Nevada

Hoover Dam

We visited the Hoover Dam on the way into Nevada, crossing over the brand spanking new bridge towering above the dam and canyon.  We paid a visit to the city of sin, Las Vegas, and surprised ourselves with how much we actually liked it.  We camped outside the city at Red Rock Canyon, and after 2 nights, were on our way to Death Valley, California.

To see our Nevada photos, click here!

Dancing waters at The Bellagio

Utah

Toadstools in Paria Canyon

We love Utah, it's quite an amazing place.  We spent some wonderful days hiking Buckskin Gulch in Paria Canyon, although we missed out on the lottery to hike to the formation they call The Wave.  Also a bone chillingly cold visit to the stunning Bryce Canyon.  All we can say is WOW!!

To see our Utah photos, click here!

Buckskin Gulch in Paria Canyon

 

Bryce Canyon

Arizona

Petrified Forest National Park

We entered Arizona at the Four Corners, and went to Canyon De Chelly National Park.  From there, we drove up past Lake Mead and into Utah.  On our return trip back into Arizona, we decided to head to the Grand Canyon and hike down into the canyon a bit.  From there, we went East to Petrified Forest National Park, before hitting Phoenix to stay with Martin's parents in their winter home.  A quick trip to Tucson for Thanksgiving, before heading on to Nevada!

To see our Arizona photos, click here

Canyon de Chelly National Park

Antelope Canyon

New Mexico

Adobe Church in Taos

In New Mexico, we traveled down through Taos to Santa Fe.  We spent our coldest night camping near Santa Fe, and woke up to -10 degrees Celsius.  From here, we headed back into Colorado to head to Mesa Verde.

To see our New Mexico photos, click here.

Bridge high above the Rio Grande

Nov 9-10th
Sante Fe, New Mexico
Heading south across the dry desert plains passing small scrubby towns, we eventually hit scenic byways to the small adobe-style town of Taos and onto touristy, yet classy, Santa Fe. We spent our coldest night yet in the National Forest outside Santa Fe; we awoke to a temperature of -10C! Crazy! A stream that had been flowing when we arrived the night before was frozen solid! We warmed up at a balmy 8 to 10 degC exploring Santa Fe's down town. The adobe architecture was cool and funky and we couldn't stop taking photos. Canyon Road - the arty farty part of town was filled with galleries that were super sophisticated yet set in buildings with lots of adobe character. The street was choc-a-bloc with weird and funky sculptures inside and out, not to mention some really amazing (and pricey paintings and native Indian artifacts. Would love to come back sometime and spend days exploring the art scene. Pretty cool! * Mush

Colorado

Great Sand Dunes National Park

In Colorado, we visited the Great Sand Dunes National Park where Martin climbed to the to of a 650 ft dune.  After some chilly camping nights we made our way to Mesa Verde to see some of the native cliff dwellings which were quite incredible.

To see our photos of Colorado, click here.

Nov 8th Great Sand Dunes National Park.
A surprising and unusual stopover about 3 hours south of Colorado Springs at this relatively new National Park! On the high flat desert plains blown in from the San Juan Mountains and up against the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountains are 30 square miles of pure, brown sand. Dunes rising over 750 feet. Amazing, and challenge to climb! After spending a very cold night at the campsite (2 degree C), it was blowing pretty cold, so I left the tallest dune climb to Martin. Who described it as awesome and rewarding with an incredible 360 view for a looong way.

Cliff Palace - Mesa Verde National Park

Nov 11 MesaVerde National Park.
We took some interesting, scenic (single track) backroads from Sante Fe, through the mesas of Los Alamos (where the first atomic bomb was built) up to the SW corner of Colorado to Mesa Verde National Park. In AD 450 native Indians, called ancestral Pueblo Indians, built on the tops of mesas then later cities adobe-style into the side of the steep walls of the canyons. Pretty amazing to see the the Puebloan villages dotted around the mesas and the cliff dwellings in the canyons. It seemed crazy to build and live in homes clinging to the side of steep cliffs. Getting in and out, accessing food, water etc. must have been challenging.  Mysteriously the people disappeared in 1300 and the buildings were only discovered in 1850.AD. * Mush

Good times with my old best friend, Colorado Springs

One of my best friends from secondary school was Michele Moore. When we were 14 we would spend our summers playing non-stop tennis and badminton, have bazillions of sleepovers and drove our parents nuts. Michele now lives in Colorado Springs and it was brilliant to see her, and to see that she hasn't changed! Excellent to see Dylan, her son - my Godson - a pleasant young man of 15 now! (OMG how time flies!) It was 8 years ago when I last saw him and I'm really glad I got to see him again.
One evening with Michele, hubby-to-be John, and their friends Kim and Brian, we went to the local comedy club, then found ourselves pole-dancing on Michele's pole at home and had some great laughs ...and a bad head the next day! * Mush

The Butterworths, Wichita Kansas

Martin with Dave and Matthew Butterworth

We were excited to land at the Butterworths as the last couple of days had seemed extremely long drives. It was great to see them and the next few days were spent catching up and celebrating till two in the morning! While we all nursed our hangovers the next day, Dave cooked up a storm and smoked pork butt and ribs pretty much all day. After salivating for most of the afternoon as it slow-cooked in the oven, we dived into a monster meat-fest with Angie's parents and aunt and uncle.

Our visit wasn't all about eating, enjoying delicious wine and good company: Angie did also give us a tour of Wichita where we learnt several totally random facts, such as: Pizza Hut originated here, Kirstie Allie hails from here, it is the aeroplane capital of the US and the President's Airforce One is serviced here, plus the private jets of many celebrities, such as Harrison Ford and John Travolta who are frequently seen in town. * Mush

 To see our Kansas photos, click here.

Mammoth Caves National Monument, Kentucky

Tues 2nd Nov.

These caves are huge caverns, some with stalactite and stalagmites. We did a couple of tours the first of which was very poor value for money and was disappointing. The second tour deep into the cavernous 'room's was actually quite good.  The caves are massive, with tons of off tunnels off the main ones.  At one point you have to snake your way through, then climb a huge tower of stairs to get out.  Pretty impressive, but I guess it is the largest network in the world - that they know of!!

The plains of Missouri were pretty flat as expected, but there were still items of interest: many roadside farm buildings, and like the plains of Alberta and Saskatchewan, occasionally dotted with slow-pumping mini oil rigs.