How do you sum up Grand Canyon, Zion, Arches, Bryce Canyon, Monument Valley and Vegas in a title?

Greetings from a very Scottish-feeling wet, windy and cold Los Angeles, California. Today is day 40 of the road-trip and so much has happened since we last blogged - we've been camping 9 days straight so have not had much chance to update. The basics - we've done just over 9,500 miles and have reached our 33rd state, California.

One of the reasons we didn't update the blog while on the road these past few days was that a text update simply wouldn't do. Being in the 'Grand Circle' (National Parks and National Monuments in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona) merited some photos too, so here goes.

We left you in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, watching the moon rise. Sunday (Day 30) saw us having our first real gripe with the GPS on the phone. When trying to find a church in Albuquerque, it told us that we were actually at one, despite being in the middle of a cross-roads in the middle of a residential area. This was the first and only time we've been let down by the otherwise essential GPS device. Albuquerque was a pretty place. Clearly influenced by the neighbours across the southern border, there was a clear Hispanic feel as the Rio Grande flowed through town. Our first National Monument that we visited was Petroglyph National Monument. At the time it seemed quite cool, with all these ancient drawings on volcanic rocks. What was original and what was just vandalism was difficult to decipher.

From there we headed north into Colorado. We had never really planned to visit there, but our guide books and general intrigue told us we should at least cross the border to tick it off our list. We stayed in Mesa Verde National Park, among the bears and the deer and at several thousand feet high, it was certainly the coldest night we'd had camping.

Day 31 we awoke to the almost wintery sensation of seeing your breath in front of your face. We took a trip into the Mesa Verde National Park where we saw some ancient Pueblo cliff dwellings. At 7,000 feet these dwellings hidden in rock faces were pretty incredible.

Native American tourism can be pretty tacky looking to the untrained eye. Many clearly depend on tourism as a livelihood, but at times their janky old caravans and dilapidated mis-spelt signs littering the road up to a sight of interest start to get a little annoying. We bit the bullet and paid $3 each to go stand on a plaque where the borders of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado all meet. Only later in the car did we realise that this site is actually 2,000 feet away from the actual "4-corners" location.


The drive south-west toward Monument Valley was one of the most hotly-anticipated of our journey. It seems like months ago we stuck a pin in the valley on our giant map back in Aberdeen and here we were, driving toward it. Picture-postcard perfect it was. The sun was setting just after we arrived. We took Mabel for a spin on the dirt tracks round the valley and after 2 miles gave in to the fact that she's not an all-terrain vehicle and we trundled back to the campsite. And what a view. Perched on the edge of what was basically a glorified dirt carpark, we watched the moon rise and in the morning got up early to watch the sun do the same. Best view from a tent ever? Quite possibly. Starved and slightly delirious from an early morning, we parted with $11 each for an all you can eat buffet. Unfortunately, the waitress tidied away our plate before we got chance to photograph them, but there were 6 empty plates on the table once we'd finished. It should be noted that we spent 80 minutes eating!

From Monument Valley to Natural Bridges National Monument, we drove along what was probably the most exciting road I've ever had the pleasure of driving. Faced with an insurmountable mountain that we simply couldn't go round, over, through or under, yet we found ourselves slowly climbing and looping back on ourselves, until eventually we reached the top alive. An unexpected little adventure but exciting nonetheless. Natural Bridges was a cool little place, with lots to see but unfortunately we had to keep moving and headed further north to Moab, mountain-biking captial of the world. We were quite excited to get a little campsite right on the edge of the Colorado River. Literally. We were able to throw stones across the Colorado River.

Camping is always fun, but after 4 days of minimal clothes-changing and zero-showering, it can get a little bit funky. So for $5 each we had the pleasure of showering, shaving and being clean, if only for a little while. We headed south to Canyonlands National Park during the day and Arches National Park in the afternoon / evening. Both were spectacular: Canyonlands in terms of wide-stretching views; Arches in terms of incredible shapes, structures and angles.We stayed the night at the same campsite by the Colorado River having enjoyed our time in the Moab area. Thursday 30th September (Day 34) we headed south and west to Bryce Canyon National Park.

We decided to buy a National Parks access card as we were beginning to clock up quite a few and taking slight advantage of the confused sales-man we got ourselves a good deal. Quite a few of the National Parks have roads leading right to the viewpoint and then trails for the more adventurous. We consider ourselves quite young, healthy and adventurous, but a drive from 8,000 to 9,000 feet is far easier than walking. The views of Bryce Canyon were amazing. We were becoming quite accustomed to giant views and it was becoming hard to appreciate and take it all in. Nevertheless, this a view with different things to please the eye as the needles somehow managed to not fall over despite some being so thin. We did find a trail down into one of the valleys being surrounded by needles and it was a little like walking through NY City looking up at all the tall skyscrapers. Camping at 8,000 feet was incredibly cold and the weather forecast for the area suggested rain/snow later in the week. It was time to move on.

Heading east a few miles on day 35 (Friday 1st October) we came to Zion National Park. Having been to Yosemite a couple of years ago I wasn't expecting much better. But it was amazing. These huge sandstone cliffs rise out of lush green valleys to heights almost invisible given the glare from the sun. We split up for the day as Duncan took on the adventurous Angels Landing which involved a walk along a 3 foot wide precipice with drops of 1,500 feet back to the valley floor. I opted for a few of the smaller walks and took things slightly easier. There was a shuttle bus which ran every 8 minutes up the valley with onboard commentary which not only kept the area free of cars, but allowed you to dot about to loads of cool walks and views. We headed into Springdale that evening for some much needed food as pringles-sandwiches were starting to get a little tiresome. These National Parks don't seem so big on showers but we knew that our future night in the Grand Canyon had showers which was an exciting prospect.

We got to Page in Arizona about midday on Saturday. Finding out that Antelope Canyon was a costly venture, we headed to Lake Powell nicknamed "Americas Natural Playground", yet it is a man-made dam which created the Lake. Second in size in America only to the Hoover Dam, a large lake was available for some much needed swimming and some nearby cool views over the Colorado River.


And so... the Grand Canyon. We'd seen the photos and heard the facts and figures. But we'd also spent the last week admiring amazing views, vistas and landscapes. It didn't fail to live up to expectations. Most surprising of all was the lushness of the surrounding Park as we drove to our vantage points. Yellows, greens and almost-reds dotted the sides of the road making it a very enjoyable place to hit the 9,000 mile mark.

Again, most view-points were drivable and you would then get out and walk a small trail or simply try (usually unsuccessfully) to take in the vast views. It's called the GRAND Canyon for a reason. We were at the North Rim and so were able to get to the highest point in the Canyon with more great views. A thunderstorm was definitely brewing as the winds started to pick up along the rim. We saw a few forks of lightning, but not much else. At 3.45am I was awoken by some epic rumbles of thunder. Seeing my tent light up before me I decided to make a run for the car before the rain started. I was then treated to a 1 hour 15 lightning extravaganza.

It's always nice to be clean and dry in the morning, so we were thankful to be both the next morning having showered and found none of the tents to have been vapourised by the previous nights lightning show. Our National Parks tour had taken it out of us. We were shattered. There appears to be truth to the saying 'too much of a good thing'.

We had always planned a night in Las Vegas and so we managed to get ourselves in a giant Egyptian pyramid hotel on the Vegas Strip. We had battled a big thunderstorm to make it there, and were grateful that the rain stayed away as we looked round Sin City. There is really nothing there that made us want to go back. It's a must see for any roadtrip but there is not a lot to do if you don't gamble, smoke or drink heavily. Coming from the previous days journeys into the beauty and wonder of the natural world, the contrast was laughable. So, in true roadtrip style, we lived it up in Vegas and went to bed at 10pm, sleeping right through til 9am. Having a bed, shower and swimming pool had been needed.

We always planned to go to Death Valley, or Joshua Tree / Sequoia National Parks, but were keen just to get to Los Angeles, California. So we by-passed those and arrived in a cold and windy LA last night. Today, day 40, it's raining, cold and windy, but we're still heading off to see Hollywood and some of the other more touristy things.

Aagin, well done if you read this far.