, up from 23 back in the 1980s (I think their numbers are off, but generally correct). It was really special to see it perched there, and I hoped it would fly, but it apparently was quite comfy where it was.
When we arrived at the north rim we found the Grand Canyon Lodge, including many small cabins, and the National Park’s visitor’s center. Apparently there had been a water main break, so there was no running water anywhere. Port-a-johns were the only restrooms. But no matter—the views were stunning everywhere you looked. The Grand Canyon looks like a painting, finely detailed but dreamy. You cannot believe what your eyes tell you. I surprised myself, both here and at the south rim, by going out on the narrow pedestrian overlooks. I am usually afraid of heights, but I walked right out to these and stayed there, drinking in the otherworldly view.
After lunch at the Grand Canyon lodge (highlight: prickly pear coleslaw), we drove to Point Imperial, which is the highest point in the park. Storms were brewing in the distance, and we saw a few lighting streaks. Awe-inspiring—and cold! The temperature drops about 10 degrees per thousand feet, and we were at almost 9,000 feet there. So what had been 80 degrees lower down was now 50 and windy.
I was sad to leave, but resolved that Dave and I would stay at the Grand Canyon Lodge on our 20th wedding anniversary in one of the rim-side cabins. We should get on the waiting list now, as a friend of ours had to wait 5 years!
On the way home we saw why the Vermilion Cliffs are so named. We had passed them on the way to the Grand Canyon without much notice, but on the way back, in the light of the setting sun, they were aglow.
It was a long day, but we managed to play a couple of games of Pandemic after dinner. We realized time was running short with Hal & Val, and we needed to make the most of it.
On Wednesday we drove out to Lone Rock Beach, which is northwest of Page near Wahweap (that is the campground to stay in next time!). Lone Rock is on BLM land, and there were lots of people camped haphazardly right on the beach. Something to remember for next time—IF we want to boondock and the weather is right. We also visited the Carl Hayden Visitor Center and gazed out the windows at the massive Lake Powell dam. Apparently this dam is responsible for the electricity for a good portion of the west. Afterward we had lunch back at Big John’s and spent the afternoon cleaning, puttering, reading, and getting ready to leave the next day.
Thursday-Sunday (6/6-6/9) – Mesa, AZ
On Thursday morning we said goodbye to Hal & Val and spent the day driving to the Buckhorn Family Campground in Usery Mountain Regional Park near Mesa. This was one of our favorite campsites: it’s a huge site with wonderful cacti all around ($32 per night; water & electric only). It feels like it’s in the middle of nowhere, but it’s only 15 minutes to civilization.
On Friday morning we drove over to Scottsdale to visit my friend Jill, who lives part of the year there and spends her summers in Colorado. We had a lovely lunch together, and then did a little shopping. That evening we got together with a longtime friend of Dave’s who used to be a colleague at AOL.
On Saturday we drove to Tucson, which was a few hours away. I very much wanted to visit Sagauro National Park, which was just incredible. It was so hot (hovering around 102 degrees) that we didn’t do any hiking there, so we’ll have to return! We visited the west side of the park first, then went to downtown Tucson (historic 4th Avenue, which has a wonderful bookstore called Antigone), then went to the east side of the park on the other side of Tucson. Afterward we visited Janice and John, folks we knew from Unity of Fairfax. They took us to an excellent Mexican restaurant for dinner.
On Sunday we visited Unity of Phoenix, went out for brunch, bought Dave a new iPhone (he had been having trouble with his old one since we left home), and got back to the camper to find, yet again, that the breaker had tripped and it was 103 inside the camper. After waiting a few hours for it to get down to 95, we gave up and went to Panera to cool off and use their WiFi. If camping has taught me anything, it’s the need to adapt to changing conditions!
The highlights of the day were seeing a rattlesnake in the road (from the safe distance of the truck) in the morning, and a coyote in the evening. The whole trip has been a bit scant of wildlife, so both of these sightings were a treat.
Next: California!