11th September, Bryce Canyon.

On the way to Zion Canyon from Las Vegas, we wandered up to the north-east corner of Nevada, crossed briefly into Arizona, and then entered the state of Utah.

Everywhere you go, in tiny country towns, or larger centres, you are reminded that you are in Mormon country.  A tiny village with half a dozen houses, will have a Mormon Church!!

Via a town called Springdale, we entered the Zion National Park.  Set up our vans, got everything hooked up, and realised why we felt absolutely knackered.  It was about 36 degrees C...

The views from the back and front of our vans were truly spectacular - we were in a narrow valley, literally at the foot of two mountains, and beside a small river.

We had an orientation drive (in a park provided bus) around the park in the afternoon, and decided what we would do more extensively the next day.  Too many choices...  So, rather than make a decision in haste, we sat outside for a couple of hours and had a few drinks, gazed up at the cliffs, marvelling at our situation.

Set off on the Park Shuttle bus quite early the next morning, and bussed it to the "Narrows" - the place where the only way you can progress further along the valley is by walking IN the river!!  It was very pleasant, and nicely busy, not crowded.  This shuttle is a hop on hop off bus, and comes and goes all day, about 20 minutes apart, so it's fantastically convenient.

Caught the shuttle again and came back another couple of stops, and did a lovely walk along the river again - not difficult at all, and once again we were seemingly in a "cathedral"...

Next came a slightly harder challenge - actually got sucked in to doing a shocker of a walk....  Up hill god knows how many metres, over rocks, boulders and sand....  Ended up walking for about 2 hours, mostly up hill, to what was reputedly a stunning walk to the Emerald Pools (shallow pools of water collecting from spring water run-off).  By the time we got back to the bottom, we were nearly catatonic - it was again about 36 degrees.  Fell into a lunch place and were delivered the most hideous 'meal' ever eaten.  A 'chicken salad sandwich' was a ghastly mixture of mayonnaise, something slightly more solid, a couple of small dots of something green (onion?) and something else (possibly shredded meat), served on a wheat biscuit - which was of course soggy, because it had been made hours before.  The 'salad' was a lettuce leaf on the plate beside this concoction, one slice of tomato, and 3 slices of gherkin.  What a reward for a hard morning's work!!  We shared this one thankfully, and had not ordered one each!!

Arthur was proudly wearing his North Melbourne hat, and as we were stretched out under the shade of a tree, a fat, balding, heavily tattood fella, along with his similarly adorned partner, came to sit near us.  He was wearing a sleeveless "Collingwood Magpies" jumper!!  Arch and I looked at each other, and marvelled at how perfect he was for a Collingwood supporter.  Couldn't resist the temptation to talk to him, only to discover he was a Pom, had lived in Brisbane for a few years, and his Aussie mate had given him the jumper.  He was actually a very nice bloke!!!

Had a few drinks outside, with our hosts, Athol and Diane, and put together some Spag. Bol for dinner.  Fell into bed.....  Slept like the dead!!

So far, the National Parks have been stunningly maintained, all the bathrooms are clean and functioning, and there is NEVER any rubbish around - not in the camp grounds either.

Had to get up early the next morning, on the move again - this time moving on to Bryce Canyon.

Drove miles through a lovely little (seemingly) fertile valley, lots of good pasture and happy animals.  Obviously a series of little Mormon settlements along this valley;  not much money around here though, but there are dozens of wrecked vehicles of all descriptions gathering in people's yards.  Maybe junk value???

Suddenly we must be in porcelain doll land - at least 10 houses/shops offering either finished dolls, or dolls made to order, one even offering lessons!!!  Shame we didn't have time to take up that offer.

Drove several miles through this lovely wide valley, beside gorgeous Pink Mountains, and paddocks of farmed Bison - none wild anywhere any more methinks.

Very suddenly we enter a narrow Canyon, full of stunning red sandstone, wind sculpted peaks - this is of course Red Canyon!!  This goes on for miles, and then just as suddenly as it began, the Canyon ends, the peaks have gone, and all you have is long worn down, red gravel hills.  Amazing.  Then low hills covered in vegetation and back to a very wide valley, and a village with many motels and cafes.

The Mountains of Bryce Canyon loom large........  

Just put $150 worth of petrol in van, and that's only about 3/4 of a tank!!

We set up the van again, and took the park shuttle into Bryce Canyon.  Omigod...  It is once again truly stunning, but VERY different from Zion.  This time you are up above the peaks looking down on more of the most amazing sculpted peaks - called Hoodoos.  These "things" are life-like creations out of a long-forgotten fairy tale - in fact the original Indian inhabitants thought they were so life-like that they were the spirits of their dead ancestors, returned.  The vision is too stunning to take in....

Again the colours are red, pink, browns, shades of white and dark grey.   Indescribable.

We planned to again seek out several walks to do today (Tuesday), and perhaps bravely, even venture down to ground level.

Cooked some yummy hamburgers for dinner, and then sat at the table, and watched the final set and a half of the US Open Tennis, live on the little computer.  That was good.

Tuesday - woke to rain, and COLD.  We had arranged a 3 hour bus tour of the harder-to-get-to parts of the canyon this morning, followed by a picnic lunch, and some walks.  We did go on the bus tour, but that proved to be a waste of time - absolutely poured all the time, and we were mostly up IN the clouds, so there were NO views.  However, the bus stopped at the prescribed viewing points, and most of the people put on their rain gear, and trudged off to look;  came back on board, took off their rain gear, and sat down.    This was repeated for nearly 3 hours.....   I didn't even bother getting off the bus - reckoned we had seen much better yesterday, and with several more stunning National Parks to visit, didn't see the point!!!   Anyway, it poured all day, stopping about 3pm, so there were no more walks today.   So, we had a quiet time, Arch had a snooze, and I caught up on photo's and Blog.

Sorry if this is boring.....

Cheers,

A&A

Las Vegas - onwards!!!!! 9th September, 2012

Saturday morning, and we're about to head off on our grand adventure....

Hanging around what can only be described as an enormous "neighbourhood" casino has been very eye-opening to say the least.

There are so many people who are struggling around with such impaired mobility, on a variety of "wheels" that I cannot believe how dull their lives must be - to persist in hanging about the slot machines.  Truly, they wheel themselves up to the machines, and appear to be in a trance - I'm so dumb, that I cannot even work how to play them!!

 The eating establishment favoured by many is an "all you can eat" buffet for something like $9.  They are SO enormous, honestly startlingly.....  and they just keep on stuffing their faces.  I'm sure the reason so many of them are riding around in "gophers" is that they are just too fat and lazy to walk. Even at the local Walmart (where we stocked up on goodies for the trip), there are young, enormous men going around on the (store provided) gophers.....  as well as mothers with several children piled on board.   It's like being on Mars.......  I do not recognise these people!

When we were stocking up at Walmart, we were amused to note that a brand new toaster cost $7 but to hire one with the Van would have cost us $10....  Go figure.....

Alcohol is SO cheap in Nevada you wouldn't believe it.   About 1.75 litres of Bacardi Rum for about $16.  Actually, EVERYTHING is cheap here, and the poor buggers can't afford to live with their shocking wages.

There are so many fully employed people (often couples) here who cannot afford to live in a house, that they are living in their vans... And of course there are millions of under-employed as well, just working a few hours a week.   The local government authorities here (not just Nevada) have set up "Safe Car Parks" for them to park their vans in!!!!!   OMFG.....  Now that's a good long term solution methinks!

We were all thrilled to learn that Collingwood was thrashed over the week-end.  Yay...  Poor Arch is now nervously waiting for the North game.

Anyway, we're about to head off - Arch is just attending to the washing, and we'll string it up in the van to dry whilst we travel.

Cheers to everyone......

Las Vegas - September 7th, 2012

Flew from Great Falls to Las Vegas, with a stop in Salt Lake City.  Much to my shame, I've never given much thought to the reason for Salt Lake City being so named!!!  On the flight from there to Las Vegas, the scenery was unbelievable - truly spectacular...  Thousands of acres of salt pan and endless layers of mountains and valleys as well;  the colours were incredible, and Artie and I were like kids at a movie, gawking out the window non-stop.  Then, we entered "The Valley", and again were totally surprised.   We really should get out more!

As you enter the terminal you are greeted by hundreds of Poker Machines and have to wind your way past players to get your luggage;  amazing.   And more amazing that there were so many people who thought they could back a winner there!!!

The Casino/Hotel we're staying at, prior to leaving on our RV adventure is called Sam's Town, and we both thought it would be a pretty insignificant establishment as it's quite a way out of town...

We were SO wrong!!!!  We reckon the whole shebang almost covers an entire city block, including a multi-storey carpark, and additional entertainment (and a park for RVs)....  Once again, the country cousins from Melbourne are in awe!!!

God knows how many rooms there are here, but the whole thing is built around a "garden" square, and there are 7 levels of hotel rooms (and 2 levels of Casino gaming).  Of course the whole thing has a glass roof, and there are shops and restaurants around the perimeter as well as inside.  All air-conditioned of course, thankfully.

I reckon at least 30% of the staff are "seniors", and they potter around, bringing drinks, waiting on tables, generally tidying up, and moving endless quantities of food around the buffets.  Always smiling - probably all on Prozac.......

Every available surface has gambling equipment of some sort on it - I went up to the bar to buy a drink, and there, on the front face of the counter, are lines of machines of some sort (all foreign to me), on which you can lose your money.    Needless to say, I resisted the temptation..

Arthur however, thought he had died and gone to heaven. He is walking around saying "Viva Las Vegas".  After we ate dinner, he settled down to play Black Jack, and I retired to the room to watch the US Open - stretched out on the King size bed!!

Arthur came home some time after I was asleep, and this morning said we should live in Las Vegas as it would cost us nothing...  His winnings would have paid for our Luxurious room and last night's meal;  believe it or not, he only won $65.   Everything is so cheap here - obviously subsidised by the gaming revenue.  There he goes again, Viva Las Vegas........   (His words not mine).   Thank God we're leaving tomorrow,and only have limited time here when we return!

We wandered across the road to the Wal-Mart this morning - incidentally, it's about 35 degrees here, and very humid - not nice......  As we're leaving civilisation tomorrow, I got hooked up to T-Mobile on the computer, and Artie had a haircut!  $15 - he was rapt.  We will be going shopping there tomorrow to stock up on supplies before we leave, so we had a bit of a reccy to find what was where.

Our tour guide turns up tonight, but we might put off meeting until breakfast tomorrow.


Cheers,
A&A

Wednesday 5th September, Great Falls.

Post Script.....

The photo's I posted originally had titles, but they seem to have been lost in "translation"...
Enjoy anyway!

I omitted to say that we visited the T-Rex Museum in Eastend.  Over a long period, they have recovered pretty much the entire skeleton of a T-Rex.  It's a fantastic little Museum, and we had a really informative talk from a young man there.  We have held dinosaur poop in our hands - no, it doesn't stink, and a fossilised piece of thigh bone.

There are many other partial skeletons in the Museum too, and it was quite fascinating to be amongst such ancient artefacts.  There is actually a workshop there as well, and usually you can see Paleantologists working on bones, and piecing small bits together, through the workshop windows.  However, they were on holiday when we were there.

Going to bed...

Some photo's at last...

Great Falls, Montana. Tuesday 4th September

After having a wonderful week with June (in her lovely house) and Harvey, we said goodbye to Eastend - on another perfect day.

Had an amazing drive from Eastend to Great Falls on Monday.  Saw a little wildlife, some Elk, a Coyote, and even a Fox, but nary a Moose of course.

Drove through mile after mile of prairies - it was the Mallee/Wimmera on a VERY GRAND scale.  There are absolutely thousands of massive round bales of hay waiting to be collected, and on many of the farms there are actually areas of about 1 to 2 ACRES of hay bales stacked already, and usually three and four bales high.  Of course, they have long hard Winters ahead, and need to feed stock, but it's still mind boggling to see.

It was a Public Holiday on Monday, and that means - not that everything is open to cash in on the holidaymakers, but that everything is CLOSED...  Weird...  couldn't even get a coffee anywhere.

Had to enter the USA by road, and a seriously unfriendly young fella conducted his business, without the merest hint of a smile..  Gotta be wary of those nasty Canadians and Aussies!!!

Great hotel in Great Falls, lovely suite, and very comfortable bed.... It's not very convenient to restaurants or bars, but there is a small Brewery next door, which brews pretty average beer, and beside that a 'snack' shop which was pretty much out of business because their only cooking method - a grill - was dead;  the food on offer was odd, to say the least.   However, due to its close proximity to our digs, we suffered there for the evening!!!

Harvey had been anxious to see a Museum here in Great Falls, so we duly arrived at about 10am to discover a crowd of people there, all angrily discussing the Museum's failure to open, in spite of the Web Site assuring it was open, and a sign on the front door also declaring it open.  Phone calls here and there, and a poor seriously stressed woman offering lame excuses, all failed to open the Museum, so we wandered off.

June and Harvey departed for home shortly after, and Arthur and I prowled about the town for a couple of hours.  It's strangely empty, usually we were the only pedestrians for blocks, and the couple of stores we entered were also empty.  God knows how people make a living here, but the town is immaculately kept, the gardens are beautifully maintained, and there is no rubbish in the streets.

We made a visit to a local Optician to check out some weird goings-on in one of my eyes..  Having symptoms similar to Elaine a few weeks' ago, I panicked a bit.  However, just a bit of "stuff" has dislodged from my inner eyeball, and is floating around.  It will go soon hopefully, and does not need zapping.  Thankfully.

Arthur celebrated by taking me to KFC for our LAST EVER meal at one of those establishments!!!  OMG.     Serves me right - we were too lazy to walk 20 minutes for a meal....

Off to the bright lights of Vegas tomorrow......

Cheers,
Ann and Arthur

Sunday 2nd September, Eastend, Saskatchewan.

Well, this damned computer has done it again....   It's seriously ill, and I just paid a man a handsome sum of money to fix it, but that didn't happen!!!!!

So, I lost another Blog post.........Will try again......

We've travelled East, many kilometres, through several Provincial parks - all amazing and different.  The Prairies are brilliant, and seem to go on forever, and at one stage there are literally hundreds of wind turbines churning away - what a fantastic sight.

We visited a place called "Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump".....  Yep, it was just what it was called.  The native Indians used to herd the Buffalo along a track, and over this very tall cliff.  Waiting at the bottom were some more fellas who finished off any Buffalo who had survived the fall, and cut them up into managable portions, which apparently did the tribe for months at a time.  Predictably, once the white fella came, it was not long before the Buffalo had all but been wiped out.  Hideous story really.

We stayed at a little country motel which you could swear was straight off the set of a bad American Western.  But, the sheets and towels were clean, and that was about all which could be said for it.  We all sat out in the carpark having a drink, which was hilarious, before wandering down to the local pizza joint for what turned out to be an excellent Pizza - that was the surprise of the day!

We next went to Waterton Park, which again is a brilliant provincial park, and there, perched on the cliff, , overlooking the lovely lake, was another one of the Fairmount Group of Hotels, famous in Canada for being in absolute prime positions.  This was a gorgeous old thing, built in the 1920s, and still looking very trim.  Staff wandered about in kilts for some reason, but it was lovely.  Actually the hotel is called the Prince of Wales, so that's probably the reason for the kilts, although there seems to be a mix up between Wales and Kilts!! Walked along one side of Cameron Lake (which is a bit like Lake Louise in B.C.), but saw not one wild creature, although there are rumoured to be black bears in there!  The track comes to an abrupt end, with the warning that "there are bears in there" so do not pass this point.  But I'm sure another reason is that the far end of the lake is actually in US territory, and it would be a pain having to have a border crossing manned there!

Some sheep (not the domestic variety) were wandering about in the car park, apparently not concerned by visitors - wildlife at last!!

Next on to Red Rock Canyon which was magnificent.  The mountains are really breathtaking, and the scenery second to none in Canada.  Here, a small stream flows through an amazing Red mini canyon made up of red and grey cliffs, and on the floor of the river are spectacularly coloured bright orange and yellow stones as well.  Very lovely indeed!

We stayed the night in Cardston which was a very seriously Morman town. At least two "normal" Morman churches in town, as well as an ENORMOUS Citadel (or whatever they call it).  Apparently you need to be a Really Good Mormon to even be allowed inside....... Good Chinese meal though!

On to yet another fantastic canyon (Writing on Stone Provincial Park), through which runs a small river called The Milk River - with many white chalky outcrops and little "fairy chimneys" reminiscent of those in Goreme in Turkey.    There was a "big barney" around about this area about 150 years ago between the Indians and the white folk, and there are native Indian Petroglyphs (drawings) depicting the scent scratched into the chalk cliffs.

We saw some white tailed deer along the road, which was very exciting for us Aussies!!!  We have also seen some Mule Deer, Elk, Coyote (which also sing to us from across the Valley, here at June's house), and of course the little ground squirrells.  One night along the way, when we visited friends of June and Harvey, we smelled a visit from a skunk outside, but didn't catch sight of it.

When we got to Elkwater Lake, we decided to put down stakes for the night, and took a 2 1/'2 hour tour around the lake and Park, in the hope of seeing some more wildlife - namely a Moose!!!   Yeah, right......
We saw some more deer, and a coyote, a couple of albatross, and not much else.....  We had been bumped around on corrugated gravel roads in a rickety bus for hours, and I'm sure any wild life would have been frightened off by our noise.

Onwards and ever upwards to Cypress Hills Provincial Park.   Another lovely park, and apparently there are cougars in here!!!  Yeah, right, again.........

However a brilliant park again, and a place called Conglomerate Cliffs was star of the show.  An incredible valley and beautiful cliffs, right in the middle of the Prairie, which seemed to go on forever either side.

On to an abandoned Police Outpost called Fort Walsh, which was established in the 1870s to finally make peace between the Indians and the white settlers.  Deliberately not Army, but Police.  There are still guides there, and it's open for inspection.  Photo of the lovely, charming, Queen Victoria still on the wall, as she was the boss in those days!!!

More prairies to cross - honestly it's never-ending, but at the same time endlessly fascinating - if you like driving in Central Australia (which we do), it's just brilliant to be there.

Arrived at June's lovely house in Eastend on Friday and had a nice home-cooked meal, threw some washing in a machine (hand-washing is not ideal), and had a good sleep.  Nice quiet day on Saturday, sat around having a good chat, and a quiet time.  Cocktails at Harvey's in the evening, and back to Junes for dinner.

Arthur and I went to the local T-Rex Dinosaur park this morning.  Very interesting, and exciting for this small town that the big fella was discovered right here a few years ago, along with the fossils of several other dinosaurs.

I'm determined to publish this post today, because if I try to save it for later, it never appears again!!!  There has been SOME foul lanaguage!!!!!

We're off, driving to Great Falls, Montana, tomorrow, and on Tuesday we fly down to Las Vegas.

When I'm brave, I'll try to publish some photo's.

Cheers,
Ann and Arthur