Travel for Inspiration

Travel for Inspiration

"Canyon Light" Copyright MMSikes

As author of the Passenger to Paradise book series, I love to travel and to discover new places that inspire both my fiction and my non-fiction writing. While in Sedona AZ in April, I learned about a place I had not visited. Actually, I had not even known about its existence until I overheard a conversation about it in a restaurant. I'm sure I noticed a spectacular photo that our guide through Antelope Canyon later told us was on the cover of National Geographic magazine one month, but I didn't connect it with Arizona.

Thinking we would visit the Grand Canyon once again along with this new canyon we'd discovered, we headed north from Sedona. It was a three-hour journey to Page, located on the edge of Lake Powell and almost into the state of Utah. Antelope Canyon, both Upper and Lower, was about three miles from Page and on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

The first thing we spotted as we began the tour was a plaque remembering the tour group that died in 1998 when a flash flood struck the canyon, and the visitors could not get out before drowning in the rising waters. Most of the tourists were from Europe. The tour guide was the only person to escape, according to our guide.

Now, I can see all sorts of stories developing from that tragedy. How was it that the guide escaped and the others did not? Did he feel any guilt or remorse because of what happened?

This canyon journey was more intense and far more beautiful than we expected. We never made it to the Grand Canyon that day.





Today, I used some of the dozens of photos I took in Antelope Canyon to inspire my fourth grade art students. I was amazed and delighted with the results they achieved in creating Georgia O'Keeffe-style work.

How does travel influence you and your life?

Monti

<a href="http://marymontaguesikes.blogspot.com/">Mary Montague Sikes</a>