Tumblin Tumble Weed

Yesterday was a drive from Navajo Lake State Park all the way to Page, AZ. A WOW moment all day. I was supposed to stop at Navajo National Monument and did stop and took the walk out to see the cliff dwellings. They are similar to the one at Mesa Verde but  there are three separate ones at this site. They are located under huge cliff overhangs. This one went back 135 ft, had a spring and natural southern exposure. They grew crops down in the valleys where their cliff dwellings are located. I went on to Page. The scenery again was beyond belief. Ship Rock, a monolithic piece of Lava sticking up out of the high desert plateau was visible for miles off. After that the soils turned more like red sand and there were more sandstone outcroppings.
The road I was on was only 2 lane but there were hardly any cars and so I could do 65 easily. That is except when there were goats, sheep, beef cattle horses and yes, even a tumblin tumble weed crossing the highway. Very high desert but enough land for grazing. I was going down a huge valley with the the strata on either side perfectly horizontal and down the middle were a series of hogbacks which are uplifting of strata on almost a 45 degree angle.
I was getting 56 mpg on this tank of gas, going up and down through the desert with that 180 degree sky visible all around.
This campground in Page has a pool and Sauna and showers and I am currently sitting outside of my tent at my picnic table connected to the wifi. It is a lovely 76 degrees and a light wind and my tent is open to get the cross winds. My tent site is in a little 2 ft high walled enclosure in this immense land of class A diesel pushers and every other kind of RV you can think of. Gorgeous sleeping last night with just a liner and light quilt. What a treat to get up and dressed without freezing.
The big treat and something on my bucket list was visiting the Antelope Slot Canyon this morning. It is on Navajo land and can only be visited with a Navajo guide. I have seen pictures my whole life of slot canyons and how the light streams down and reveals all the twists and turns and erosion of millions and millions of years of an intermittent stream flow. The stream that carved this slot originates up over 6000ft and does this canyon at 4000ft. So If they see that there is a storm out about 25 miles they will evacuate the canyon and the dry arroyo that the trucks use to get us to the slot. I took so many pictures. No flash used as it blots out the colors. I am so psyched by seeing it all. But I have not found a book of photographs done by a professional. Would buy it in a minute and can't wait to see how my prints come out.
Page only started in 1957 when the Glen Canyon Dam was started. It took several years to build and then 17 years to fill Lake Powell. I drove over to a scenic point across from the dam and it is quite impressive. I did not take a tour as I want to do that at Hoover Dam. When we rafted the Colorado we left below the dam at a place called Lees Ferry.
Tomorrow I head to Zion via back roads again but I expect they will be WOW moments the whole way.