May 26 - United States: Page, Arizona
Jon's Trip to the BLM Office
Jon woke up super-early at 5:00AM to go to the BLM Office for the next-day permit lottery for The Waves. I don't know why he decided to go by himself, but he said I could stay in bed and I wasn't going to argue with him. I suppose I was allowed to sleep in because tomorrow's trip to The Waves is a crusade to satisfy his Photography Gods. And I don't argue with the Photography Gods.
At any rate, he got back around 9:30 with two permits for tomorrow. He said there were 12 people in the lottery for 10 permits, so we were happy to have gotten two of them. It should be fun to do that tomorrow. If we don't get miserably lost, that is.
Antelope Canyons
For today, however, it's off to Antelope Canyon. This is a slot canyon that Jon's wanted to visit for some time. A number of famous photographers have made Antelope Canyon their subject, and there have been quite a few movies and commercials filmed here. (Including, I'm told, "Broken Arrow" with John Travolta). The canyon is on land owned by the Navajo Nation and more power to them for making a buck or two by charging admission. We drove to the entrance, paid our fees, and waited for one of the trucks to pick us up. The truck was a pick-up with seats and an awning in the back. The dust ride lasted only about 10 minutes and dropped us off right at the mouth of the slot canyon.
This place really is a photographer's dream. Smooth and sharp angles, narrow slots, crazy beams of light that change as the sun moves. There were quite a few amateur photographers there with their tripods and zoom lenses and alternating shutter speeds. Jon was in heaven.
For a good 15 minutes, we stood with a bunch of other photographers snapping shots of part of the canyon where a beam of light hit the floor just so. One of the photographer's assistants named Colin would run up, throw a bunch of dirt into the light, and then run away to get out of the shot. The end effect added density and character to the beam of light.
The Beam of Light
I got all caught up in the photogenic moment and took about 20 pictures with the digital. This poor Colin guy - he had to do the dirt-throwing thing about 20 times for the benefit of the photographers.
The slot canyon got narrower and narrower as we continued in, but there was always a new and exciting shot around every corner. I can see why photographers love this place.
Another Cool Perspective
The way it would work, is that I would go around the corner and hold people from walking through a shot while Jon experimented with different shutter speeds. Most people were very understanding and were happy to wait. Then they would wander through to see what angle Jon was shooting. More than once, Jon would set up for a shot only to turn around and find 3-5 other people behind him who decided they wanted the same shot. (He's such a trendsetter). So I would often end up "guarding" a shot for a whole gaggle of photographers.
Jon Setting Up A Shot
It was a nice way to spend the afternoon, and definitely a unique experience. Two and a half hours, four rolls film, and at least 75 digital pictures later, we decided we'd had enough. So we went outside the canyon and waited for for the next truck to take us back to the gate.
Glenn Canyon Dam
We stopped for lunch at Subway, and then went to the Glenn Canyon Dam. This is at the foot of Lake Powell and regulates the amount of water going into the Grand Canyon. We listened to an information lecture over a 3-D model of the canyon and dam area and were pretty impressed with it all. Then we drove to the Lake Powell Lodge to have a look around. Because the water is so clear, it's an incredible blue color and is quite a contrast against the surrounding red and white rock formations of the desert.
At Glenn Canyon Dam
Apparently, the thing to do here is to rent a houseboat and cruise the hundreds of of miles of uninhabited coastline on the lake. We spotted quite a few houseboats set up on distant shores. Jon figures you can find a little nook on the massive lake and not see another soul for days. We'll have to add this to our list of "Things We Want To Do Someday".
Then we went for runs on the track at the local high school. It was nice because the day had become overcast and so it wasn't quite as hot as it could have been. Jon did speedwork while I ran 12 loops around the track. After our runs, we took our sweaty selves to Basha's a grocery store which had a sale on Black Angus steaks. We leave tomorrow for the Grand Canyon and we'll be there for four nights. So we figured that was long enough to rationalize the purchase of steaks, charcoal, and corn-on-the-cob. Yummy!
We made it back to the hotel at 6:00 on the nose. Just in time for HBO's special on NYC and Sept 11. So we ordered pizza and packed up our stuff for a long day tomorrow.