Monday, December 29, 2008

Road trip - Hoover Dam, Sedona and Monument Valley

Last week I went on a road trip to Sedona and Monument Valley in AZ.


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First stop Lake Mead, Nevada. Looked like rain. Thankfully it didn't. Not for another 2 hours. Hoover dam was next. It was packed with tourists, cold and overcast skies. Looking down the dam from the top, I wished I had a bicycle or something to slide down the slope of the dam.





Just a few miles out of Hoover dam we were treated to some truly wonderful, jaw dropping light play. The sun dove from behind the clouds just before setting, over a river (probably Colorado River) and behind mountains. That was the first time I ever saw such rays of light that made it look like the sets of a fairy tale - dark clouds above, quickly swallowing the last golden rays of the sun.





That evening we drove through sheets of rain. We were lucky we didn't miss anything because of the rain. We were already on our way towards Phoenix.

The next day we headed towards Sedona. We stopped at Montezuma's Castle for about an hour.



Sedona is where the Red Rock Canyon is. A nice city nestled between the Mountains, on the Canyon floor. I loved the city more than the Canyons. We regretted not doing the Hot air balloon ride over the Canyons. Next time perhaps. It starts early in the morning at 6 AM. It was too late by then for us.







After watching the sun set over the Canyons, we headed north towards Monument Valley. We stopped for the night at Kayenta.

The first thing you get to see as you drive towards Monument Valley is El Capitan, the solitary formation that greets all visitors.



Monument valley is almost close to the place where 4 states meet - Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. This is quite similar to the formations in Bryce Canyon but no way near it in terms of sheer number of such structures at Bryce. At Monument valley, there are a few stand alone structures spread across a vast plain. Certainly worth a visit if you loved watching MacKenna's Gold.







6 comments:

Srini said...

some of these locations were used in 'mckenna's gold' i think. seem very familiar.

vee136 said...

I am still gasping because the colours took my breath away!
jayaprakash

vee136 said...

How azure can the sky be? the photo grapher has done justice in terms of frame and depth.

Country Mouse said...

Wow - I love the part about the fairytale light - any photo can only give a hint. Imagination and memory provide the rest. We used to call those beams of light "angels" when my kids were small.
Jackie

camstercam said...

amazing!!

all the pics were beautifully photographed.

Unknown said...

Oh man...

Ashwin, these pictures are really amazing. Good job on that, and thanks for sharing with us. You know that a bunch of questions are coming because of it, don't you? ;)