Arizona 1

Monument Valley

Monument Valley is, how shall we put it, very beautiful — but very Indian, too.

Since the park is run by the Navajo, our "America The Beautiful" pass, which gets us into every US national park, isn't valid here.
Honestly, from the moment we hit the entrance, we can tell they're going to try to rip us off big time. So we brace ourselves!
We pay $10 to get close to the famous viewpoint seen in so many Hollywood westerns, drive the 17-mile dirt road, and sleep at a primitive campground.

Once we're in:
- we will pay the $10,
- we will get close to the viewpoint,
- we will not get to drive the road, because the Navajo deliberately don't maintain it, which lets them sell you a ride in a beat-up 4x4 for $50 a head,
- we will not sleep at the campground, since it's closed for construction — but they kindly offer us the hotel at $120 a room.

So after two hours of white knuckles, we get the heck out of this tourist trap.

It's pretty crazy to see what's become of this Navajo reservation they run.
The landscapes are magnificent. The infrastructure is almost nonexistent. The streets of the nearby towns are dirty.
Alcohol is strictly prohibited (Native Americans don't handle alcohol as well as we do — see this article), yet everywhere it flows freely.
It's easy to picture a few local bosses gaming the system and lining their pockets while everyone else lives in poverty.
Here, there aren't many bosses. Poverty is truly everywhere.

We stop in the town of Kayenta, next to a playground, thinking we might spend the night there.
We chat with the locals and realize the spot won't be safe for us tonight.
So for the first time since the start of the trip, we decide to sleep in a hotel parking lot in Kayenta. We find a Holiday Inn with a friendly manager who lets us stay for free and even gives us the Wi-Fi.

Glen Canyon and Lake Powell

Here, it's pure bliss!
We arrive on a Friday afternoon and settle in at the Lone Rock campground. No marked sites here — you park "on the beach".
Down we go into the white sand, until we come face to face with a car stuck in it. We stop, and we have to admit that KIFONS is now stuck too. We got caught like total rookies.

In under 5 minutes, a group of fortysomething buddies pulls up in their pickup, beer cans in hand. The rope goes on. KIFONS is free. We weren't stuck for more than 10 minutes. Now that's a welcome!

Friday is the start of the weekend. The beach is packed with campers (what Americans call RVs) and the atmosphere is unreal. There are more than 100 campfires on the beach. Music blasting. Barbecues everywhere. The booze flows freely and the mood is super friendly and laid-back.
Our rescuers, here with their families for the weekend, are fully equipped: 4 campers, 2 dune buggies, 3 ATVs, 2 motorboats, and a giant American flag flying more than 50 feet high.
I give them a bottle of white wine to thank them for their help.
They offer to take us out on the boat the next day to explore the lake. These Americans are crazy. Fun and crazy!
The five of us have a great evening with our kiddos, feet in the water of Lake Powell, "moving" to American music and having a few drinks (a few too many), under an amazing starry sky.

We'll spend 3 wonderful nights here, each one different, since on the last one (Sunday night) we'll have the place almost to ourselves.

We treat ourselves at the Antelope Point Marina to some great salads and pizzas. It's a rainy day, but the girls enjoy the "natural" pool on site.
It's also our chance to rediscover the comfort of a couch. Four months since we'd last enjoyed that little luxury!
It's so hot here that the marina runs a free golf-cart shuttle to cover the 650 yards between the parking lot and the water's edge.
No carnival rides around, so the kids make do with this fun little attraction!

Glen Canyon Dam

No more beach and sunshine. We use the stop to understand Lake Powell. And to understand Lake Powell, you have to visit Glen Canyon Dam.
An afternoon of industrial tourism: 1,560 feet wide and 25 feet thick at the crest.
We're plunged 50 years back in time, when the United States decided to build this concrete monster: 3 years of construction in the middle of the Cold War. The golden age of big American projects.
The resulting Lake Powell holds 2 years' worth of water for the neighboring states and the crazy city of Las Vegas! It's huge in size, and also in shoreline: 2,100 miles, longer than the entire US Pacific coastline.

Here, we get into the belly of the beast. A 525-foot descent down to the turbines to see how a hydroelectric plant works.
At the bottom, the dam is 100 feet thick, and the temperature inside the building is a constant 50°F.
The tour is fascinating. The kids understand everything and want more. Good for the upcoming science classes!

The Horseshoe Bend

Horseshoe Bend. About 3 miles south of the town of Page, you look down over one of the Colorado River's meanders.
The trail out there is very easy, and in a 20-minute walk, you're done!