Today we took a few hour detour to stay in a small town close to the Grand Canyon along the northern border of Arizona.  Along the way I got my first real exposure to the territory of the Navajo Indians.  They own some cool land!  They own a lot of land!

The purpose of our detour was to visit a couple landmarks – Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon.  This is where spontaneous travel bit us a bit in the butt.  Only once we arrived did we learn that Antelope Canyon isn’t exactly open to public, and that you need a Navajo guide and you need to go on a tour to see the canyon.  And of course many of the best tours were already booked up.

Well at least Horseshoe Bend is free to access so we went there first.  It’s a short walk up and then down a sandy hill off the highway.

There it is!

We got there just after sunset to see hordes of tourists lined up along the perimeter to snap photos.  Oh photographers.  I know one too well.

Well I got a look at the bend.  It looked good.  I had my fill.  Unfortunately Pokin didn’t feel the same way so she dragged us all out of bed at 5:15am the next day to this.

It was still so early I actually only woke up when a gust of cold sandy air hit me in the face.  You bet we were grumpy.

Unlike yesterday night where there were over 100 people there, this morning there were only 4 people total.  And one bear.  I wonder why?  BECAUSE THE REST OF HUMANITY IS NOT CRAZY.  At least we got good front row seats.

My best bear bud and I were good sports.  We stayed until the sun came up.

Then we went back to the car to watch bunnies bounce around the hills till Pokin came back.  And of course since there were only two other insane people (also photographers, why am I not surprised???) out there, Pokin made friends with them while they were freezing outdoors with mittens, toques, jackets and tripods.  What a bunch.  Time for some hot cocoa for me back in the hotel!