Wow!

That's been the word of the day!

We are soooooo glad our helicopter flight got cancelled yesterday as today has been a trip of a lifetime.

There were 20 of us booked on the plane trip, but Mr A and I got the best deal as we were seated on a 4 seater Cessna plane with another couple from our group....talk about a private plane!

The weather still wasn't the best, we flew through cloud and rain for some of the Grand Canyon tour but it certainly didn't detract from the view.

As we soared over the canyon, I had to fight back tears I didn't want to look a wuss as I was a little overwhelmed by the magnitude and magnificence of it all.

(Photo one of the collage is the canyon, you can see the wheel of the plane!)

We flew to Monument Valley next, where we had a ground tour on a flat bed truck. Our guide was a Navajo native and pointed out all the different formations. We stopped off at John Ford point and he explained how most of the westerns had been filmed in the valley.
(Photo 2 is of 'the mittens')

After an hour and a half on the ground, we boarded our plane again for our flight to Page (where we are staying tonight) via Lake Powell.

When the tour mentioned a lake, I expected something like Windermere; how wrong can I be?
183miles long, with various little inlets, it went on forever!
Our guide said the shoreline of the lake was so vast end to end that it measured more than the coast of both east & west coasts of the USA combined. Wow!
(Photo 4 along the bottom of the collage)

As we came into land, we flew over the Glen Canyon dam (photo 3), which was an added bonus.
We arrived into town before the coach group (5 hours before) so had time for a leisurely stroll, lunch and a visit to the Dam for a tour.

We got to walk across the dam and also go inside the tunnels and down to the power plant. It was really interesting.

I have to admit I wasn't that bothered about doing this trip when Mr A suggested it as plan b yesterday, I think because it was by plane and not helicopter, but I'm so glad we did it as it's been simply amazing.

I'm not sure how much of Lake Powell is visible from the coach; we've been lucky to see it all.

Tonight we have a reservation for dinner in town.
Page is a young town as it was only created as a place to stay for the workers on the dam and their families back in the early 60's.

We are having such an amazing trip, I can't believe what we've seen in just 4 days....I feel like we've been travelling much longer.

I've taken so many photos I can't keep up with the uploads, but I will get them all on Flickr once we are home for you all to have a look at (if you wish).