Green Table

National Park #2: Mesa Verde...means Green Table. Not sure how it got that name, perhaps it was the forested green top above the more than 600 cliff dwellings of the ancestral Puebloans of the region. These Puebloans lived in the alcoves below the rim of the mesa and built extensive sandstone cliff dwellings in the shade.

The buildings were built for people who maxed out at about 5 feet tall. So Love and Cynthia felt right at home. In fact these people only lived until their 30's so we were all ancient in comparison. The ranger tours help us to think about who may have lived here in the past. It was eerie and fascinating at the same time to wonder about thousands of people who used to inhabit these cliffs. Why did they live here? What happened to them? What did they do?

Rock Safari

Next stop on our journeys was Monument Valley in the Navajo Indian Reservation.

The Navajo are a semi-autonomous nation spread over several states, given much freedom to govern themselves. We stayed in Kayenta where we ran into some fellow Witnesses at the hall near our accommodation. They took us to a great place called El Capitan which is a old volcanic cap. The actual volcano had eroded away but had left a great big volcanic rock formation where the lava had settled.  The climb to the top was treacherous at times but the views were spectacular.

Food watch:  Navajo Tacos at Gouldings. Yummy. Best way I can describe it is that it is like an overloaded pizza but lighter and tastier. The crust was awesome. Mmmm... Thanks to Fernando and the gang for a great day!

We finished off the day with a tour of Monument Valley which features monolithic masses of rock protruding out of the flat desert sand at seemingly random intervals. Makes for spectacular views and and really puts your own insignificance in perspective compared to these giants of the desert. If you are a John Wayne nerd or have watched such movies as Back to the Future Part III and Forrest Gump, you will have seen this vista as the backdrop of some great scenes in those movies.

Land Before Time

Desert View: My favourite vista in the park allows you to view seemingly endless kilometers of mile deep canyon walls, shaped by the Colorado river below. Sunset is an awe inspiring sight in the distance, illuminating canyon walls in a bright red as well as painting the sky and haze interesting hues of red and yellow.

Cue the dinosaurs!

"If you're hot, you're stupid"

Colorado River Float: We took a pontoon from Glen Canyon Dam down a 15 mile stretch of Colorado River up to the beginning of Grand Canyon proper. You get a unique sub rim view of the canyon walls as well as experiencing some of the most peaceful river settings imaginable. All under the watchful gaze of hundreds of metres of rich red canyon walls. Best quote from our river guide Jackson: "If you are hot, you're stupid." Had to keep the fluids up.

Hiker's Paradise

South Kaibab Trail: While the vantage points on the south rim give you some awesome views of the canyon, you really don't get a true sense for how immense and interesting it is until you enter the canyon and hike down some of the trails. South Kaibab really helps you get perspective on how deep, how far, how big everything is.

We joined a ranger guided tour which took us on a 5km round trip part way down the canyon. If you really dont feel like walking you can ride a mule down to the canyon floor and stay overnight at Phantom Ranch.

Giant Hole In The Sky

The Grand Canyon is one of those places you hear so much about from so many people you wonder whether it will ever live up to expectations. In fact, my expectations were so high that I wondered if I would be let down in some way.

After visiting Grand Canyon National Park, I can say that I underestimated how beautiful this place actually is. 1.2 million acres seems to barely contain this magnificent place.

At at altitude of 7000+ feet, you cannot really grasp how large the canyon actually is from first glances. You really need to get down and into it, below to rim to truly experience the true breadth and depth of the canyon.

View from the air.

Horse shoe bend. We floated this later...

Side trip to Antelope Canyon.

Some of the natives....

You could probably spend weeks here and not do all that you should but here are some highlights.....

Oooooooooo......

The thing that really drew us back to Vegas was Cirque du Soleil: O.

We saw Ka last time which absolutely blew our minds. O was equally amazing with the added dimension of a water filled pool as the stage. WOW. Acrobatics are amazing and some of the stage design and costumes are incredible. This show is the most popular Cirque show in Vegas for a reason.

Next stop: Grand Canyon.

The Strip

I think going to Vegas the first time is a unique experience. This being our second time here made it a different experience.

In some ways it was better: construction zones had made way to brand new hotels (the cosmopolitan looks great), less card flickers, milder weather - not as hot. It was also good to see some favourites from last time: the Bellagio and the fountains, Caesars, Walmart, Ross. OK those those last two aren't unique to Vegas and probably not that special to Americans but hey...we don't have those in Australia.

We stayed at the Luxor this time at the southern end of the strip. Not bad. The atrium inside the pyramid is completely hollow besides the rooms around the extremity of the pyramid. The giant beam of light emanating from the tip of the pyramid made locating our hotel as simple as scanning the skyline.

An old favourite: The Bellagio fountains.

The Bellagio is stunning inside and out.

We're Here!

Sydney turned on a glorious day to see us off. Check in, lunch with Rob and 14 hours of zero humidity at 30000 feet later and we were in LAX. 3 hours worth of waiting in queues later and we were actually driving away from LAX.

First stop: In & Out Burger. The best cheeseburgers. Mmmm.
Next stop: Vegas!

Start the Clock!

The clock is ticking! YES! Counting down...

USA! USA! USA!

...now...to buy some tickets...