ANTELOPE CANYON AND MONUMENT VALLEY

It's hard to believe that after the last two days overcast and wet weather we could wake up to such a magic day today.   The sky was clear of cloud with a beautiful blue sky over the Arizona desert.  We have spent the day in the Navajo Reservation Park.  Our first stop was at the Antelope Canyon.  I have seen photos of this canyon and never dreamt that I would have the opportunity to actually visit here.  We had to go on a tour with a native guide (a lovely young woman) in a 4WD truck over a pretty rough bit of road to reach the canyon and we then walked through this amazing canyon which is almost like walking through a cave with just the tiniest bit of sunlight coming through.  In the rainy season the canyon is flooded with water up to 3 or 4 metres high. 
We drove on to Kayenta and after lunch went out to the Monument Valley.  This is quite small in relation to many of the other parks we have been to.  We tossed up as to whether we should do the 4WD tour or self drive and decided to drive through ourselves as we suspected that there would not be many stops for photos.  We were right when we saw the many trucks going through and the only stops were at stalls selling wares.  Ian says it was the worse 5 miles he has ever driven and I agree with him.  It was really rugged and we were both pretty tense however were able to stop and look at our own time.
We have driven back to Kayenta tonight, found a motel and are both ready for an early night although for those following us on the map, it doesn't look like we have moved far at all, it has been a long tiring day. 

Monument Valley.  The worst road ever but great formations.

We went through the canyon reasonably early and had some great colour coming through but it was very dark and I had to push the ISO up to 6400 to hand hold so the images are pretty grainy.