We met for breakfast and then packed up and headed east. We didn't say goodbye to the canyon yet. We took the desert view road and stopped at Grandview Point (it was), Moran Point and Desert View. All points gave us great views of the Colorado River far below. There was a watchtower at the Desert View area. The tower was very distinctive and you could climb up four stories under a domed ceiling. The walls were beautifully decorated with Hopi drawings and artwork.
After leaving Desert View we did say goodbye to Grand Canyon and headed through Navajo country towards Zion. We stopped at a Navajo regional park on the Little Colorado River Gorge. Not nearly as majestic as its big brother, but very impressive. There were a number of stalls near the parking lot selling Navajo jewelry and handicrafts. R had a necklace specially made for her while we waited.
Back on the road, we turned north on highway 89 headed towards Page. About 30 miles outside of Page we discovered that the road was closed due to a rock slide and turned onto highway 89A. Fortunately this took us to our destination as well, but the road went through some mountain passes. It also took us right by the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument. These are beautiful orange mountains towering over the flat desert. We also encountered a wind storm which whipped up clouds of red dust and bombarded us with blowing tumbleweeds. After the cliffs we started climbing and passed the exit for the road to the Grand Canyon North Rim which was closed for the winter. T got some relief from struggling against the wind in the mountains, but the wind returned as soon as we got to Kanab. We ran into some road work, but soon got to highway 9 (the road to Zion).
There were ranches and cabins along the road and we saw our first (of many) deer It was a doe and her fawn. The deer jumped over the log fence and the fawn jumped the quarters of the fence height between the top two cross beams.
We entered the park and went down a windy road and a tunnel that was a mile long as we decended into the canyon. We stopped many times for pictures. It was beautiful.
We got to the lodge and checked in. Our rooms have porches which face the cliff behind the hotel where they told us wildlife like to hang out.
We had a good dinner at the lodge and capped off a long day with Utah-style prickly-pear margaritas.
We will explore the park tomorrow.
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