Good morning! I am excited about our flight today! To start things off, we had a great breakfast buffet here at the airport. A father had brought his son up here to spend some quality time together. Lucky kid!
I was able to park my Cessna in a nice hangar last night, and I had the mechanics give it a look over. Everything is in great shape, so we'll have a beautiful and safe flight today.
We are flying north and will fly over the Grand Canyon here in Arizona. I announced our intentions to Unicom to takeoff on Runway 03. We're taxiing now to the runway.
Once traffic was clear, it was time for us to lift off. There's some cloud cover today, but it's still a gorgeous day for flying.
Beyond us you can see the Grand Canyon! We're going to fly over, turn west, and fly a bit inside of the canyon.
The scenery is simply breathtaking! Awesome doesn't even come close to describing the feeling of this natural wonder.
The Colorado River curves it's way inside the canyon. The whole canyon is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide, and has a depth of over 6000 feet!
Geologists suggest that the Colorado River established its course through the canyon about 17 millon years ago. Since then, the river has continued to erode and form the canyon to what you see now.
We're going to fly through and follow the canyon around to the north until it takes us to Page, Arizona.
We're reaching the end of the Grand Canyon, and Glen Canyon Dam and the city of Page.
I couldn't resist doing a flyby of the Glen Canyon Dam. Amazing structure! Lake Powell is just beyond.
We're coming in on final to Page Municipal Airport on Runway 15.
Another plane is ahead of us, but we'll be parking with the other General Aviation here in a moment.
Let's rent a car and go see the dam! First, we are going to get lunch at Denny's which is off of Route 89. Page was created in 1957 to house workers and their families during the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam. Up ahead in the distance is the dam.
Here's a pretty shot of Glen Canyon Dam. The water is very BLUE! After the dam was finished in the 1960's, the city of Page grew steadily over the years. To the left is Lake Powell, and it attracts more than 3 million visitors every year. It's the second largest artificial lake in the country which extends up into Utah. The dam is named for Glen Canyon,
This is the Glen Canyon Bridge for Route 89. It was built to help transport materials while the dam was under construction. Before it was finished, workers had to travel hundreds of miles around the canyon just to get to the other side. There's two other bridges south of here for Route 89a at Marble Canyon which is called the Navajo Bridge. I wasn't able to get any pictures of that, though.
One more picture of the dam with the bridge in the foreground. Did you know that Page is the home of two of the largest electrical generation units in the western United States?
I also took a boat tour on Lake Powell to go see the Rainbow Bridge. This bridge has been held sacred by Native Americans. What a marvel it is!
The desert is beautiful here in Page. Several films have been shot here such as "Maverick", "Superman III", "The Greatest Story Ever Told", and the original and remake of "Planet of the Apes".
The sunsets are unbelievable here in Arizona. The prettiest in the world! Well, it's time to get some dinner and rest before our next flight. We'll be traveling north from here into Utah. Have a good night and see you soon!
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