Horseshoe Bend and Glen Canyon Dam (Road Trip out West Post 7)

We woke up in Page, Arizona.  I had found a last minute online hotel deal at Best Western View of Lake Powell hotel. It was a great place to stay and very close to the things we were wanting to see in that area.  This is a view of Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam from the hotel patio.

a closer view of the dam in the distance

The best thing about this hotel was that they had a full, hot breakfast buffet.  We had only been getting "grab and go" bags of granola bars, fruit cups, muffins, juice boxes, etc. up until this point.  A hot buffet breakfast was like a dream and definitely started our day out on a high note.

 Our first stop in Page was to see Horseshoe Bend.  It was just a short drive from the dam.

There is no fee to visit but you have to pay a $10.00 parking fee.  We got a passport stamp as we entered.

You park and then have to walk in along a dirt trail.  The trail is 1.3 miles round trip.

 

Horseshoe Bend is a horseshoe-shaped landmark formed by the Colorado River (the same river that flows through the Grand Canyon).

Next we went to see the Glen Canyon Dam.  Just like at the Hoover Dam, they were not doing tours due to COVID.  Instead we walked across the bridge and admired the dam from above.

 

Beautiful Lake Powell

We had only planned those two stops in Page.  We would have wanted to do more stuff in this area like Antelope Canyon, but many things were still closed. So, we left there mid-morning driving into Utah.  Our goal for that day was to make it to Bryce Canyon National Park.  I will share about that next.

Grand Canyon Day 2 (Road Trip out West Post 6)

After a cool, snowy day the day before at the Grand Canyon, we woke up to warm, blue, sunny skies.  It was a beautiful day to head out exploring.  We had a "grab and go" breakfast in our room and then set out on a morning hike.

Our plan was just to hike the Bright Angel Trailhead until we got tired and then turn around and hike back out.  This trail goes down into the canyon and if you go all the way you will end up at the bottom.
 

 

 

 

 

It was fun to see the canyon from a different elevation.

It got warmer as we hiked down.

Squirrels were everywhere.

We stopped for a while and let the boys play on these rocks.

 

Ben built this rock tower.

The pack mules passed by us on the trail.

making fun memories

 

 After hiking back up we made a stop by Kolb Studio.

 

 

It was at the Kolb Studio gift shop that Cruz purchased his first park pin.  He now plans to start collecting pins at places he visits.

 

Next we started walking the rim trail in the opposite direction from the day before.  We began at Kolb Studio and walked to Trailview Overlook.

 

 

Along the way we stopped for more rock climbing and also a picnic lunch.

 

We didn't have very long because we had to catch the train at 3:30 to leave the park.  We ended up boarding the park shuttle at Trailview Overlook and riding all the way to Hermit's Rest.

 

The boys trying to spot the Colorado River down below.

We took the park shuttle back to the village and got ice cream.  Here is Cruz resting and reading through his Junior Ranger book before we walked over to the train station.

We were not ready to leave!!!

Ben playing in David's hat after we boarded the train for the two hour ride back to Williams.

Just like the day before, it was a fun, relaxing way to travel.

The musicians passed through again.  This guy grew up in Baton Rouge and loved Cruz's LSU hat and backpack.  

More snow covered mountains in the distance. That was a favorite sight of mine.

As we got closer to Williams we noticed that the outlaws had caught up with the train.  

 

They came onboard with intentions of robbing all the passengers.  This was all in fun and went along with the story line from the Wild West show that started this train adventure.  It was great entertainment and everyone loved it!

 

 

Here is a promotional video highlighting the train.  I had watched it while planning our trip and knew it was something we would want to do.  I would definitely recommend it and would probably do it again if we get back out that way.

 

We arrived back at the Williams train depot around 5:30 in the afternoon.  We loaded our car, ran through a drive through and picked up some supper, and then got on the road for our next destination.

What a beautiful view we had up ahead! 

 

This was the only night that we didn't pre-book a hotel room because we were not sure where we would want to stay.  We had planned to drive about an hour to Flagstaff, stop for the night, and travel on to Page the next morning.  Once we arrived in Flagstaff we realized that we could push on through and try to make it all the way to Page.  I found us a great online room deal and we arrived around 9:30 that night.

Next I'll post about our stops in Page to see Horseshoe Bend and the Glen Canyon Dam.