This morning we were on the road pretty early – stopping for fuel and returning the rental car. Then we headed out of Moab toward central Utah to Capitol Reef National Park. After a few hours we arrived at Capitol Reef and stopped at the Visitor Center to stamp our passports. The orientation film there was starting in 20 minutes so we went back out to the RV to grab a snack and came back. We watched the movie and then drove Scenic Drive, stopping at overlooks for photos and to explore. We also stopped at a house in the historic village of Fruita in the park where they sell the best individual homemade pies. I chose Cherry, our daughter picked apple, hubby was feeling adventurous and selected strawberry-rhubarb, and our son opted for a homemade cinnamon roll. We sat on a picnic table outside and took turns trying each other’s pies. They were wonderful. Even though the pies were "individual sized," they were quite large, so we only ate about 1/4 of each and saved the rest for the days to come.
After enjoying the pies, we returned to the visitor center area to head over to some of the other overlooks on another road on the way out of the park. We stopped at the Panoramic Overlook and the other three decided to give me a scare. Hubby always like to take them to places that “seem” dangerous to freak me out - edges of cliffs and so on - see the photo of them in the gallery below.
We set out from the overlook heading for Page, Arizona and Antelope Canyon. We drove through some of the most rural areas of Utah, sometimes not seeing another soul for quite a while. We stopped in a ghost town for fuel and finally arrived at the Glen Canyon Recreation Area and Dam. This is where the Rainbow Bridge is located near Page Arizona. We checked out the visitor center and took some photos before heading through Page to find the location for the Antelope Canyon X tours.
Canyon X is on the Navajo Tribal lands, 13 miles south of Page. We had discussed the idea of a night tour of the canyon with the owners and asked them if it would be possible to spend the night in the dirt parking lot there. So we planned on arriving shortly before dark, taking a night tour, spending the night there, and then taking a morning tour as well. When we arrived the owner’s son recommended that we camp right by the canyon instead of by the highway. It was a few miles back a dirt road into the desert. We met the owner’s son Logan, his wife Janelle, and two kids Lauren and Cole. We followed them from the parking lot to the campsite. Logan asked if we wanted to do a quick glimpse of Antelope Canyon X before it got dark, just to scope out some locations for possible photos. One of the reasons I wanted to do a night tour was to get a shot of the inside of the slot canyon with stars through the holes in the top. So we rode down to the canyon entrance with them in their UTVs. We walked through the canyon quickly and it was amazing. I couldn’t wait for it to get dark.
They said we could hang out at our campsite and get ready, and that they’d be back to take us back down to the canyon at 9 pm. While we waited for them to come back, I did some test shots and noticed the sky beginning to cloud over – I was bummed. By the time we got to the canyon, the sky was completely cloudy and none of my shots came out, however, we still had a great time talking with the family. Logan’s sister Jackie and cousin Sergio joined us for the night tour. They also had tons of fireworks that they wanted to let off after the tour. Logan first talked to us about safety – warning us to be careful where we put our hands in the dark due to the scorpions, rattlesnakes, and tarantulas. Awesome, not. Well, while the kids and hubby searched for nocturnal desert creatures, I tried some shots of the night sky through the canyon slot – with no success – so I put my camera away and joined the rest of the group. Being in the canyon at night was amazing – they told us about themselves and their Navajo culture. We learned that the land of the canyon had been in his family for several generations and that his grandparents were buried not too far from the canyon entrance. Once we finished up in the canyon, we went to a staging area outside the canyon and they let off their fireworks while we watched. All of the kids had a great time watching the adults act like fools! It was late when we finally got back to the RV, but we were excited about the canyon tour the next morning!
