(any excuse to recount my glorious vacations!)
Saw photos when I was a kid onward, entranced, and finally got to visit AZ, and Navajo & Hopi Nations at 26 yo then went on to SF, LA.
My friend, and I rented a car in Flagstaff. Visited Navajo & Hopi Nations, stayed in a motel. Next day he went down into Canyon de Chelle. Too scary for me, but I was in heaven from seeing the landscapes from the day before! And I took a peek down into that canyon. I wrote postcards in Well he car m, then met him, and went to breakfast.
Then we drove to Monument Valley taking a short cut that had a middle third as a dirt road, got there in time to drive the 17 mile loop in the afternoon. Had our din, and watched the sunset. Slept around 9PM in our sleeping bags under a Full Moon.
Then, we woke up around 3AM, with The Milky Way spanning, and sparkling practically horizon to horizon overhead! Never went back to sleep. Watched the sunrise. Then high tailed back to Flagstaff, and made our 2 day rental agreement with an hour to spare! 😀 👍
I came back about 13 days later, and took the Greyline tour from Flagstaff. More different areas to see.
The Next Year '80 I got to The Grand Canyon! Now, I arrived around noon time, and was somewhat disappointed.
How could that be?!
I'll tell you.
As a "colorist": one who loves color in clothing, jewelry, art making, crafting, and photography; I'm sensitive to it.
Arriving at the GC around Noonish I was floored that beyond the beige ground I stood on, and the first somewhat subdued red rocks first ?level down - the whole rest of the canyon marching away into the distance was shades of blues, violets, bits of purple, and pale blue whites. It looked "flattish", as though the rest beyond the first level down almost looked like a "photographic" mural!
Totally Not what I was expecting!
Where the heck were the reds, oranges, golden ochers, and pale yellows?!!!!
Of course I kept looking, anyway, as I walked nearish to the edge.
As it turned out: the sun had to angle down for the warmer colors to emerge! Which only happened around 3PM, and we had to leave by 4PM!
At least, the mystery was solved, and I got to see some of it the way I expected to! What a place!
Finally, I took one more Greyline tour from Flagstaff. We were outside Tuba City when ?the water pipe blew. Well, something did, and the five, or six of us had to push the car back about ?1/4-1/3 of a mile!
Anyway, it took ?2+ hours to repair, but we were in a restaurant. And then our guide graciously took us on the whole tour! Similar to last year's, and that was fine. I wanted to see it all again. We stopped at an area outside of the official Petrified Forest. That was some strange stuff!
I think that evening I headed back home by bus (as I'd done the year before). What glorious adventures!
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