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selenakWe left the Red Cliff Lodge and drove through a great deal of the Navajo Nation, the largest of the reservations, in order to reach Lake Powell. En route, we met some weird guy wearing a Stetson who was hugging a redhead and a cute man with a big nose while a curly-headed woman was standing close.
...Well, no, but does this road look familiar to you, Doctor Who fans?
Thought so. Anyway, we'd been to Lake Powell before, but back in the day we hadn't known about nearby Antelope Canyon and the slots. The slots are absolute magic, miracles created out of the bit of sunbeam that falls between rocks in the tunnels beneath the mountains, and the results are breathtakingly beautiful. See for yourself!
First of all, one more look at Monument Valley where we didn't meet the Doctor.
Because it's always a good feeling to indulge in righteous indignation about wrongs some other nation committed, as opposed to talk about your own miserable history, we spent a good deal of that car trip through the reservation reiterating the gruesome tales of how the Native Americans were screwed over in history by white Americans up to the present day to ourselves. (It's our version of the AngloAmerican World War II obsession, without wanting to equate events and policies.) (This is why when I read Klaus Voorman's memoirs and he mentioned his wife being in an organization to support various First Nation tribes and his life long interest and engagement for Native Americans, starting with reading Karl May as a kid and falling for Winnetou, I thought: Oh Klaus, I think one has to be German to understand, because it's really part of our DNA almost.) Then we arrived at Antelope Canyon which happens to be owned by two Navajo families who charge quite a considerable entrance fee, and decided "good for them, if bad for our budget" and that the exorbitant fees were only miniature payback for centuries of exploitation. Or something. Anyway, we were lucky, because our guide had by practice become an expert for all cameras of the world and was able to reconfigure mine from automagic to the perfect modus to take pictures beneath the ground. Don't ask me how. But before we get to the wonder of the slots, some more words and pictures about Antelope Canyon Above.
Back in the Nineties, when some of the damm at Lake Powell burst, the Lower Antelope Canyon was flooded and 11 or so tourists died. No wonder, because there is no way you could escape those tunnels once they fill with water. And there is a considerable amount of water above. Here's the part of Antelope Canyon that now is a branch of Lake Powell:
Now for the Antelope Canyon Below (though actually it's the Upper Antelope Canyon, but the Neil Gaiman echo is irresistable to me). You enter here:
And then you walk in beauty, like the night:
Occasionally, there is more room:
But as I said, imagine a burst of water there? You're doomed. Better never go there in bad weather. You'd miss out what the sun can create with just a few beams anyway:
And these are just a few examples. What we also did around Lake Powell: take rafting up the Colorado for a bit. Spot those boats below there?
The day after Antelope Canyon, we took one of those. Rafting starts at the damm itself. To wit, here:
The raft:
The guide:
And off we went:
Here's where you disembark unless you want to do white rafting to the the Grand Canyon, which is what these other folks are doing:
We concluded the evening at the shores of Lake Powell:
See what I mean about American sunsets?
...Well, no, but does this road look familiar to you, Doctor Who fans?
Thought so. Anyway, we'd been to Lake Powell before, but back in the day we hadn't known about nearby Antelope Canyon and the slots. The slots are absolute magic, miracles created out of the bit of sunbeam that falls between rocks in the tunnels beneath the mountains, and the results are breathtakingly beautiful. See for yourself!
First of all, one more look at Monument Valley where we didn't meet the Doctor.
Because it's always a good feeling to indulge in righteous indignation about wrongs some other nation committed, as opposed to talk about your own miserable history, we spent a good deal of that car trip through the reservation reiterating the gruesome tales of how the Native Americans were screwed over in history by white Americans up to the present day to ourselves. (It's our version of the AngloAmerican World War II obsession, without wanting to equate events and policies.) (This is why when I read Klaus Voorman's memoirs and he mentioned his wife being in an organization to support various First Nation tribes and his life long interest and engagement for Native Americans, starting with reading Karl May as a kid and falling for Winnetou, I thought: Oh Klaus, I think one has to be German to understand, because it's really part of our DNA almost.) Then we arrived at Antelope Canyon which happens to be owned by two Navajo families who charge quite a considerable entrance fee, and decided "good for them, if bad for our budget" and that the exorbitant fees were only miniature payback for centuries of exploitation. Or something. Anyway, we were lucky, because our guide had by practice become an expert for all cameras of the world and was able to reconfigure mine from automagic to the perfect modus to take pictures beneath the ground. Don't ask me how. But before we get to the wonder of the slots, some more words and pictures about Antelope Canyon Above.
Back in the Nineties, when some of the damm at Lake Powell burst, the Lower Antelope Canyon was flooded and 11 or so tourists died. No wonder, because there is no way you could escape those tunnels once they fill with water. And there is a considerable amount of water above. Here's the part of Antelope Canyon that now is a branch of Lake Powell:
Now for the Antelope Canyon Below (though actually it's the Upper Antelope Canyon, but the Neil Gaiman echo is irresistable to me). You enter here:
And then you walk in beauty, like the night:
Occasionally, there is more room:
But as I said, imagine a burst of water there? You're doomed. Better never go there in bad weather. You'd miss out what the sun can create with just a few beams anyway:
And these are just a few examples. What we also did around Lake Powell: take rafting up the Colorado for a bit. Spot those boats below there?
The day after Antelope Canyon, we took one of those. Rafting starts at the damm itself. To wit, here:
The raft:
The guide:
And off we went:
Here's where you disembark unless you want to do white rafting to the the Grand Canyon, which is what these other folks are doing:
We concluded the evening at the shores of Lake Powell:
See what I mean about American sunsets?
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Date: 2011-10-03 10:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 06:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 02:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 06:42 am (UTC)