Round The World and other travel

Water in the desert

As I lay in bed contemplating the prospect of getting up, I could scarcely believe that a week ago I was getting ready to explore Salt Lake City on foot. I went downstairs to find that the hotel restaurant had now been transformed into a standard Hampton Inn breakfast area. After getting packed up and ready for the road once more, I set off on what was basically a back-tracking journey to Page. This time, however, I made a small detour to take a look at the Navajo National Monument, run by the US National Parks Service. I walked a couple of relatively short trails there and remembered to reset my watch before continuing.			View Larger Map
	On arrival back in Page, and following another couple of examples of dangerous overtaking on the highway, I stopped at a diner for a fairly basic lunch. It was busy and some of the patrons were rather well-dressed, as though they had maybe come straight from church. There was plenty of time available before my cruise was due to leave, so I decided to visit the Horseshoe Bend of the Glen Canyon. It was an absolutely spectacular sight, but the long climb back up the trail afterwards half-killed me!

Once I had regained my composure, I drove the short distance to Wahweap Marina via the coastal route, finalised my arrangements and waited for the departure time of my cruise. I was one of the first to board and decided to secure a downstairs seat to avoid frying in the sun. It was mostly a nice crowd on board, but there was a large group of slightly irritating Asians who successfully proved that it's not just the English-speaking world that is afflicted by the curse of young women with fog-horns for voices. The boat sailed up part of the Navajo Canyon and then the absolutely amazing Antelope Canyon, where you could quite literally reach out and touch the sides. There was a round of applause after the captain completed a U-turn in the severely constrained space, made even more awkward by the presence of another small boat. The cruise concluded, as daylight was fading fast, with a final look at the Glen Canyon Dam.