Road trip to UT/AZ (Antelope Canyon/Monument Valley) - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

MBeige · #16 06-04-2014, 01:44 PM

We don't plan to go along the river, especially with my son at that age, like you mentioned. Dehydration is also my concern, the carrier itself can get pretty warm even in southern CA temps. Seems best to get him up and not confined in his car seat so he can get good ventilation.

On the other hand, my nephew who is also joining us is 7 years old. Thanks guys

MBeige · #17 06-06-2014, 04:05 AM

Too bad, minivans are sold out for those days if we rent at Avis. That was our initial plan since my mother can get a discount. SUV's of the size we want (7 seater with decent boot space) are also sold out!

Rental cost is about the same. Fuel cost, definitely more.

If not, guess we'll drive separate cars, which will save me $240 (the rental will be close to $550).

Weather's looking to be around 90F!

I've got my camera gear setup somewhat configured the way I like. Still got a few more days to get it up to speed.

Stretch · #18 06-06-2014, 07:17 AM

Does this mean we'll be getting a photo update of how it all went?

MBeige · #19 06-06-2014, 11:28 AM

Sure, I'll definitely post photos when we get back!

Either way we're going. The method of arriving there, is what we need to figure out

MBeige · #20 06-26-2014, 12:25 AM

Well, it was full of surprises.

First, the minivan was not sufficient to haul our stuff, so out came the Subaru.

Second, they wanted to do the Lake Powell tour, and the captain required my 8 month old to wear his life jacket. He cried the whole time because it poked on his cheeks and made him uncomfortable.

Third, on the way to Monument Valley they wanted to take the minivan only, expecting to do the tour. 2.5 hours later we arrive at the visitor info, the tours cost $65 per person and apparently it had a dirt/unpaved road 17 miles long. With 5 of us adults that would be $375

so we took the minivan around instead, didn't hear any scrapes, not bad, but got stuck on some loose sand. Local pulled us off and we tipped him. Where was the Subaru when we needed it?

My son got sick late Thursday, Friday and into the trip. The dry air and high heat made it worse for him. He got a fever and didn't make it easy for any of us (crying spells in the car, etc).

Now that I got home I haven't even touched my computer until now. We'll see how the images went.

Jim, I still owe you your glasses - sorry it's been extremely busy.

Yep, the trek down the slots was never meant to be easy. Southern one was harder, which is why I'm not sure why that's the one my father decided on taking on. Then he complains to me his legs hurt 'til today (trek was on Sunday). My son survived the trek too! He was on his baby carrier, so he was facing forward the whole time and enjoying the view. Not sure how my wife was able to manage that!! The crevices are pretty tight!! There were a couple of us Nikon users down there, and one Canon user, to poke fun at the Nikon-Canon rivalry

On a nicer note, I'm glad to see my Subaru actually fared pretty well. If I kept the speed around 65mph it would actually be able to do 30 mpg! Doing 75 lowered that number down. After a certain point, "I just want to go home" kicked in. 1,100 miles logged into the Subaru's odometer. Surely the minivan did more.

Okay I'm off to do some photo processing!

MBeige · #21 06-26-2014, 03:14 PM

Well here's the first leg of our trip, doing into the Lower Antelope Canyon. Literally, going down into a crack on the ground.

Entrance going down. My wife brought down our 8 month old with us on his (front) pack carrier, so he's facing forward and can see what we're seeing.

Looking up from inside:

A bit of perspective showing the scale of the location/walls:

Jim B. · #22 06-26-2014, 04:05 PM

Beautiful - as we have come to expect of your photography - but, if *I* was 8 months old and saw that, probably *I* too would cry my eyes out!

.... <------ no, actually I mean:

Do keep the pic's coming, we love them! It is truly a treat to get to view your work!

cooljjay · #23 06-26-2014, 06:52 PM

Well I move our discussion over to this thread

Glad you did some sight seeing, I am also glad you made it before the monsoon season hit....you don't want to be in those canyons when the flash floods start happening....

12 Hikers Are Swept Away By Flash Flood in a Canyon - NYTimes.com

Oh and horse shoe bend, the trail goes up and hill and is a long hike but if you walk all the way to the left of the trail, by the cattle fence...its a straight level walk to the bend..

Did you walk down and see the dam? Its pretty impressive, bigger then the hoover I am told....we also have that giant power plant that only navajo's are allowed to work at.

To bad the chains are still closed off, great place to get to the water for free.

I just read in the paper we had another drowning at lone rock and 2 deaths in a place crash....I mus say, we have a hell of a lot of deaths in this small town...

If you didn't make it to the bend, here's a picture.

Picture of a helicopter from last year, rescuing 3 women that fell off a cliff and the dam in the back ground.

Other side of the dam..

Ok done thread jacking with photos

elchivito · #24 06-26-2014, 07:20 PM

"Other side of the dam" = The Good Side

elchivito · #25 06-26-2014, 07:25 PM

Nice Antelope pics BTW!

MBeige · #26 06-27-2014, 12:44 AM

Thanks guys!

Jay, we meant to go to the Bend but like I described in previous posts, the original plan was to not go to Lake Powell (but they insisted) so that made my son really fussy so much so that we just headed home after the lake tour.

We didn't realize the dam was such an attraction. Dam!

But seriously, on our way home we saw cars parked nearby. I thought that it was the hoover dam because it was huge. At this point we just wanted to go home so we just looked around, kept driving, and hit the road.

MBeige · #27 06-27-2014, 02:10 AM

Here are some Monument Valley images I took. We didn't go the whole first 17 mile tour, since we still needed around 2 hours to drive back. So we went around just enough to snap a few photos then headed back.

I guess people were staring at us for driving the minivan through the unpaved roads when others brought their Xterras and other SUVs.

And Lake Powell, not much to see though (clouds were great!)

cooljjay · #28 06-27-2014, 02:14 AM

I didn't think you made it....I just read where you were seeking opinions on getting there, was then hoping for some nice photos of it.

Well least you got to see some stuff, think about taking a trip up here in the winter, it is really the best time to come, less tourist..cool enough to walk anywhere and the snow dusting in the canyons...its very gorgeous...

Now I know why I didn't see you around town, you were riding in a non mercedes..how dare you

Oh and the motels are dirt cheap here in the winter too, that way you can stay here for a good week and see all there is to see.....there is a lot...have a volcano in flagstaff, tons of ruins...ghost towns..

grand canyon picture

MBeige · #29 06-27-2014, 02:22 AM

I wouldn't want to bring the W123 on such a trip, with what little useful space it has inside (compared to the Subaru). We'll see about winter time!

Back in 2010 we did drive up to the Grand Canyon, I don't think I posted images of that trip here. Below is one of my best shots of that trip.

cooljjay · #30 06-27-2014, 02:55 AM

^^ Pretty!

Oh that is true on the room part, but sure don't have to worry about getting bad mpg....That is why I am getting a large roof basket to put ontop of mine, so when I go to michgan....I then have to remember you have all the baby stuff to cart around....that in it self needs a small uhaul