Like many travelers, I am more often attracted to visiting new countries and new cultures miles away from where I live. It is a guilty pleasure to add to the number of countries traveled. After a few days traveling the West and another few days traveling in Florida, I am reminded once again of the many attractions in the US.
Few things are more enjoyable than family traveling together. Traveling at a time with less crowdedness just a week after the holiday season, makes the experience better. We did just that in January, when most were getting back to school or getting back to work. Kauai was our first choice. The airfare was not particularly expensive. Yet that sentiment of “why we pay for this price when we can get a cheaper airfare another time”. Truth be told, we were a bit late in our planning. The “let’s go somewhere” won the family vote over “let’s stay home”. We planned, within a day, a scenic “wild west” trip to Las Vegas, Antelope Slot Canyon, Monument Valley, and Grand Canyon. Arizona and Utah’s hot summers are particularly well known. Little did we know about the snowstorms in the cold winter in these places. These snowstorms turned out to be beautiful, dangerous and scary.
January | Horseshoe, Antelope, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas
- Day 1, Jan 5, SJC -> LAS, drive to Page, Arizona
- Day 2, Horseshoe Bend, Upper Antelope Canyon tour, drive to Monument Valley, Utah-Arizona
- Day 3, Monument Valley, drive to Grand Canyon
- Day 4, Grand Canyon
- Day 5, Grand Canyon, drive to Las Vegas, Nevada
- Day 6, Jan 10, Las Vegas, LAS -> SJC
Our flight from San Jose to Las Vegas was smooth. We crossed from the State of Nevada to the State of Arizona, arriving at Page in less than 5 hours of highway driving. Along the way, the landscape changed from the dry desert landscape of Nevada to one of the otherworldly and peaceful brownish-red rocky landscapes of Utah and Arizona. The less well-known town of Page makes excellent base camps to many amazing National Parks (NP), including Zion NP, Bryce NP. It also makes a convenient hub for our itinerary: Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley and Grand Canyon.
The next morning, we were greeted with chilly and sunny weather. Sunrise time was between 7 and 8. It was still dark when we arrived at the parking lot of the Horseshoe bend. After a short and scenic walk, we arrived at the Horseshoe bend, before the sunrise. The gradual sunrise painted the sky and the rocks with changing colors. Its beauty was better described in pictures than in words. I felt the acrophobia even looking over the fence to see the bottom of the horseshoe bend. The river at the bottom was partially frozen, making it a half mirror and half flowing water. The time to stay there varied with personal preference. We stayed there for a while to soak in its beauty, and take pictures from as many angles as possible. In spite of the chilly and windy condition, I would have liked to stay there much longer.
The Upper Antelope Canyon is famous for its wave-like structure, and the light beams. It is one of the most-photographed slot canyons in the world. The slot canyon is narrow and cannot be more different from the Grand Canyon. It is under the management of the Native Americans. They offer guided tours providing short lorry rides to take us there, and serve as visitor guides in the walk through the slot canyon. The wave-like structure comes in different colors and shapes. With some imagination, I could see a fox, a president, a monument valley and many more. We enjoyed the tour and the pictures immortalized its unique beauty. I would have loved to hike to experience the slot canyon. Unlike National Parks, we are not allowed to explore on our own.
Like the Antelope Canyon, the Monument Valley is also managed by the Navajo Native Americans. Its landscape is best appreciated from the View Hotel, Monument Valley. We did just that. The sunset was nowhere to be seen with the cloudy sky. There was a forecast of a snow storm in the evening. The View Hotel has one of the best gift shops with some unique offerings from rugs, carpets, sand paintings, and many different souvenirs. There is also a museum sharing the history of Navajo Natives since the early twenty centuries, and their contributions in World War II. I would not have known that their unique language codes have been used as encrypted communication channels during the war. I got a better understanding of the history and how their land has been colonized. I recommend fellow travelers to visit the museum as they enjoy the natural beauty of the Monument Valley.
There was snow overnight. The weather was quite gloomy the next morning. The monuments in the valley had more patches of snow that looked like layers of shattered glasses at the base of many monuments. These monuments looked different from the evening before. The scenery in the overcast weather was unique in its own way and we could not get tired of taking pictures. We intended to spend an hour driving in the valley, before heading to the Grand Canyon. Similar to the Antelope Canyon, the Monument Valley is not a National Park. There is not much of a sign on where to go. We made the wrong turn and exited the valley accidentally. As we U-turned back to the entrance, we were told that we had to pay the entrance fee again. We had been told clearly the day before, when we paid for the admission, that our ticket was valid for 24 hours. After some back-and-forth, the entry station agent absolutely denied everything we heard what they said less than a day ago. We were upset enough to skip the driving tour, and headed directly to the Grand Canyon. It was unlikely we would make a return trip any time soon. We were pretty annoyed. Only a few hours later, we realized it was a blessing in disguise as we ran into a bad snowstorm on our way to the Grand Canyon. If we had taken the time to explore the Monument Valley, we might have been dangerously stuck in the road, and risked not reaching the Grand Canyon.
It is a four hour drive from Monument Valley to the Grand Canyon. We did not foresee the danger awaited. Once on the road, we felt the effect of the snowstorm the night before, when the landscape turned into the Christmas white. The road was still good. The scenery was beautiful. We stopped near Flagstaff for a quick lunch and were still on track to arrive at the Grand Canyon south rim before dark.
No-one could predict the weather. We walked out of the restaurant to find heavy snow and we were in the middle of a snowstorm. The snow plow was working hard to clear the parking lots. We were still relaxed knowing that we were about 90 minutes from the Grand Canyon south rim, we had a SUV, and we had enough time on hand. We realized the full scale of the danger when the brake of our SUV did not respond in one downward turn. Our SUV skidded to the other side of the road, which left us shaken to the core. We had to thank God that the SUV stopped just in time. There were no incoming cars which would have hit us badly. Afterwards, we were driving at 20 miles per hour on a highway with snow all around us, and were nervous at the most gentle grade of the road.
We cannot be more thankful to the well paved straight roads all the way to the Grand Canyon south rim. It was already dark as we parked outside the Grand Canyon Bright Angel Inn. We breathed the biggest sigh of relief and appreciated our dinner even more. The Grand Canyon was substantially colder than Monument Valley. We snuggled in our cabins. As we drifted off, we still felt the shock of the earlier SUV skid. That shock stayed with us for weeks.
We were delighted to see a clear blue sky the next morning.
The weather could not be better for our mule ride along the south rim. We got busy preparing for the ride: received a water bottle, cleaned it, filled it with water, and attached any loose items (eye glasses, phones) to our body. The mule guides helped us to get on our mule, one at a time. We were more than ready to go as we shivered in the cold on our mule. Shortly after we started our tour, we arrived at the south rim, and were in awe of the grandeur of the Grand Canyon. When our mules turned to face the grand canyon, it was quite frightening even though we were still more than a few feet away from the cliff. According to the guide, having the mules facing the grand canyon would remind them of the danger. I could not tell if the mules knew the danger, we certainly felt it and could only comfort ourselves that no mules had ever jumped into the canyon. Soon we got comfortable on the back of the mule. We appreciated the canyon views and the forest areas more and more. We were relaxed enough to take pictures. It was certainly the highlight of this road trip. We recommend the mule ride to all visiting the park.
After the mule ride, we took a leisurely drive and strolled in the park. We caught a beautiful sunset over the Grand Canyon. We finished the day with a nice dinner at the El Tovar Dining room to celebrate a family birthday. As we walked back to our cottages, the stars were twinkling on a clear night sky. It made a perfect night for star gazing.
We felt we were back to the safe urban zone as we settled in the super size hotel suite at Las Vegas. Our adventures were not over yet. The next morning, we mistakenly put an electric kettle, placed next to the stove, over the stove. It was burnt badly. The smoke triggered the fire alarm.The hotel agents reassured us that it happened before, and we had nothing to worry about. Then without any mention, we were charged over $1000 for the kettle on our bill. It took us another few weeks and we had to involve the Better Business Bureau to dispute the charge.
The road trip was memorable. We were treated to unique and amazing landscapes. We encountered unforeseen incidents and thanked God for overcoming them.
We are ready for a more relaxing family trip in January, 2025. Kauai maybe.
oliviatamccue 
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