American Southwest Trip: Day 2 Horseshoe Bend-Page

Travel Tips: 

1. I brought along my ipad and signed up for the AT&T data plan. Th cost for 250 MG was US$15 per month. It allowed me to check the map or estimate the arriving time when driving on the road. (Any tablet which has 3 or 4 G can perform this function too.) 
2. Also I used free GasBuddy app to check and compare gasoline price in different cities that we would drive through or stay for a night. It was handy for saving money on gasoline. Only problem was some update were old in some cities. 
3. Good paper maps covering the entire trip are necessary.    

     After one night of good rest, my prince became a frog which is always a pain in my butt in the early morning. I was required to wake up early and my ten more minutes rule was not in his dictionary when traveling in the States. I could understand his reasoning that the distance to the next destination requires a lot driving time when traveling in the States with a lot of stops for me.

It wasn't far to drive 149 mi from Flagstaff to Page
directly. But when we planed to visit some scenic
spots along the way, it took us more time to drive to 
our destination. Also I constantly asked my husband 
to stop when his driving speed was up to 65 mil per 
hour for taking pictures. I knew I suddenly became his 
pain in his butt. I appreciated what he had done for me.  

Travel Sites: 

Taking Loop Road (35 mi/56km) from the Sunset Crater Volcano National Park through Wupatki National Monument (Wukoki Pueblo/Wupatki Pueblo (0.5 mile trail loop trail behind visitor center, fee is required)/Citadel Pueblo/Nalakihu Pueblo/Box Canyon dwellings) to Highway 89. 

I mistakenly formatted 4 GB of pictures which was at least a half days precious memory trip before downloading to my computer it was all lost. It was a heartbreaking experience. I told myself that the ancient Indian gave me an open invitation to go back again. It is worth the time to visit those sites. (Stop at the visitor centers to get the loop trail map.) Also a rest stop at Camberon was interesting. It was a good place to shop for souvenir. 

Luckily I found a few photos in my ipad. This was
one of them. This was taken on Highway 89. It was
a popular scenic stop to see the broad landscape.

The Colorado River eroded the plateau.  

Road Side Indian Art Craft Booths

As we were talking, we passed by the side road which 
led us to the Horseshoe Bend trail. So we made a U
turn. 

The trail is about 1.5miles (2.4km) round trip and 
walking time is about 45 minutes.  It is a sandy trail 
which makes the walking more difficult up to the top.   

I though I would arrive at the bend once I reached 
the at the top of the hill. After seeing this scenery, 
it proved my assumption was wrong. Well, Kept Walking!

Before arriving at the edge of the cliff, this setting of 
the rocks was interesting to me.   

Comparing to the prior scenic places we visited,
there were more foreign visitors here. We were on
the rim of the canyon. It is about a 1,100 feet drop 
to the river. It was scary to stand close to the edge 
but the view was gorgeous. 

This was one of my major focus points in our 9 days
trip. I had a wide angle camera lens which let me take
the entire view. Sometime I lied down to take pictures.
I felt more secure and not so scared.
According to its introduction brochure, it is a 270 degree horseshoe shape. 

As I learned, this 15 miles of Colorado River from 
Glen Canyon to Lee Ferry is very calm. I could tell  
by looking at the water. But I also saw oil floating 
on the river surface. It was sad to see a beautiful 
scenery with pollution.   

Taking pictures was a must thing here; however,
seeing how people approaching to the cliff was
also fun which included myself.  

After taking this photo, my husband told me that
" there is a chameleon in front of the flower." 
What a surprise! 

Walking on the trail was just like walking on the
beach. It was not easy especially up the hill.
However the view was worthy for the effort. 

I had done a lot of research on hotels in Page. The 
price was expensive to us. One of my husband's 
idea was to drive to Farmington, NW which would 
make it a long day trip. So, we decided to pay a 
little more money to stay at Page. The room didn't
have refrigerator which upset my husband. During 
our recent years traveling in the States, we found 
more and more big hotel chains do not provide 
refrigerator any more. I personally think it is 
a shame.       

This view was taken from our room. The pool was
just below our room which was under remodeling.
It upset me because I expected to soak in the pool
after hiking. This was the disadvantage for booking
a room through the internet. It doesn't tell you the hotel's
facility was under construction.  

After settling down and taking a short break, we
drove to the Glen Canyon Visitor Center and
walked around the area .  

The dam was behind the visitor center. 

The highway bridge picture was 
taken behind the visitor center. 

The information displayed inside the center was 
very useful to understand the dam, the geology,  
and history around this area.  

My husband was showing me where
we would visit the next day 4 corners. 

We arrived late for the dam tour. 

As we drove back to the town, we
found a side road and took the turn.
It was a great decision. This was
what I found.  

I was wondering around these big rocks and walked
toward the water alone. It was fun and interesting to
explore the area. 

The geological formation was really amazing. 

These two beauties asked me to take pictures of them
jumped. I was instructed how to compose the picture:
the sun in the center and beauty in each side. This was
the first time I took this kind of pictures. I succeed
the third time.   

I enjoyed my time taking photos and exploring the
beautiful landscape and forgot all about my husband
who waited for me in the car. He told me I was
missing for almost an hour. Well, what could I say! 
I love you.

Sunset at the dam

Thinking about what to eat for dinner was always a 
tough decision. Sometime it created a problem. The
beautiful sunset couldn't fulfill my stomach but only
my thoughts. 

This was my dinner with a glass
of white Zinfandel.  

Spending more than US$100 on the hotel without
pool, hot tub, and refrigerator, I decided to make
my money worth of it. So I set up my camera to take
this night shot through the window in our room.
My poor husband had to type on his keyboard
without light. Thanks my dear for your sacrifice.    

The night I formatted my 4 GB pictures, a heartache night.