Sunrise at Horseshoe Bend

 On Day 4 of Fall Break, my brother had to leave for a conference. We explored Flagstaff in the morning, including a trip to the Humane Society for some Halloween activities. That included riding a mule-pulled wagon. Desert Boy even got a chance to drive the mules.

 Then it was Desert Girl's turn. They both thought that was a lot of fun.

We made a quick stop by C-A-L*Ranch store, where our hay is being sold. It's beautiful isn't it? (By the way, the kids wore their Halloween costumes all day, Desert Girl was a witch and Desert Boy was a ninja).

Then we started heading home. We stopped in Page for the night (the hotel prices had dropped over one-third from the summer prices). The kids did a little trick-or-treating and were delighted. I was happy because they got less candy than usual, which was good because they ate most of it in two days.

I was amazed at how much Page has grown. It has over a dozen nice hotels, lots of restaurants (including Thai), a Wal-mart, and lots more. It has turned into a huge tourist destination, with three main activities: Lake Powell, Antelope Canyon, and Horseshoe Bend. I really wanted to see the Bend. We had passed the parking lot the night before and it had over a hundred cars in it from people who wanted to see the sunset. I was hoping it wouldn't be nearly so busy for the sunrise.

We made the drive in less than ten minutes and found about ten other cars in the parking lot. We made the short, sandy hike with not too much complaining, and then we were there, at the marvelous vista. I had been warned that there are are no guardrails and it's a thousand-foot drop, so I warned the kids to stay away from the edge. 

Although I did have them go to one place I deemed safe so they could be in the photo.

Then I pointed out to them others I didn't think were being safe. In fact, it made me rather uncomfortable, so we moved away.

The kids wanted to play, they didn't want to look at the view. So I let them play in the sand.

Then I found a fun place to climb, and we headed in that direction. The sun was starting to come up and I enjoyed the different perspectives on Horseshoe Bend.

I challenged the kids to find their own way up, and they did.

We goofed around with some timer shots.

One of the things I was fascinated about was the campers down below. Quite a few kayaks were on the beach at the bend, and we could see the tiny people gather around a campfire. We also could see a school of fish in the water and a distant raven fly across the river.

Horseshoe Bend is such an amazing view, just realize you'll be sharing it with a lot of people. Fortunately there's a lot of space, and you can even make room for your own fun, like our selfie shadows doing yoga poses.