|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
DAY 8 - SIGHTSEEING & A SWIM
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| An Improvement | A better night's sleep - but only just. As we didn't have the aircon on due to the noise, it does get stuffy in the night.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A Buffet Experience | Today starts with the excitement of the "Continental Buffet Served In The Foyer" for which we paid $3 each last night. Get dressed, downstairs for 8:45. Bit of a bun fight. There are 2 types of cereal, 1 type of bagel and 3 types of doughnut (English Spelling) to choose from plus juice, tea or coffee. All served from a hatch onto a tray - bit like school dinners. Again without anything other than "pleasantness". When the lady spilled some of KT's juice as she put it on KT's tray, she was totally nonplussed (totally!) when KT asked is she had something to mop up the spillage. Eventually she pointed vaguely in the direction of the jams, sugars etc over there - OK so there are paper napkins there.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Issue | I have skirted round this for a couple of pages now. The staff in all the places we have had to coax information from have been "Native American" stock - Navajo. They are not surly or unpleasant, they just do their job and offer nothing in the way of pleasantries - but hey! That's just like some shops in Wrexham or Chester unless you strike lucky isn't it?
Breakfast over, we went back to shower and prepare for the day.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Heated Views | Decided to go to a couple of viewpoints above the Colorado River. The first was just down the road about ¾ mile from the dam. Walk a hundred feet or so down into the canyon to a viewing station - one way shows the dam, the other the Colorado winding its way very gently South West towards the Grand Canyon - which technically starts about 9 miles downstream of here - well the GC National Park does. The views were as expected - but you do have difficult with the scale of things. Whole canyon, as stated before is 5 to 700ft deep. Cars moving along the metal bridge by the dam look tiny. Now - did I mention the "hundred feet or so" down into the canyon? Well, that little phrase took on great significance when we retraced our steps - only 4200ft, only 80°F(+). Still a long, slow way back.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Potential Geography | From here, after we had allowed the aircon time to do its job, we drove about 5miles south to another "scenic overlook". This time we tramped ¾ mile over a hill and then down to the edge of the canyon. There laid out before us was a huge horseshoe bend in the river, with a massive cliff that, in about umpty thousand years will probably be a stack left in the middle of the river. Again the scale. The photos I took probably wont do it justice. Certainly to get all the river in requires a wide-angle lens. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Steps Retraced | So there we have it, no shade, ¾ mile mostly uphill to our car, 80°F+ and 4000ft+ - why did we have to come down here? S. . . L. . . O. . . W. . . journey back up to the dirt track to the top of the slope. Wet thru - even KT and Lucy were a little damp - presumably the additional humidity from the river canyon?
At the top of the slope was a young lady with a tuner and a TV aerial. I (yes I) engaged her in conversation (we think this talking to strangers might be a manifestation of male menopause). She was tracking the Californian Condors. There is a program to re-introduce them in Arizona and California. Gone from 22 in the world to 25 around here alone - slow process but beginning to have success. 9½ ft wingspan. Apparently a couple of them are seen regularly around the South Rim of the Grand Canyon - lets hope.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A Refreshing Swim | From there we went to Antelope Point where we were allowed to swim in Lake Powell (safely!). Stayed there for almost 2 hours in the hottest part of the day - sometimes sunbathing - mostly swimming. Result - lots of pinkness everywhere. Tramped the ½ mile back to the car as the thunderclouds built up during their afternoon manoeuvres. Very hot and sticky by the car.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Food - & Shopping | Off we go to find some lunch - but the stipulation is that it must be near the Wal-Mart Mary had spotted on the way out. So, Subs it was, 4 shops down from the Wal-Mart. No smiles - just service in the Subway. Then to Wal-Mart. I offered to drive the car up to them (just to stay in the aircon). Whilst walking round in there I felt really bad, so went to sit in the car and try to cool down. Legs were heavy and fizzy - probably too much sun - even with my Tilley on. Sat in the car for about an hour with the engine running and aircon on whilst the girls shopped in their own aircon heaven. Lucy had been a bit traumatic for the last few days as everyone had bought things except here - and she is the professional shopper! She seems OK now, she managed to spend our money for us.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Well-Earned Rest | As it is now spotting with rain and very overcast, decided not to go to Antelope Canyon, but retire to our hotel. KT and Mary went to the pool, Lucy "chilled" in her room watching TV, I just slept - aircon racing, but under the covers. I shall stay out of the sun as much as poss for the next couple of days. I woke up at about 6 and went down to the pool. Mary and I sat there for an hour or so whilst I wrote some more diary and she read.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| And Finally . . | Time for food. Tonight it is Ken's Old West (Steak and Salad Bar). KT had a soup and salad (all the salad she can eat), Mary and Lucy shared a steak and I had a couple of pork chops. Again manageable proportions and quite tasty.
Back to the rooms to watch MTV 20th Birthday Party.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |  |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Words and pictures © Steve Andrews 2001 - 2012