Gooseneck State Park, the Russian Invasion and Monument Valley
When we left Kanab where we hiked Wire Pass and part of Buckskin Gulch, we drove through Page, AZ, and Monument Valley, up to one of our favorite spot in Utah to spend the night, called Gooseneck State Park. There are about 15 sites there (no reservation possible) along a giant cliff overlooking a U-shape canyon filled with water. We were camped right by the ridge (photos do not do justice to the immensity of that place).
We were sitting outside looking at the wonderful sunset with our friends and had started a fire to cook our sweet potatoes while the kids were painting their clay creations (from the clay they had collected at the bottom of Bucksking Gulch), as a bus full of Russian tourists arrived. All of a sudden they were walking all over our campsite (asking our friend to move because she was in the way), looking inside the bus, taking pictures of our kids (our friend had to ask them not to do that!). The kids were so intimidated, they went hiding in the bus. None of them realized they were totally in our space. They did not even really acknowledged us. We felt like real tourist attractions... It was the weirdest thing! We remained in shock for a while after they left. The kids built a rock wall all around the perimeter of our campsite. The Gooseneck Invasion, as we will now refer to it, led to the creation of a new word: goosenecker, as in: don't be such a goosenecker!
As night fell, the kids got the lambskins out and laid on them with pillows and blanket to look at the incredible sky. We could even see that someone had lit a fire down by the river in the canyon. We will remember that night for a long time.