Day Seven: Grand Canyon, AZ to Page, AZ

Day 7 began with us leaving our hotel at the Grand Canyon around 7ish to head towards Page, AZ... We got here in plenty of time so we decided to use our time wisely and headed to the laundry-rama. While we were there we ate some KFC and waited on the "drawers" to dry. We thought sine yall were seeing all the beautiful pics yall should see the behind the scenes pics as well... We were feeling a little goofy as we waited.

The reason we left the Canyon and came to Page, AZ was to take a Colorado River Rafting Tour. We originally were gonna drive back to the G.C. and spend another night there, but we decided to forgo the additional 3 hour drive back and just stay in Page.

Our trip started with a brief orientation at the tour office and then we boarded a charter bus to take a 30 minute drive to the starting point at the base of the Glen Canyon Dam. To get to the bottom of the dam we had to travel through a 2 mile long tunnel that went under Lake Powell. It was a bit scary because you could see water running down the tunnel walls... Our guide said that was water from the lake above.... YIKES!!!

To get to the rafts we had to walk down this long catwalk wearing hard hats....

The hard hats were to protect us from any debris that may come flying over the Glen Canyon Dam Bridge that was overhead.

We entered the river at the base of the Dam... The pic below shows what the dam looked like from the water.... Many of you may have seen the Hoover Dam... This one is just like it except that it is 8 feet shorter... making it the 2nd tallest dam in the country.

A pic of the dam and the bridge as we rafted away!

Before we got hot and nasty we got one of the ladies on the boat with us to snap a pic. We met some great people on our boat... There was a family from Ohio and then another group that was on a multifamily vacation from Georgia and Pennsylvania. They were all super nice and had some really well behaved kids.... They were very respectful the whole time... One of the little girls even asked if we could stop at one point on the river and "feel the moment." It was hilarious.... Later on down the river 3 of the boys had to "tinkle" so the guide let them go off the back of the boat... Yet again, it was  hilarious... I gave them the address to the blog... Hopefully you guys are reading this and laughing all over again about the fun we had!!!

About half way through the tour we had a stop at a beach like area along the river. Just a few yards from the shore there was a wall of Indian Petroglyphs. Supposedly they were drawn by the Anasazi Indians... It is believed that some of the drawings were over 10,000 years old

After viewing the petroglyphs the guides encouraged us to take a dip in the river.... It was and experience to say the least.... Check out the video!!!

 

Here are some still pics of all the fun!!!!

After we got wet we headed on down the river... We saw this Blue Heron nest that was HUGE, with 2 Blue Herons in it... to see it, find what looks like a white tree... It is....a white tree... it is covered in Blue Heron poop..... the 2 Herons are in the nest... Click on the pic to make the image larger and it may be easier to see.... One of the Herons flew right across the river in front of us... I felt like we were on a National Geographic Special!!! 

Below are some of the awesome sights that we saw along the way.... I took over 60 pics ad it would be impossible to post them all.

Day 7 Stats:

Mileage: 140 miles

Drive Time: 2 hours

Gas: WE DIDN'T HAVE TO BUY ANY TODAY EITHER!!! (It is a good thing too because it was $4.69 a gallon at the Grand Canyon!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow we are headed out of the wilderness into Vegas!!!!!!!!

Hopefully my cell phone will work again!

PS..... Teresa Coats, I had a fantastic steak tonight called the "Cowboy Steak".... It was smothered in mushrooms and cheese... I thought about you!