We weren't even an hour out of Vegas when we saw a sign for 'Valley of Fire', 'whoa, Valley of Fire sounds cool!' we said veering off the highway into the desert.
The Valley of Fire was sparse but beautiful red rock vistas, with short walks, petroglyphs (old paintings on rock walls) and big horn rams.
Due to our detour we arrived quite late in Page, a small town close to Antelope canyon. The hotel staff told us most places stopped serving meals at 10pm so we raced into town and propped ourselves up at the bar of the Dam Bar and Grill with a full ten minutes to spare. After the bar guy ensured us the kitchen was still open we scanned the menu and ordered a bowl of steamed broccoli and a baked spud.
The bar was pretty busy, especially for a week night and I got chatting to a couple of local ladies who were giving us tips on which tours to take and local places when the old fella sitting next to them decided everyone needed tequila shots so we ended up with tequila and broccoli for dinner - I've definitely had worse meals!
When the bar closed, Robina and I were like 'where to next?' and with the help of Nick, another local, we ended up at the Windy Mesa, a local dive bar where the drinks are cheap and we hung out playing pool.
The next day we did some touristing of Horseshoe bend, Glen Canyon Dam and a drive out to Monument Valley.
Dinner that night was at Big Johns Texas BBQ which has an excellent atmosphere, big smokey bbqs next to a pair of old gas pumps, hay bales laying about, a live band playing country music, long wooden benches covered in red-checkered tablecloths and all under the shelter of an old servo. We ordered a whole lot of meaty bbqy goodness and found ourselves seated at a bench with two Texan couples who were ready and willing to tell us how much better they do Texan BBQ as well as get us up and teach us a line dance and two-step. The two-step contained two steps...and yeah I struggled to get it.
When we told the Texans we have a three month trip planned and we helicoptered into the Grand Canyon one of the guys shook his head and was 'wow girls, you're really doin' it the right way!' - a sentiment we've heard a few times now and we're pretty smug little bastards about it too.
The next morning we set off on our Antelope Canyon tour, we jumped in the back of a truck (aka ute in Aus) with ten other people and bounced and shook down a dusty road to the entrance of Upper Antelope Canyon. We went quite early which was good because there weren't a lot of other groups there, it was quiet and the dust was settled, but the sun hadn't quite risen enough to give the entire canyon the walls the beautiful colours you see in the pictures, but we got some great shots and the canyons are quite spectacular.
That evening we returned to the Dam Bar & Grill, the bar guy was happy to see us, wasn't surprised when we ordered more broccoli, was disappointed that we had enjoyed the dive bar (apparently there were better places to go) and invited us to come watch his metal band play at the bowling alley the next night. Pity we couldn't stay another night, I'm sure that would have been fun.
For our last day in Page we got up early and took a picnic breakfast out to Horseshoe Bend, it was lovely out there, quiet without all the people, cool and fresh before the sun got up to heat the day.
After breakfast we went to Antelope Point where we hired kayaks and paddled up the river to Lower Antelope canyon. It was a good paddle, along the river, then into the canyon and you just keep following as the river narrows, the walls get steeper, the boats stop as they can go no further and you paddle to the end of some muddy shallows. Then you can walk up the canyon, but we ran out of time :( We had to go back before we go to the end of the canyon, but it was fun anyway.
Next stop Zion National Park.
