Utah - May 2013

Amangiri

A couple of years ago, we got our first taste of Aman resorts when we went to Amangani in Jackson Hole, Wyoming - the trip where we first decided to start this blog.  We later went to four Aman resorts in Bhutan, and we loved the service and the beautiful architecture of the hotels so much that we decided to go to the "other" Aman in the US for a fun Memorial Day weekend - along with Rakesh, Simran, and Ria.

Pool at Amangiri

Accommodation:
The accommodation WAS the trip for this weekend - Amangiri, near Lake Powell.  This hotel is 4 years old, nestled in the rock formations of the gorgeous desert.  The hotel is about 20 minutes from the airport in Page, Arizona.  The resort only has 34 rooms, so quite personal and boutique.  The building is made of poured concrete, using sand from the local rocks which ensures the concrete is the same color as the surrounding area.  Like other Amans, the place is simple and somewhat stark but beautiful at the same time.  The center of the hotel is the famous pool which wraps around an amazing rock formation.  We did have some service issues that are not indicative of the level of service we received in the past; however, we still had an amazing time!

Our room

Activities:
The flight left at about noon so we both went to Keith's office in the morning and then headed to the airport at 10 am.  We flew direct to Page on Great Lakes Airlines - they fly planes that other puddle-jumpers make fun of.  The 19-seat twin prop plane has one seat each side of the aisle and no bathrooms on board.  You could spread your arms and touch both sides of the plane!  It was only a 1.5 hour direct flight to Page where we were picked up by the Aman car service to drive us to the hotel.

View from our room

Upon arrival, we were greeted with a Sage Lemonade and cold towel - absolutely delicious.  We were given a tour of the entire property and then taken to room 22 which has an amazing view of the mesa.  Simran had requested the room right next to ours so that we could be close to one another.  In typical Aman style, the room is simple but elegant and comfortable with the bed at the center of the room, facing the view of the mesa.  The bathroom is also quite nice with a walk in shower with two shower heads that also had a view.  We unpacked and got settled in after Shawna took the obligatory photos of the room before Keith "messed it up".

The pool at night

We then went to the pool to read and relax until Rak/Sim/Ria arrived after their drive from Vegas.  We had a few drinks (Sage Mojitos - yum) at the pool and met a few of the other couples/families staying at the hotel.  About an hour later, Rakesh, Simran and Ria arrived and after they got settled in, they joined us at the pool for drinks.  That evening, like all of our evenings, we had some wine while watching the sunset and then had dinner at the hotel.

The gang ready for dinner

While most of the weekend involved relaxing at the pool, we did a few other activities around the resort.  Shawna, Simran and Ria joined the morning hike to the Cave (where a scene in Broken Arrow was filmed).  The hike took about 1.5 hours but part of that time was exploring the cave itself, seeing some of the paintings in the rocks and learning about the Native Americans that lived in the area.  We also learned how the rocks were formed and were amazed that all of this took place millions of years ago!  During this time, the boys went for a run/walk on the Hoodoo trail.  We also joined one of the evening hikes that took us around the back side of the resort.

The Cave Hike

The evening hike

One morning, the boys went rock climbing on the Via Ferrata climb which took them on top of the mesa where the Cave is.  This adventure took a few hours - they really enjoyed it and said that it was good that Shawna didn't go given her fear of heights!  On the last morning, Shawna and Keith did the Hoodoo Trail hike which took about 1.5 hours - the hike is beautiful, taking you around one of the large mesas on the property.

The Hoodoo Trail Hike

We also left the resort a couple of times.  One afternoon, we drove in the rental car to the Dinosaur Museum which had a few bones and history of the dinosaurs in the area.  Apparently, this area has the second to most number of dinosaurs.  Ria wanted to go on an excavation to find her own bones but was saddened to hear that she had to wait until she got taller and got a college degree (according to the guide at the museum).  After the museum, we drove over to Horseshoe Bend, which is a beautiful bend in the Colorado River that has a large rock formation made of Navajo Sandstone.  To get to the lookout point to see the view and to peer down 1000 feet to the river, there is a hike from the parking lot that takes about 30 minutes each way.  The view is stunning!

Horseshoe Bend

Rattlesnake Canyon

Another afternoon, we did the 'Three Slot Canyon Tour" with Adventurous Antelope Canyon Photo Tours which we organized through the hotel - had we known we would have saved about half of our money if we had booked directly!  Our guide, Gabriel, was awesome and apparently is the only guide from the company that works with Aman.  He is a Navajo Indian who was born and raised in the area and as a kid watched as Lake Powell was being formed.  He took us to two private canyons -- Owl and Rattlesnake Canyons and to one public canyon (the most famous one) -- Antelope Canyon.  Owl Canyon is famous for wild owls that live there; however, we did not see any.  Rattlesnake Canyon was very cool and our guide showed us techniques on how to take pictures in the canyons.  Antelope Canyon was just crazy - there were several hundred people in there so we often had to wait to get a picture with no other people around.  While it was beautiful, it was not peaceful given the amount of tourists at that time.  The tour is definitely worth doing!

Owl Canyon

One happy family!

Restaurants:
We ate every meal at the hotel.  The food was hit or miss but there were not many great options for meals in town so we stuck to the hotel.  For breakfast, we generally shared the yogurt and granola with another dish (either the eggs or the french toast).  For lunch, we tried several dishes including the fish tacos, chicken diablo (which was yummy) and pizzas (the duck pizza was our favorite).  For dinner, we also tried several dishes, including the wagyu beef (which when split only gave us about two bites each), the chicken, lamb chops (which were tasty), and fish.

Goofing around at sunset

Ria took this photo of us

For more photos of this trip: