Back to Vegas

We decided to make a ‘restocking break’ in Vegas. It happened to be on the way to our next destination anyway (Zion National Park). Besides, we really missed it!

We drove for miles and miles through the desert to get to Las Vegas in Nevada

 

During our brief stay in Vegas we met some very nice New Zealanders who moved to the USA 5 years ago. They said it was refreshing for them to hear our accents – long lost brothers from Down Under! (or thereabouts).

We had a ball playing with them in the pool. They were on their way to Zion National Park and so after we finished our shopping spree (food, food and more food) and serviced mummy’s camera (which was starting to get dust spots) - we joined them the next day at Zion.

We were so busy in Vegas that we didn’t even get a chance to catch up with our favorite M&Ms (remember our lovely opera babysitter?). Sorry Marcy! In fact, we didn’t even see any glitzy lights this time in Vegas.

The only thing that our parents did let us do was to spend some of our pocket money we have been working so hard to earn (you know, making up the bed, putting clothes away, brushing teeth with no reminders – hard work, really!). It is amazing how difficult it is to choose what to buy when you are spending your own money! Especially when the rules clearly state that there will no longer be any soft toys purchased on this trip! Or anything that measures more than a meter (sorry Costco Teddy Bears!). Anyway, we both chose wisely and ended up with a wonderful weaving kit, which kept us busy for days. Mummy was very proud that we chose an educational toy!

Zion National Park

Then off we went to Zion National Park. Our New Zealand friends told us about the campground they were staying at just outside of the park and so we joined them there for a night. It turned out the campground was full after that (as not only Easter break had started but so did the Spring break for kids). We stayed at the campground with Brent, Jan and their kids Grace and Oliver (and their adorable Ridgeback dog – Ruby while our parents went into the National Park to reserve camp site for us the next day.

We had a ball while our parents were gone.  They came back with their ‘Mission Accomplished’ (they found a campground for the next day). We spent the rest of the night playing with Oliver and Grace while the adults sat around the fire and talked for hours with Brent, Jan and other neighbors who joined them.

In the morning we said farewell to our New Zealand friends and got swept away and totally mesmerized by the beautiful Zion National Park. Our initial plan was to stay for a couple of days but we ended up staying there for another 4 days. Being Easter weekend our parents were worried that if we leave, we will not be able to find another campground, which could also mean that the Easter Bunny wouldn’t have a decent address to find us at.

So we stayed put. And just as well, if you were to get ‘stuck’ in one place, Zion National Park would certainly be our choice! The campground itself was fabulous:

 

With these mountains as a backdrop

And walking paths all the way around

And lots of small forests to explore

And the river to enjoy. What bliss!

We went of a lot of hiking trips. Some of them were so long we had to stop for a ….nap of course!

 

One day mummy and I went horse riding. Bella was going to come too but when we ran to catch a shuttle bus Bella fell over and …well it’s a bit too gruesome to explain what happened to her hand but all I can say is nothing was broken and she was very brave. Needless to say she wasn’t going to ride with us.

We went on a beautiful walk and I was thrilled to discover that the cowboy’s name was Jordan. What a fantastic name!

He and I chatted all the way. He asked me if I ever surfed in Australia and when I told him yes, he showed me how cowboys surf in Utah!

While in Zion National Park we completed another Junior Ranger Program.

 

We attended a ranger talk and learned lots about Dipper Birds and Beavers, which occupy these areas. Did you know that they both have double eyelids. One see-through, which closes sideways (when they dive underwater) and one normal one. Cool, huh?

One day we went to town near by to see old town replicas. Mummy put our American Indian outfits to some use – she got us to model in them. You can imagine what spectacle that became! LOL

After having a well-deserved ice-cream (for great modeling) we went for a drive one photographer recommended which was out of the National Park but still had tremendous views, in fact probably even better for sunset photos.

 

Mummy even persuaded us to do some more dancing in our outfits in front of this awesome rock. We think she is trying to get a front cover for her new book, although we doubt the 20,000 shots she has already taken will fit into just one book!

 

On Easter Sunday we woke up early and to our excitement, the Easter Bunny has somehow found our address! We got lots of crafty presents and some yummy chocolates, which the bunny spread all over our caravan/trailer (none outside so that the chipmunks and squirrels didn’t get sick).

Jordi even got an egg decorating kit, so we boiled some eggs, colored them up with dye and we spent whole morning decorating. It was so much fun.

 

Jordi even cried when mummy told us to eat our artwork for breakfast! She though she could keep it forever!

 

In the evenings we gathered around the campfire with some nice people we met at our campsite. Any excuse for a marshmallow cook up! Or s’mores!

OR Jumbo Marshmallow Bunnies, which we discovered on our last night. We met some awesome teenage girls – Lexis and Crash (a great nickname for someone who is accident-prone, lol) who brought over these MASSIVE bunny marshmallows. When we saw them we just looked at each other and wondered how many of THEM Graham could fit at Chubby Bunny competition? LOL

Bryce Canyon National Park – April 2012

There is probably only one word that can describe Bryce Canyon National Park and that is – WOW!!!

 

Wow, wow, wow! We have seen some beautiful scenery in the USA but this one certainly topped it!

We stayed in Bryce Canyon for over a week, initially because we wanted to do all the walking tracks (well the parents did) but later because Nikon has rang daddy from LA and told him that they have fixed mummy’s camera. Woohoo! Trouble was they needed a reliable address to send it to and since we were heading more and more into no man’s land (canyons) we thought we’d stay put and receive it in Bryce Canyon. The parcel was going to be sent overnight but someone forgot to slap an overnight sticker on it so it took four days to arrive (with weekend in between). But you know what? Just as well it did! We wouldn’t have all these wonderful adventures otherwise!

We did a lot of hiking through the hoodoos (the beautiful sandstone spikes sticking out of the ground). They were so beautiful! And massive!

On our first night at the campground we met two lovely girls from France who were our age. Luckily enough they have been living in England for the last 12 months so their English was perfect (even their ‘Pommy’ accent were perfected).  Needless to say, we hit it off straight away. Our parents were outside talking around the campfire while we were holding drawing competitions at night.  We had so much fun!

In the morning mummy decided that we will take sunrise shots so she dragged us out of bed pretty early (like 6am!) but by the time we had our breakfast, got dressed, brushed our teeth and hair, got in the car and arrived at the destination, the platform was full of photographers and mummy missed out on taking photos. ‘oh well’ she said ‘lets get up earlier tomorrow’. Oh no!!!!! Not that early again!

Our French Pommy Friends also arrived for the sunrise however being in a motorhome, their girls got to sleep in that morning as they had their beds on wheels.

We drove around for a while to find different spots for mummy to photograph and then we joined our French Pommys for a little hike.

The hike was called ‘Peek-A-Boo’ and very soon we discovered why. At every turn on this track there was something spectacular ‘jumping out at you’. The scenery was just breathtaking and mummy shutter-speed was not getting any rest whatsoever!

 

Bella even came across what she claimed to be her ‘castle’. It was spectacular!

The four of us: Bella, Heloise, Juliet and I created hiking teams and we were so busy talking that we forgot to complain about the amount of walking we did that day. Little did we know that we just hiked up and down steep tracks for five hours straight!

As our French friends had to leave that day, we took them to the old town we ‘discovered’ the day before.

After we bid farewell to our French Pommy friends, mummy went into a local resort (which had all the shops, etc in it) and asked them if we could use their swimming pool. They said ‘sure’ and gave us a swimming pool pass. Woohoo!

Needless to say we spent A LOT of time over the next few days in the pool and the hot tub. We did lots of walking in the mornings and lots of swimming in the afternoons. Awesome!

The next day up early again to do a morning photo shoot. This time our parents were smarter: they put us to sleep in clothes we were going to wear the next day, they prepared breakfast in zip lock bags to be consumed in the car. In the morning all they had to do is scoop us up, transfer to the car and drive off. Mummy this time managed to get a premium spot at the view point but…. The sun was a ‘no show’. None of the pinks through the skies we had the previous day…

We begged mummy not to do any more sunrise photos (so we can sleep in of course). We even told her that the photos she managed to take were still fabulous. It worked, she didn’t bother us again with morning shots at Bryce Canyon.

  

In the afternoon that day we went to hike the Navajo and Queen’s Garden loop. It had lots of funny looking hoodoos. There was a sign pointing at one of the hoodoos telling us it was the queen but somehow we couldn’t imagine it. We think the queen disintegrated. We did find however a rock that looked like daddy does when he drinks beer!

The hike had a little landing where the travellers decided to express themselves by building their own little hoodoos.

Of course we built our own as well!

On the way back the clouds started to get angry and the temperature dropped and…… it started to rain! By the time we got back to the car we were drenched and frozen to the bone.

  

Lucky we had a hot tub to go to followed by a divine hot shower. When we got back from the swimming pool we hopped straight to bed exhausted. Mummy and daddy stayed up talking. After we fell asleep they have experienced something interesting… the caravan/trailer started to suddenly shake and jump. First our parents thought we were jumping around but when they saw that we were sound asleep they realized it was an…earthquake!!!!!

Holy Guacomole! It went for about 30 seconds. As we have never experienced anything like it our parents were really worried and spent the next hour ‘on needles’ half expecting more shakes. Luckily that was the end of it and they lived to tell us the story in the morning.

When we walk up in the morning we saw something incredible out the windows –SNOW! The whole place was covered in soft beautiful powder. We were ecstatic!

After mummy put loads of warm clothing on us – we bolted out of our home on wheels to explore the campsite. Oh Wow!

The car was frozen

The campsite covered in snow

 

Even our ‘Welcome Home’ mat outside the door was snowed under!

 

What a thrill!

We spent the whole morning playing in the snow and making all sort of creatures out of the white powder.

Bella (with mummies help) made a cool turtle

 

And I made a dog!

In the afternoon mummy insisted that we go for a drive to see what Brice Canyon looked like with the snow on top. WOW, check this out!!!

 

It was incredible! Like icing on top of gingerbread cake!

As all of the hiking tracks were closed we went for a drive around Bryce Canyon rim. It was spectacular!

There were a lot stops and lookouts along the way, all of which were incredible!

As mummy snapped away her photographs we started, with help from  daddy, making all sorts of snowmen…and snow-women, and snow-dogs, and…….you get the picture?

 

Half way through the trip we decided to create a family – our family – out of the snow. And where better to display it if not on our car’s bonnet (US translation: the hood)?

 

Here is the close up

Needless to say our car quickly became a tourist’s attraction. More people were taking photos of our car then the beautiful Bryce Canyon, LOL

At some of the longer stops, we dressed up our snow family and left it there to see people’s reactions. It was so funny! People would walk past buried deeply in their thoughts and then suddenly they would notice our car and ………..burst out laughing! It was such a fun day! We certainly made a lot of people laugh that day!

In the afternoon we went to the pool again and we met a few nice people. First our parents started talking to a lovely French gentleman who happens to live in New York with his family. After a short conversation he invited us over to visit them when we get to New York. Wasn’t that nice?

About an hour later we met another lady (Heather) and her kids (Jack and Maggie) who were camping for a few days. As in TENT camping! Brrrrr! They were very nice and we had so much fun that our parent decided to have dinner together in the near by restaurant, which was great. It was a pity they needed to go the next day!

 

As mummy’s lens had not arrived yet and we couldn’t do any hiking because of the snowfall, we decided to go for a drive the next day. We went to check out the Escalante - Grand Staircase National Monument, which was near-by. Of course we collected our Junior Ranger badge (did we mention we did one in Bryce as well?) and then we drove further to the Boulder Mountain where mummy found out they have Aspen trees –her favorites!

 

The drive there was spectacular (through the Escalante Grand Staircase).

 

We stopped along the way many times to take some pictures.

 

But nothing prepared us for how beautiful would the Aspen Trees look with snow around them. Nice, huh?

 

On the way back we saw a lot of wildlife. This picture is a bit out of focus as we weren’t prepared for it but – the elk just jump the fence right in front of us!

But the Mule Deer along the way were just adorable!!!

The following day we decided we would go for a drive in the opposite direction (again out of Bryce canyon). We drove for merely 5 minutes when mummy asked daddy to pull over to photograph some old wagons on a side of the road.

As we pulled up we saw a man on a quad bike (ATV) driving towards us. Mummy opened her window and asked the man if he’d mind if she was to take some pictures of his wagons.

He said that if she liked photography why wouldn’t we come and have a look at his animals. He said he had over 350 animals and 1600 butterflies from all over the world. At first mummy thought he had a zoo but looking at the building it didn’t seem to be big enough to fit them all. Unless……… they were not alive!

When mummy asked him if the animals were stuffed he got offended and said ‘no, a turkey is stuffed at thanksgiving, my animals are taxidermy’. Being animal lovers we weren’t sure what to expect but we thought we would check it out anyway. And are we glad we did!

 

The place was beyond amazing! The owner – Robert- has spent most of his life collecting these animals and what a collection this was!

Animals from all over the world set in beautiful very life-like settings. They were so realistic!

We spent hours walking around with Robert hearing stories about every single animal. It was incredible. The settings were so realistic that we very quickly forgot we were looking at taxidermy animals – they were so real!

Mummy asked Robert if he’d mind if she was to take some pictures and he said no problem. The started to talk about cameras and Robert told her how hard he found photographing the scenes. He said he wished he had some postcards to sell but he couldn’t capture it properly. Mummy then said ‘ would you like me to do it for you? I’ve got all the equipment I need, I have time and I won’t charge you a cent’. Robert excitingly agreed and for the next couple of hours mummy shot pictures.

Robert and his wife were so happy that they allowed us to take some teddy bear toys and little necklaceses (bad luck mummy with your ‘no soft toy’ rule). Terri (Robert’s wife) even made us some cookies and yummy hot chocolate.

After mummy stopped shooting, Robert took us to hand feed his wonderful herd of deer. We were the only kids ever allowed INSIDE the enclosure.

We even got to play with Fritzy, a superstar deer, which was hand reared and has been used in movies and television commercials! 

Mummy also got her wish and was able to photograph Robert’s collection of wagons

 

And old sheds. This one below dates back to 1900 where 4 families used to share it!

 

And Robert’s collection of his favorite cowboy boots he wore over the years

And we fed his adorable ponies

The next day we spent mostly in the pool while mummy worked on the photographs she took for Robert and Terri.

The next morning we went to deliver the photos (and pick up mummy’s lens which incidentally finally arrived – all fixed – woohoo!).

Robert and Terri (our Museum friends) were thrilled with the result. Mummy gave them 65 photos to choose from and they loved them! Don’t you think these will make nice postcards?

We spent the rest of the morning with our Museum friends. Robert even showed us his awesome collection of hats from all over the world.

This particular one has a funny story attached to it although we are not quite sure what it means.

Apparently this hat is made out Buffalo’s scrotum. Robert said that the bull was charging him and it was either the bulls or his. Again not sure what that means but mummy said not to worry about the details; she said to just put the hat on and smile for my 21^st birthday photo!

This hat is Robert’s African hat. Don’t I just look like Indiana Jones in it?

When Robert found out that mummy has a fixation on old buildings/sheds he rang his friend LaMar who lives in nearby town and has a collection of old buildings on his property.

 

We went for a drive there in the afternoon and mummy got to photograph his sheds.

 

As well as pet some of his ponies.

We then went to check out the rest of the town with lots of country/cowboy memorabilia and funky cafés.

Before we left Robert’s place we asked if we could rent some quad bikes (ATVs) from him the next day. (Robert also has a rental division to his business). He said sure and told us to come 10am the next morning.

 

When we arrived the next day (with our home on wheels attached) Robert had two awesome ATVs ready for us to ride (mummy got his personal one). He showed us the way to go, gave us a map and off we went zooming through the forests looking for animals. It was so much FUN! And guess what? Robert didn’t even charge us a cent! How is THAT for nice?!

We were very sad to say goodbye to our Museum friends but now that mummy had her new lens it was tome for us to move on. What a pity!

 

We sure will be referring a lot of people Robert’s way as his museum is absolutely outstanding!

We ended up leaving Bryce Canyon late afternoon (after we did some laundry at the main resort). While we waited for the wash to complete, we scooted across the road to take some more shots of these old, rusty cars we found. Mummy needed to check out her new lens. We think it worked just fine!

Jordi dressed the part and mummy shot a few black and white photos (to add to the character). You like?

 

That afternoon we only drove for a couple of hours to the Boulder Mountain, where we set up camp for the night in the midst of these beautiful Aspens mummy photographed the other day. Lucky the snow now had melted so we were in for a mild night.

We found out that the spot we have set up our camp at was near a Chris’ Lake hike so after we stretched our legs, we put our hiking boots on and off we went looking for the lake.

The hiking trail was very ‘unmaintained’ and after what initially started off being reasonably nice, soon turned into muddy trail with lots of logs to jump and spiky plants to get scratched by.

An hour into the hike mummy decided that we should turn back as the trail was almost non-existent and all we were doing was weaving though the forest and jumping through the paddles without any sight of the lake. Besides, the sun was about to set in an hour.

  

Mummy told us a story about how she once got lost in the forest with her little sister. Mummy was only 10 and her sister 5 and with a friend they ventured off on an adventure through the forest. Mummy said this trail really reminded her of this venture. Frozen to the bone, scared beyond belief, they weren’t found till 5am the next morning with half of town’s police looking for them. After hearing this story we had no problem turning around and heading right back to camp.

We made it safely back to our home on wheels and warmed up the fire daddy perfected.

In the morning we stopped at Anasazi, an American Indian village, which was discovered in the early….

We met Mike, the manager and after we told him we got sent here by Robert from the animal museum, Mike insisted on taking us ‘back stage’ to the area where no-body is allowed.

 

He showed us thousands of little pieces of clay which has been collected over the years and which volunteers put together into the objects that they have once been. Puzzles at the highest level! Wow!

We did our Junior Ranger program and spent hours looking for objects, which were very hard to find because they were named in their original tongue.

The village itself was also very fascinating. There were over hundred homes fond in underground borrows. The prehistoric people used to build homes underground with ladders going in through the roof. Pretty cool, heh?

After we finished our visit we went to our next stop:

                       The Capitol Reef national Park

We have never heard of this park before but man, did we love it! After gathering some information at the visitors Centre (and getting new Junior Ranger programs – man we are getting so smart!) we went in pursuit of the campgrounds.

And look what we found! The campground was UNBELIEVABLE! It was so beautiful with green trees shading the campsites, a decent fire-pit and nice benches to have a meal at. They were also handing out free firewood! All this with a backdrop of red cliffs. And for $10 a night? Spectacular!

We have very quickly made some nice friends. First we met two couples travelling from Colorado and Wyoming. ‘You know when you are at the right campground’ – daddy says- ‘when you are handed a beer as soon as you get out of the car.’ – which is what pretty much happened with our Colorado/Wyoming friends. They then handed mummy a bottle of South Australian Chardonnay - a sure way of making friends with our parents (not that they drink much or anything but we don’t call daddy ‘runs with beer’ for nothing). We invited our new friends to our campfire that night.

But before we started our evening camp-fire we met our next-door neighbors who just pulled up. Jill, a lovely school teacher (on her spring break) and Thayer (aka Professor from the Gilligan’s’ Island). They were ace! Thayer, the self – sufficient professor, showed us how to chop wood with an axe (relax grandparents – it was a very highly supervised activity).

He then pulled out his Swiss Army knife and show us how to sharpen sticks and carve all different sorts of things (mummy can we get a Swiss Army knife for our birthdays?). It was so much fun!

That evening we all gathered together and all our visitors spoiled us with ….you guessed it - s’mors! Now these were not ordinary S’mors – Jill pulled out her special jar of Nutella! ‘Oh, no’ – mummy cried ‘ it has taken me 7 years to hide this product from the kids!’

As soon as we tried it (and realized – NO, it was not Vegemite) we understood why she was hiding it from us – Uhm-uhm! YUMMO!!!

He next morning we said goodbye to our Colorado/Wyoming friends (why do all nice people have to always leave so early?) and decided to go for breakfast at the nearby bakery they recommended.

We also watched another massive RV leave the campground. Only in America! LOL

Jill and Thayer (who from now on will be fondly remembered as the Nutella friends) joined us for the walk.

We were walking and chatting and walking and chatting and before we knew we were back at the information center. We stopped and asked them where was the bakery just to find out it was back at the camp. So we went back – nothing like a lovely 2-mile hike before breakfast – especially with such great company.

And great scenery

When we got to the bakery, which was located in the historical building right by our campsite, we bought some yummy scones and had a lovely picnic.

During our picnic we learned some fascinating stories about adventures our Nutella friends have had. From skydiving, scuba-diving, cliff climbing, hang gliding, paragliding to white water rafting! Even our parents (who have done a lot of crazy things) were impressed!

Unfortunately our Nutella friends had to depart but not before Thayer (the Professor) fixed our cherished pencil box we got from our Doctor friends in New Orleans– thank you Thayer!

 

After we said goodbye to our Nutella friends, we spent the rest of the day hiking through the Capital Reef National Park and completing our Junior Ranger Program.

Initially we planned to do two or three hikes but the first one we chose was soooo long and tiring (3 hrs) and the temperature suddenly increased from freezing cold to boiling hot. 

So the rest of our viewing was from an air conditioned Escalade.

In the evening we hopped on our scooters and went around the camp announcing to all neighbors that we are going to have a communal fire tonight. Daddy built a massive fire (with Jordi’s help) and sure enough they all came. We had a whole bunch of people by the fire that night.

We got up early the next day and headed off to get our Junior Rangers badges. 

After that we drove to the next destination, which was recommended to us:

          The Goblin Valley and Horseshoe Canyon.

The campground at the Goblin Valley was a full but we managed to find little pull out just outside the park. We left our caravan/trailer there and off we went looking for Horseshoe Valley, which was supposed to be nearby.

 

Well, after driving for three hours straight on a dirt road no decent Escalade should go on, we must report that we found no horse, no shoe and certainly no canyons! Just a deserted road with one sign saying the canyon is one way and another sign (30 miles later) saying that the canyon was the opposite way. Our GPS lady was even confused – she brought us back to an exact point where we found this little creature… Holy Cow, I think we got lost!

On the way back we stopped to stretch our legs and catch some bugs on the sand dunes. Unfortunately mummy reminded us we were junior rangers now and had to release the poor creatures back to the dunes.

 

                                    

                                    Moab, Utah

We left Goblin Valley pretty early and headed off to Moab. We got phone reception once we got on a highway and received numerous messages from our Nutella friends telling us that they are saving us a spot at the campground. Isn’t that nice?

 When we got there Thayer (Professor with Knives) was waiting for us, which was brilliant! He actually stayed back for us while Jill and her friends went hiking. True friend indeed!

As we arrived, there was a family packing up to leave and they had two boys who we instantly began to ‘run a muck’ with. Off we went chasing lizards (a lot of them here) and we had an absolute ball!

In the late afternoon the rest of our Nutella friends arrived: Barbara (Nutella’s sister) with her husband Paul (Nutella Brother –in –law) and their friends John and Betty-Ann. Man, did we have a great night with them!

They cooked us a wonderful supper. Paul even treated us with his yummy soup (Paul – that was sooo yummy!).

We tried to chip in a bit and helped to wash the dishes.

We then set by the fire telling stories and having mighty great time!

We also invited Tyson, a boy who was by himself next door playing his wonderful guitar. Daddy of course got his didgeridoo out and we had a jamming session going.

The night was an absolute blast!

In the morning all of our Nutella friends were leaving but NOT before they all came over with us for a walk through the Arches in the Arches National Park.

We actually did two hikes with them. First one was a shorter one (The Windows)

But the second one was a ‘killer’. After wonderful ‘communal lunch', off we went to find the ‘Delicate Arch’.

It was supposed to be 4.8km but no one mentioned it would be up, up and up the hill! Our little legs had a hard time keeping up and if it weren’t for our wonderful Nutella friends, who kindly took turns in holding our hands on the climb up, we would have never made it!

But we did! And what a view did we come across: The Delicate Arch in its full glory! We thought it was such a success…until mummy announced that we have to come here again for a sunset shot! Oh noooooooooooo!

 

Here is Bella's impersonation of the Arch

Our little legs were so tired, Jordi even got blisters. Lucky we had ‘untie Nutella’ who came to the rescue with the most amazing medical tool ever created – band aid! Amazing how many problems we have been able to fix with them!

 

On the way back Jill (THE Nutella lady) introduced us to a new trick. Since it was getting sooo hot (32C/MID 80s F – weren’t we just making snowmen the other day?). The trick was to wet a bandana and put it our necks – ahh so nice!

When we got back to our cars, daddy was handed a nice cold beer and we stashed our bandanas into the ice-box and started a ‘cooling-down game’. Towards the end everyone was splashing each other with water and cold bandanas! So much fun!

As unfortunately all good things come to an end, we had to bid our friends goodbye. Lucky though Thayer (the Professor) and our original Nutella friend (Jill) stayed with us longer. We drove to a beautiful park with ‘juicy’ green grass where we all laid down (including Tyson from next door who also joined us on our hike) and we indulged in some yummy ice creams our Nutella friends had treated us with. We were very sad to wave them goodbye. Hopefully we can see each other again!

That night we invited a couple of young German girls to our campsite and listened to some beautiful music Tyson played on his piano (yep, he’s got a piano in his tent too). He is very talented!

The next day we went for a drive to the Dead Horse Point National Park. Apparently according to the legend he point was once used as a corral for wild mustangs. Cowboys rounded up these horses, herded them across the narrow neck of land and onto the point. The neck was then fenced off with branches and bushes and cowboys got to choose their favorite horses, leaving the other ones behind.  The ones they left behind (still corralled) died of thirst, all within the view of Colorado River! NASTY!!!

Mummy really wanted to take a photo of this rock formation down below and once she shot a few photos she said ‘we need to get closer to it’. So we went to the information Centre (where we did another Junior Ranger program by the way) and we asked if we could get any closer to this rock formation. A lovely ranger lady explained to us that we can go to the neighboring Canyon Lands National Park and we can take a 4x4 track and we should be able to get closer.

 

We should’ve known better when we saw a sign ‘4WD required, chains recommended’. Just because we took our Escalade off road the other day, does not mean it suddenly become a Hummer! Well, its probably lucky it didn’t become a Hummer otherwise we would have fallen off the cliff many times over! The road was so narrow on those cliffs that anything wider than a jeep looked like it was just about to fall off- certainly a hair-raising experience.

The dirt road zig-zaged its way down the hill - closely hugging to the edge of the cliff. The fact that most of the cliff was made out of sandstone certainly did not make us feel any more confident– the images of crumbling cookie kept on flashing in our minds. Ay!!!!

When we got down to ground level we met some other people from a Jeep club who told us there is a shorter way to get back to town. Ah, yeah.. they forgot to mention it was a VERY rocky road! And we don’t mean the chocolate rocky one – we mean sharp boulders which probably weren’t that bad for off road Jeeps with massive tires but certainly were disturbing for our beautiful Escalade with low profile tires pumped up to the max.

Needles to say, it took us the rest of the day to get out of there. We barely made it to the ‘black top’ road – only minutes after the sunset!

We ended up finding the place though – you know - the one, which was a bit closer to the rock?

 

We found a few really nice spots along the way…

 

We also came closer to these salt pools, which at sunset were reflecting the mountains. Mummy at least got her ‘million dollar’ shot (as daddy called it).

 

During our 4WD expedition we came across a plastic bottle of water with a note next to it. We stopped to check the note. It said ‘please do not take, water left for solo cyclist’. So we did what any decent Aussie would do…left him another bottle with a note, which said ‘just in case you need another one, cheers mate, Aussie friend’.

When we got back Tyson (Mate Tyson as we are going to call him) was contemplating so we came up with an idea to do a photo-shoot of Tyson….contemplating, LOL

We then started up some fire and listened to Mate Tyson playing his guitar.

The next day mummy needed to do some laundry so we dropped her off at the Laundromat and we went with daddy to the nearby park to scooter around. There was a specially designated area for boys on their bikes and skateboards and since they were not there to use it, we did all sorts of tricks on our scooters.

When mummy finished, she joined us to watch a couple of locals, Jason and Andy, train for their ‘Slack Lining’ competitions. Apparently it is a sport of sorts and we were watching a world champion. Andy was very good at it (and so was Jason). Apparently Andy was so good he was given a 30 second window at the Superball (our equivalent of Grand Final) to show off his tricks! How is that for famous? He even worked out that if he were to ‘buy’ that time on National Television for advertising, it would’ve cost him $4.8mil. Sound like a lot. Lucky he didn’t have to pay for it.

Jason even helped us to practice  - before you knew it, Bella was walking the big rope herself!

We ended up spending the afternoon in the local pool, which was fantastic! They had these huge diving boards there (about 10 foot tall) and so Bella decided that is where she’ll practice her stunts, plummeting into the water with no fear whatsoever!

They also had a fun water slide, which we all enjoyed immensely.

After grabbing a few groceries for dinner we returned to camp and straight after our meal we hopped back into the car (with our Mate Tyson) to the Arches National Park to take a few sunset shots.

As we left a bit late we didn’t have enough time to climb too far for the sunset, which was quite lucky as the sun decided to hide behind a cloud that day.

Back at camp Mate Tyson indulged us with his fabulous piano music, which he composed himself. It was fantastic! We thought there is nothing better then just sitting watching the fire (well except for making s’mors of course) but listening to some fabulous music certainly topped the experience.

The next day, we spent the whole day together with our big brother Mate Tyson. He had to drop off his car to get it fixed so we all went together to explore Canyon Lands.

A nice Ranger lady taught us some interesting facts about old artifacts and also about how prehistoric people used to grind their food.

 We had a go at it ourselves.

 

We completed our Junior Ranger program there with very funny rangers.

And went on a few cool hikes.

 

We also saw the most beautiful Arch called the Mesa Arch.

 

And we admired lots of nice vistas.

 

In the evening we met up with our next-to-neighbours, Sharon and Tim, who we hardly saw before because they were busy canyoneering (that’s a cool sport where you hike up to the top of a canyon and then repel yourself down the canyon on a very strong rope).

They told us lots of wonderful stories about some of their adventures: on the rope and on the rafts. It sure sounded like a lot of fun!!!

And then Tim surprised us with something totally ace: he pulled out a slack-line! Remember the boys we were watching the other day? Well, here was our chance to give it a go. And it certainly was not as easy as they made it look! We tripped over so many times, we lost the count!

Mummy, can we get a slack-line?

We had to go to bed earlier as mummy announced that we would be getting up early the next day for sunrise shots. It was our last morning at this campground (The Big Bend along the Colorado river) and so we wanted to make the most of it. Our idea of making the ‘best of it’ would be to sleep in. Or catch some lizards. Or at least splash in the Colorado River but no, mummy had other ideas!

So they dragged us out of bed at 5:30am (how cruel!) and after 40 minute drive our parents made us hike!

Funnily enough though, we did quite enjoy it. Our Big Brother (Mate Tyson) joined us as well although he walked like an old lady (he had an unfortunate accident on the slack-line last night. Mummy, can we get slack- line?).

Anyway, we liked the hike so much we ended up gong on three different hikes before the average Joe started waking up.

We went to The Pine Arch

 

And to the Landscape Arch

 

And finally Tyson took us to his favorite boulder, which we gracefully climbed and did some meditation with Tyson.

After three hours of hiking we went back to the Information Centre where we completed our Arches National park junior Ranger program and headed back to camp.

We said goodbye to Sharon and Tim – our cliffhanger friends.

And we were very sad to say goodbye to Mate Tyson (who was also leaving today except South not East like us). Hopefully our paths will cross one day again. At least we have left him knowing more than he did before he met us – he is an expert now at saying ‘G’day Mate’!