Arizona – Tuba City, Page
April 19: Grand Canyon, AZ to Tuba City, AZ
The weather continues to be cool and windy. With the weather and Jack’s vertigo not cooperating, we decide to call it quits and leave for Tuba City on the Navajo Reservation.
The wind is atrocious and we drive through numerous dust storms. The evening news talks about 76 mph gusts with tractor trailers being blown off the roads. In fact, the interstate was actually closed to trucks for a while because of the high winds. The horizon is very hazy because of the dust in the air.
We were so bored with waiting for the weather to clear that we figured we’d just start driving out to the Hopi reservation where there are ancient villages that sit atop a series of mesas. Unfortunately, the dusty haze blocks our views of the mesas from below and when we are on top of the mesas, we can’t see the desert below, so we can’t appreciate the feeling of being at the tip of a mesa. The villages themselves are amazing. They appear to be apartment-style buildings with many families living in very small homes that are linked together. The poverty of the area is obvious in the disrepair of the buildings and roads. These Hopi villages remind us of Barrow, Alaska – very bleak, at least to a visitor. I suspect the dusty haze contributes to the feeling and I would really like to return some day when the weather is clear. I bought a beautiful piece of pottery from a small shop in an old house in the Old Oraibi village. From what we have been told, some of the villages’ inhabitants are part-time residents/full-time artists.
Tuba City is one of the major Navajo nation towns and it truly is a different country. We stopped at a grocery store and were the only white people there, with most people around us speaking Navajo. We did not feel welcome. We saw lots of community pre-fab housing, but also there are lots of “modern tradition” Navajo homes that consist of a mobile home with a traditional mud Hogan nearby for older generation Navajos and/or for religious ceremonies. Driving through the area makes us wonder how anyone could live here in the desert in such an unfriendly climate. We have learned, however, that this area was historical Navajo lands where families have kept sheep for many generations. Alcoholism and joblessness are vicious here.
April 20: Tuba City, AZ to Page, AZ
We drive a little over an hour up to Page, AZ on the Utah border and off the Navajo reservation. Page acts as a gateway to the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. After the reservation, it is great to be in a real town with restaurants and full-size grocery stores, and, most importantly, a golf course. The views from Page are astounding as the city is atop a butte that overlooks the Vermillion Cliffs and Lake Powell. We drove through a portion of the Vermillion Cliffs area with its soaring pink and red cliffs. After lunch, we headed down to the lake to find out about using our kayak in the Lake. The lake is 150 feet below normal and there is nowhere for us to put in the boat.
We drove out to the Horseshoe Bend trailhead and hiked 3 miles roundtrip to the Colorado River where it makes multiple horseshoe bends right below us. Had a good Mexican dinner in a very pretty restaurant in Page.
April 21: Page, AZ
Jack is playing golf today while I rest from a cold I am trying to keep from getting worse. We ran errands in the afternoon.
April 22: Page, AZ
We hired a guide to take us to Antelope Canyon. 
The canyon is on Navajo lands and requires a guide licensed by the Navajo.
Our guide happens to be white and is married to a Navajo woman for more than 25 years. 
He tells us that his mother-in-law explained that before Antelope Canyon became a national park, it was a place where Navajo teenagers would come to party on the weekends. The weather was supposed to be sunny, but it is mostly cloudy. We were very disappointed because this is a slot canyon where bright sun makes incredible shadows and sunlit spotlights within the canyon. Despite the forecast, the sun came out for a couple of minutes, allowing us to get some postcard perfect pictures.
April 23: Page, AZ
I stayed in bed all day recuperating from this lousy cold and Jack played golf.
April 24: Page, AZ
I’m still sick so Jack watched golf on TV and ran errands while I slept.
April 25: Page, AZ
We visited the dam today and took the guided tour of the turbines and the behind-the-scenes part of the dam. Planning, engineering and building this huge dam is truly incredible – we can appreciate how complicated it is (especially as it was built over 50 years ago) from viewing the movies and strolling through the museum. We relaxed in the afternoon as I’m still fighting this cold. 
April 26: Page, AZ
We took a cruise up Lake Powell to see Rainbow Bridge National Monument. There are no roads to the bridge, so the only way to see it is by boat. The Bridge is 50 miles up lake and then a 1½ mile walk into the bridge. When the lake is full, the walk is only ½ mile. 
The cruise on the lake was fabulous – massive sandstone walls that form beautiful spires and imposing buttes. Even the weather cooperated today – warm and sunny. Rainbow Bridge was more impressive than I expected – a great sandstone arch 290 feet high with a 275 foot span that has great religious significance to the Navajo. We came back with lots of pictures and sunburns from riding on the open top deck.
We love Page and Lake Powell. Houseboats are for rent by the week so you can cruise up and down 150 mile long Lake Powell, exploring canyons and bays with swimming beaches. Most of the houseboats are quite large, sleeping ten or more – so it would make a fabulous extended family vacation.
