Day 11

Today we had to get up before 6am to get packed, breakfasted and checked out ready to embark on our Rainbow Bridge cruise at 7.30am. Well, it seemed like a good idea when we booked it in February!

We filled ourselves up on free breakfast (thanks Lake Powell!) and joined the other crazy tourists on our boat for the day. As the lake is now a lot lower than it has been in previous years, the cruise has to take a detour to get around the bit of lake that is now above the water line, so an extra hour of boating for us.

The captain was a really funny and talkative guy who kept pointing things out and making wisecracks (what is it with American tour drivers, are they all like this or is it just the ones we’ve got?) He informed us that the boat we were on holds the world record for pulling the most water skiers at once (85).

The lake is really big. Ridiculously big. It has more miles of shoreline than the entire west coast of the USA and it’s almost 1900 miles long when at maximum capacity. The Rainbow Bridge cruise is a 100 mile round trip.

On the way we watched other people enjoying the lake. We saw people camping, speed boating, chugging along in 2 storey houseboats (literally the size of a house) and at one point a jet skier enjoyed jumping over the wake created by our boat.

How Americans go boating

Jet skier playing in our wake

The cruise was a bit like a watery version of a drive through the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley. The views were wonderful.

After a journey of almost 3 hours, the boat arrived in a small side canyon and we disembarked. Because of the low water level we then had to hike about ¾ mile to reach the Rainbow Bridge Monument. But it was worth it. The natural arch is huge. So big that you could fit the dome from the US Capitol building underneath it.

Rainbow Bridge - It may not look it but it's actually huge, there are people under it in this photo and you can't even see them.

Us in front of Rainbow Bridge

As it’s a sacred religious site for the Navajo people, you’re asked not to approach or walk under it. We took lots of photos and videos, chatted to a volunteer ranger and then sat for a while just taking it all in.

We then hiked back along the canyon, which was quite enjoyable really as it gave us a real sense of scale for things. The canyons are quite imposing. The ‘bathtub ring’ on the side of the canyon was now 100 feet above our heads and we wondered what it would have been like when the lake was full.

The cruise back was relaxing. We both had a little snooze on the upper deck and tried not to get sunburnt. Complimentary homemade lemonade and snacks passed the time.

Back at the dock the clouds to the southwest looked very ominous and grey. We got into the baking hot car (100F) and programmed the sat nav for Monument Valley.

Almost as soon as we left, the rain and thunder and lightning started. Lightning was striking nearby buttes and pylons and evaded every effort Laura made to catch it on camera!

The rain got harder and louder and we had to slow down a bit as it was difficult to see the road. At one point it started hailing and the temperature plummeted to 55F. Such a contrast to just an hour earlier!

The road we were on seemed very quiet. For about the last hour of the drive, all we could see around is were grey, thundery skies with just the tiniest bit of blue up in front of us. We felt like blue sky chasers. Always getting near but never quite getting there.

As we drove the road into monument valley the weather seemed to become more apocalyptic, although this was helped in part by the choice of music we had playing – the soundtrack from Oblivion.

To the left and behind our car we had grey skies and to the right was an enormous wall of red dust being whipped up by the wind. In front of us was a thin band of dust with blue sky teasing us from behind. We journeyed on, both amazed by the crazy weather. The music reached a crescendo and then, just like that, we popped out of the other side into calm air and the blue sky was ours. It was incredible.

But we then had to turn right towards the hotel and directly into the dust cloud. Damn!

The hotel is called The View and it certainly lived up to its name. The view from our room was spectacular and with the clouds, dust and patches of daylight, it simply gave the view more wow factor.

After freshening up we went to dinner at the hotel restaurant and ordered a sampler of traditional Navajo food, which was enjoyable.

Back at the room we stood on our balcony and gazed at the night sky and waited for our eyes to adjust to the darkness. We saw a few persoid meteors, took a few photos and then got an early night, ready to get up early to see the sunrise.