The second time in Utah was actually an accident, or rather an unintended consequence of looking for Monument Valley (I found it!), where apparently many John Wayne films were made. I knew it looked familiar. Tonight I'm in Page, AZ, home of Glen Canyon Dam--the second largest dam in the US and only 16 feet shorter than Hoover Dam--really impressive! I took a tour and, among other things, learned that it is made of enough concrete to pave a four-lane highway from Phoenix to Chicago. This is the one that controls how much Colorado River goes through the Grand Canyon and it provides hydroelectric power to basically every state in the southwest. Houseboating on Lake Powell (upstream) is very popular and Page is basically a tourist outpost for the boaters.
The tour was interesting, but I had a better time looking at the canyon and dam from a couple of overlook points, especially Horseshoe Bend. Luckily the view was spectacular, because the hike in was not fun at ALL. I'm not usually one to sit around thinking about how much I hate the weather, but I have to say I don't like hiking in beachy sand when it's really hot, really dry, and extremely windy. Oh well! Here are more photos.
I haven't 100% decided whether to go to the North or South Rim (or both) of the Grand Canyon tomorrow. Either way, I'm going to take advantage of the hour I gained coming back to Arizona (Arizona doesn't do daylight savings time) (weirdos) (but we love them anyway) and try to get there as early as possible. I've already seen more tour busses today than the entire rest of my trip and would be ok with not seeing too many more if I can help it. Yay, my first time at the Grand Canyon!!
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