Utah Part 2: Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend

The next day, we drove west to a place called Antelope Canyon, that Jess and Luc wanted to visit.  It's a slot-canyon, formed by flash floods which have eroded the sandstone away over time to make wave-like shapes.  It's hard to capture in pictures, but I've put a few in here.

The walls were very close in on both sides.

There were beautiful flowing patterns in the rocks.

A person in the bottom left corner, for scale.

Jess apparently neglected to tell us before going in that 11 tourists died in a flash flood in the canyon in 2006.  I wasn't so sure this was a good idea after I heard.

More pretty colors.

Jess has provided me with an extra picture from her DSLR camera which shows the colors much more nicely than our little point-and-shoot.

We stopped for a quick lunch at Denny's (diner food) after making it safely out of the canyon without dying in a flash flood (thanks Jess).  They had a promotion running called Baconalia! (including the exclamation mark), which included Maple Bacon Sundaes, Maple Bacon Milkshakes and Salted Caramel Brownie Sundaes with Bacon.  I didn't have one as I didn't want to have dessert on my own... but I am deeply regretting this decision.

We visited Horseshoe Bend, which is a section of the plateau that has been carved out by the Colorado River over time.  I walked right up to the edge before realizing that it was a sheer cliff from where we were standing all the way to the bottom (and then ran away screaming).  For scale - that's a boat in the bottom left of the photo.

Jess and Luc weren't as scared of the edge as we were.  They visited Texas before coming to Utah, which apparently transformed Luc into a cowboy during their short visit.  Oh dear.

I often hear complaints that there aren't any photos of me on the blog, so here's a photo of me sitting on top of a rock.

Apparently this is what most deserts look like - the desert of your imagination that is nothing but sand stretching for miles apparently only really exists in the Sahara, and most deserts have enough water to support really stubborn shrubs like these.

Also in this trip series - Part 1 and Part 3.