BBQ/National Park Tour Days #6/2 “I Can’t Believe My Eyes”

We awoke early in Phoenix this morning to find the temperature and climate fantastic. Apparently the secret of living in the Valley of the Sun is to be outside by 6AM and complete all your tasks for the day by 7AM.  The staff at the Springhill in Phoenix were fantastic and made our short stay very enjoyable.

As I mentioned yesterday, today we were going to Antelope Slot Canyon.  Good thing I posted a picture yesterday because the internet at the Courtyard by Marriott in Page, AZ is very slow and uploading a photo is not a possibility at this time.  I don’t know if things will pick up in regards to internet speed so I apologize for the lack of photos.

We were on the highway by 7AM heading north to Page, AZ.  We arrived in time to make one of their prime time tours.  First we were entertained by a young man who stated he was 100%  Navajo and he performed what he said was a Navajo hoop dance while wearing authentic Navajo garment.  I don’t think that would include the Under Armour board shorts protruding from his outfit.

Then we were off to the see Antelope Slot Canyon.  We were piled into vans similar to the ones used years ago to transport prisoners on chain gangs in Florida.  By contrast these had seat belts.  I guess they assumed you were traveling with a close friend because each belt was to be used by 2 passengers.

About 15 minutes later we arrived at the canyon.   Our guide was also of Navajo roots and his name was Leonard (what else would you expect form a native American?).  Leonard was very entertaining.  He spoke a variety of languages.  He spoke Navajo to the other guides but also conversed with tourists from China, Japan and India IN THEIR NATIVE TONGUE!. Leonard said he wasn’t fluent but he picked up a bit of the languages working as a guide the past 12 years.  I wish my Spanish was that good and I have been working on that for about 50 years.

Leonard also had an interesting manner.  He was very succinct in his direction (“no flash”, “no tripods”, “come here”, “stay”) and never used please or thank you but he didn’t seem rude or bossy.  He also commanded us to give him our cameras (“camera!”) so he could take pictures at the perfect angle.  It became very clear, very quickly, that this guy could take amazing photos.  After taking a few by myself I gave up and just became Leonard’s caddy for my camera.

That is probably more than you wanted to know.  I hope I can send some pictures tomorrow.