CATCH-UP TIME - LOWER ANTELOPE CANYON / GRAND CANYON / HOOVER DAM

I'm sitting in our motorhome in a parking lot / KOA campground in Las Vegas behind the Circus Circus Casino.  It's 107 degrees outside and about 85 degrees inside with both rooftop air conditioners doing all they can do.  Our big trip for this year is just about finished.  We stayed in town because Scot and Gina wanted to show the kids what the bright lights looked like and since the motorhome is our only means of transportation it made sense to park it in town.

About three years ago we visited the Upper Antelope slot canyon in Page AZ.  This year we decided to visit the Lower Antelope slot canyon.  You can see from the first photo below why they are referred to as 'slot' canyons, this narrow crack in the rock is the entry point to the canyon.  Once you get down inside the width of the canyon will vary from about 18 inches to as much as 10 feet.

In this canyon there were several sets of steps like these to get from one level to the next.  They are quite steep and usually don't have any handrails.

This Navajo girl was our guide through the canyon.  At a couple of different points on the trip she played songs on the flute which resonated in the canyon and sounded really restful.

The canyon walls are sculpted by water and wind over hundreds of years.  The lighting coming in from the narrow slot at the top highlights the shapes and colors.  The colors are not quite as vivid in this canyon as they were in the Upper Antelope but they are still very pretty, here are several different shots.

Here is our whole crew in one of the wider portions of the canyon.

This is the Lookout Tower at the east end of the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

Another view of the canyon from the eastern end of the south rim.

In the next two photos, the Colorado River is briefly visible, it is the mud red spot toward the right side.  In the second photo you can also see trails zig zaging across the lighter colored areas.

Here is a photo of our crew with part of the Grand Canyon in the background.

Just another pretty shot of the canyon.

After leaving Grand Canyon we traveled south to I-40 and then west toward Kingman AZ.  We got off I-40 and drove route 66 for a few miles.

On Wednesday afternoon we visited and drove across Hoover Dam and the new bridge.  It was about 104 degrees there and very little breeze.  I think we will be glad to be home, if for no other reason than to get out of this heat.  Yes, it's a dry heat, but it is still hot!

MODEL T FORD CLUB INTERNATIONAL - CANYONLANDS IV TOUR

Today's post is all about Model T Fords.  

As we drove through Kanab Utah we noticed that Main Street was blocked off and full to overflowing with old cars.  We found a place to park and walked back to check it out.  

Turns out it was the Model T Ford Club International's 57th annual summer tour outing.  There were 187 cars in attendance and all but a handful were some form of Ford Model T, there was a Hudson touring car labeled as a Model T on steroids and a couple of Model A's.  Some of the cars were extremely well detailed and some were not quite so slick.

They were having a hood ornament / radiator cap contest so there were some very unusual ones on display.

Between October of 1908 and May of 1927, Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company produced about 14.7 million Model T's in several various configurations (excluding Canadian built vehicles), here are a few examples, plus a few modified by their owners to suit their needs and tastes.  It should be noted that Henry Ford was said to have told folks they could have their car any color they wanted as long as they wanted black.  In reality his reason for insisting on black for many years, was that black dried faster than other colors so it was the quickest color to get through the assembly line.

This one was a very well done gray and black four door sedan.

This is a very well done maroon and black four door touring car.

This is a very nice maroon and black roadster pickup.

This was a very nice red and black roadster pickup with a matching pop-up tent camper with matching wood spoke wheels.

This red speedster was my favorite of the speedster cars.  These were not production vehicles, but over the years, some folks modified their Model T's to get more of a sports car feel.

This very pretty navy blue four door touring car didn't actually have any front doors, probably a very early model which are sometimes referred to as horseless carriages.

This was one of the nicest two door roadsters that I saw.  Lots of polished brass and very well detailed all around.

This was probably the nicest two door roadster which was also closest to the way it left the factory, the right color, the right wheels etc.

This is a very attractive four door touring car with interesting all white tires. 

YELLOWSTONE AND GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARKS

Here is our crew ready to see Yellowstone.

This is a geyser basin near the west entrance, there were several geysers and pools scattered over several acres.

We saw a few lone bison in various places in the park, this was the first one.

This is the upper falls of the Yellowstone River.

This is the lower falls of the Yellowstone River.

This is the Yellowstone River below the lower falls.

Further into the park we saw lots of bison in several different fields.

At Fishing Bridge we saw two bald eagles perched in the top of dead trees next to the Yellowstone River.  We also saw about a half dozen otters at this location and a couple of white pelicans.

After a few minutes, one of the eagles flew away.

Late in the afternoon we saw about a dozen elk grazing in a lightly wooded area next to the road.

About an hour later we saw this big bull elk outside of the Lake View restaurant.

Here are three generations of Mote men enjoying a view of the falls.

We saw two different eruptions of Old Faithful, the second seemed a bit better than the first.

After visiting Old Faithful we drove down into Grand Teton National Park.

Mt. Moran is on the right with the large glacier.

Grand Teton, the highest of the Tetons is just to the left of center in this photo.

Grand Teton framed with pines along the lake shore.

SALT LAKE CITY

Our first stop in Salt Lake City was at Great Salt Lake.  The you have to walk about a quarter of a mile to get to the water.  The beach is very smelly due to lots of dead birds, ducks and fish littering the sand.  Additionally there are patches of wet sticky mud to walk across, not a pleasant scene but you just have to do it at least once.  The kids went wading the rest of us just looked at the water.

This structure is known as Saltair, a venue for concerts and shows.  It has a storied history having burned down a couple of times and been flooded also.

This is some of Kennecott Copper's mining and smelting operation on the shores of Great Salt Lake.

This is the Mormon Temple in Temple Square.  There are several buildings in Temple Square which can be toured however the Temple is not one of them.

The gold statue on the top of this spire is a representation of the angel Moroni who according to Mormon tradition, visited Joseph Smith Jr. one of the founders of Mormonism, on several occasions.

The Mormon Tabernacle is a round building with a domed ceiling and spectacular acoustics which is used to do musical presentations.  To demonstrate the acoustics a lady standing on the platform tore some sheets of newspaper and without the aid of microphones and speakers the tearing could be heard at the rear of the auditorium.  She continued her presentation and rotated 360 degrees while she spoke and you could hear everything she said.

We stayed at a KOA which was only about two miles from Temple Square.  The public rail system ran right by our campground so we were able to leave the motorhome in the park and ride the train.

On the way to West Yellowstone we stopped in Blackfoot Idaho at the Idaho Potato Museum to see the largest 'potato' in the world which included 'butter' and 'sour creme'.