Back at camp, Maya decides to create her own black paint by grinding down charcol into a fine powder and mixing with water.

Jeanine discovers a great vista located a short walk from our campground, where I take advantage of the setting sun.

Inside the sun room is a sculpture of Brighty the mule, which was the subject of an early children’s story and subsequent movie about the Grand Canyon. Since then, this non indigenous species has been relocated to their natural habitats, but the memory of this beloved mule lives on. Pictured here with our beloved mule.

The lodge was built in 1927 and burned down 5 years later. It was rebuilt on the original stone foundation on the precipice of Bright Angel Point with steeper roof lines and more of the old-world rustic charm that is evident today.

The Grand Canyon is certainly something everyone should see in their lifetime, but I am of the opinion that the only way to truly appreciate it is from the air. Having done so on several occasions, I believe it is the best way to appreciate the full magnitude of this wonder of the world.

Our first stop is at the Grand Canyon Lodge, which offers a spectacular vantage point from which to view the canyon.

As we enter the Grand Canyon National Park we learn that lightning has triggered several forest fires around the park.

This morning, we will depart for the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We stop briefly at Lee’s Ferry, where Nicolai requests that we stage a set of photos for later compositing. Click on the image for a better look at the antics, and note the number of costume changes.

We enjoy a nice sunset before the kids elect to turn in early. Nothing like a day on the water to facilitate a good night’s sleep.

We spent part of the day navigating to the end of Navajo Canyon and put ashore on a nice beach where we enjoy lunch. Lake Powell has something like 98 canyons which feed into it and there are some who believe it was a huge mistake to flood them for the benefit of the lake. I can see good arguements on both sides of this debate.

Each child rides solo and in tandem with a sibling and also takes a turn at driving the boat. Maya, due to her small size and light weight, invariably produced the most spectacular rides bouncing high off the tube and hanging off the edges. The kids could have kept tubing all night but I decided that about half a dozen major crashes was about the right number to preclude any major brain damage. Jeanine wisely chose to spend much of the day on the shore enjoying a book, time by herself, and adding to her journal.

Tubing is the main attraction and I am schooled in the art of accelerating through turns to get the tube outside the wake. Apparently it is more fun to be violently thrown from the tube at 30 mph than to enjoy a nice ride behind the boat while basking in the sun.

For a big change of pace we rent a 19 foot power boat and set out on Lake Powell which features a shoreline that is longer than the entire west coast of the USA.

We spent part of the afternoon in Page bowling and playing billiards at a local hangout. The kids needed a distraction from all the sightseeing, and a good time was had by all. Later, we made the short drive and hike to Horseshoe Bend, where we were just in time to catch the sunset.

Our tour takes us inside the dam and down to its base where we tour the power generation station. Pictured here are 7 of the 8 generators which produce a maximum of 1,296,000 kilowatts. The concrete arch dam is 710 feet high and contains 4,901,000 cubic yards of concrete. It is 25 feet wide at the crest and 300 feet wide at the maximum base.

Lake Powell on which we will spend the day tomorrow was formed by the Glen Canyon Dam. Despite a lack of general enthusiasm for the idea everyone really enjoyed the tour we took of the dam. This turbine was removed from service two weeks ago and is now on permanent display atop the dam.

I got up early for a sunrise view of Monument Valley before we head to Page, AZ.

The drive to Monument Valley takes several hours and we do not arrive until early evening. Jeanine and the kids are satisfied with the views as we approach the park from a distance. After dropping them off at the Goulding’s Outpost, I venture into the park to catch the final rays of light and a compelling sky.

 
Before departing for Monument Valley we made one last stop to enjoy Tower House. Although visitation is not permitted their is a nice lookout from which to view this iconic dwelling.

Throughout our trip, Jeanine has been doing a lot of macro photography of flowers. While on our hike she captures this simply exquisite photograph of an exotic bee of some sort.

Here is Balcony House as viewed from the other side of the canyon on which it is located. Jeanine and I took a short hike where we enjoyed great vistas of the cliff dwelling and their surroundings.

Egress from Balcony House is through a small and narrow tunnel which require you to crawl on hands and knees to reach the exit.

The circular pits are called kivas which were used for religious ceremonies. They wood have been covered by roofs which were flush to the ground so that surface area could be utilized. Each kiva was constructed with a dedicated air intake to ensure that smoke from the fires within would vent properly out a hole in the middle of the roof. Religious ceremonies were held in the round and were never apapted to the rectangular structures used as living quarters.

Our second guided tour is of Balcony House, which requires quite a bit more climbing to reach, including this 32-foot ladder, only a portion of which is pictured here.

 
Visiting the dwellings made it very easy to understand what life here must have been like and one can only marvel at the architecture and ingenity of the people who created these dwellings.

This wider angle view of Cliff Palace reveals the magnitude of this dwelling which has 150 individual rooms and 23 kivas. It is still not known what motivated the Anasazi to build their homes in the cliffs and to subsequently abandon them for the plains. Access to the Cliff House is only allowed during a ranger led tour and we were fortunate to have a very entertaining and well informed guide.

Today finds us in Colorado at Mesa Verde National Park for an entirely different experience which features man made beauty rather than natural wonders. Here the ancestral Puebloans built a series of cliff dwellings to accommodate entire villages. It is easy to mistake this photo for a diorama size model but as you will see in the next photo these structures were built into the side of a mesa.

 
On the way back I make a short detour to visit Pine Tree Arch which was well worth the additional quarter mile. The boys have seen enough arches for one day and opt to return to the RV where lunch is waiting.

The boys and I continued on to Double O Arch, which required a strenuous 5-mile roundtrip but was worth the effort. Most people view the arch from the other side since that is where the trail ends. I find this reverse side view to be even more spectacular.

Our primary destination this morning was Landscape Arch which required a modearte hike to reach. It is really hard to imagine how this structure sustains itself under its own weight. I think it is quite possible that it will collapse within the kids lifetime and am very happy that they had a chance to see this wonder of nature.

Delicate Arch is perhaps the most widely recognized in Utah. It is a subject I could spend hours photographing and would like to return on a future trip to do this subject justice during evening light.