Antelopes and more
Trip Start
May 30, 2011
1
10
11
Trip End
Jun 09, 2011
St. George, Utah
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Everything seems to be running on slow motion this morning. Breakfast at 8:30! We're leaving for our tour of Antelope Canyon at 10. We're all ready to roll by 9:30 even after checking out!
Antelope Canyon is the ultimate photo op! We start out with a hoop dance from the same young man we saw earlier, but this time with easily twice as many hoops. Then we are divided up to fit into several vehicles. Most of us get into the back of two small trucks fitted with two banks of seats running length-wise down the center of the truck bed. We sit back to back and squish in tightly. The driver heads off with a lurch and we speed down the streets and around corners. We head a short way out of town and then off road through a deep sand wash, bouncing around and hanging on the frame rod with stiff fingers.
We begin our photographic walk through the slot canyon. The Navajo guides give us camera setting pointers and show us some great angles. They also show us shapes and faces in the rock. I just keep snapping away, trying to capture as much as possible. We have to keep moving since there are other groups coming up behind us. The colors range from deep purple to faint yellow as we walk from darkness to bright light and back into darkness. The walkway is soft golden sand. More sand floats into our eyes and cameras as we look up into the light. With all of the spirally curved lines made by rushing water from flash floods, I can imagine than I'm a tiny creature inside a shell.
All over too soon. We load up into the trucks for the wild ride back. Lunch is back at our breakfast spot. Everyone shares their photos,exclaiming over the best ones, unable to hold back our excitement while we wolf down our lunch.
Back into the bus for the trip "home" to St. George. We have plenty of geologic moments on the way but everyone seems subdued, thinking about our past 10 days together and preparing to separate tomorrow as we return to our normal lives.
