Santa Fe to Grand Canyon via Monument valley - words can say no more!!!

Santa Fe to Grand Canyon via Monument valley - words can say no more!!!

It's 2 o'clock at night and I can't sleep. This happens nearly every night. So be it.

 I didn't get round to upload all the hundreds of incredible photos and videos from our stunning flight as internet was really slow. So hopefully it's better now. (it is!!)

 changing desert landscape

I won't write much, as the photos speak for themselves! It was breathtaking and certainly a highlight of the entire trip!

one of the peaks of Monument valley as seen from the Beech

There cannot be a better way to appreciate the majesty and vastness of this ancient and world-famous landscape than from the air!

Flippie does a fantastic job of navigating us safely over the peaks and 13,000ft high mountains of monument valley and then over the rather turbulent Grand Canyon.

The tiny looking tributary river to the Colorado

Phil also has his fair share of being 'hands on' including a nice turn over the valley.

Flippie and Phil busy in the cockpit

We are super lucky with the weather and sunshine over Monument valley but approaching high cloud over Grand Canyon takes some of the colors away. 

visitor center at Monument valley

The river Colorado and it's tribute look like tiny streams against the back drop of these massive rocks. 

the Colorado river from the Beech

close up shot of the Colorado river

It's one of our planets oldest landscapes and some layers date back 1 billion and 840 thousand years!

Winds pick up again to 20kt or more for our landing at the busy Grand Canyon airport.

Helicopters and small aeroplanes are whizzing in and out here to take masses of tourists for sightseeing flights. Mostly Asians from Korea, China and Japan.

We briefly take refuge waiting for refueling in a surprisingly basic FBO. Then it's a 5 minutes drive to the 'Grand Hotel' and time for a well deserved beer for the boys to celebrate this amazing flight ....

.....whilst I quickly catch a bus to get to the canyon and take some more photos!  The views are awesome and the sun is back out!The return trip though is a nightmare as all buses are full...

Winds are forecast to be very strong again tomorrow and it's uncertain whether we can reach our final destination of Carson city.

Keep fingers crossed!

There are dozens more videos on my main camera, these are only from the ipad and it will takes days to sort through the footage but I hope you enjoyed those few!