Got Canyon?

If you thought we'd be sick of looking at big red rocks by now, you'd be wrong. Early Thursday morning we queued up on the highway to drive along the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

Next time we do this, it better be in one of these!

There was a bit of a wait to get onto the canyon road, so we kicked back in the car with coffee and a book - pretty sure Edward Abbey, with his hatred of people, cars, maps and established roads or trails of any kind, would entirely disapprove of our whirlwind driving tour of the desert, but I'm enjoying this memoir of Arches National Park anyway.

Heading into the park.

The first lookout point along the canyon, coming in from the east side.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, it is windy when one is standing on the edge of a cliff.

Climbing the Watchtower for even more scenic views

Raccoon bravely poses on the precipice

As well as the epic vistas, there are also 800 year old Tusayan ruins to tour. Roughly 4000 artefacts have been found in the park, and only 5% of it has been surveyed - it's mindboggling to think of how much there still is to learn about this area and its inhabitants over time.

Raccoon was more interested in the photo ops than the history, though.

The colours are incredible, and I gather they change over the course of the day. Next time, I'd love to be able to camp here (in my refurbished 1950's Airstream, obviously) and see the sights at sunset.

Smooching ravens

Phew. So glad we got to stop by and see some of this - it truly is quite grand!

Leaving Utah

On whatever day this was (I've completely lost track of time now!), we said farewell to our new bestie, the state of Utah, and headed south to Arizona. The red cliffs of Moab gave way to the vast deserts of the Navajo Nation, the area of southern Utah, Arizona and New Mexico governed by the Navajo Nation Council. 

Along the way, we stopped in the town of Mexican Hat - so named because of the above sombrero-wearing rock formation.

A little baffling, but I guess technically yes, eagles are wireless.

After an hour or two of desert, the cliffs of Monument Valley suddenly loom on the horizon.

You may recognise this landscape from the many John Ford & John Wayne westerns that were filmed here. There are a couple of towns out here where almost every member of their small populations between the 30s and the 70s worked on these films, either as extras or crew.

After soaking up as much as we could handle of the desert ambience (ie, insane heat), we fled to Flagstaff, Arizona, a hip little college town (a little bit like Corvallis, with a bit more California-style hippy-ness thrown in - ie, hacky sack seems quite popular here).

Historic Route 66 passes through town.

The unofficial grilled cheese tour of the West continues apace.

We retired to Rendezvous for whiskey-infused chai teas to digest our dinner and catch up on some correspondence.

I sure am going to miss the cafes of America when I return home.

The Road to Zion

Our next stop after the Hoover Dam was Zion National Forest, in Utah. I love it out here - it's such a contrast to the Northwest, so beautiful in an entirely different way.

Our new favourite chain of gas stations

Entering Utah - Life Elevated!

 There's a Starbucks in the Promised Land - PHEW, am I right?

Does it not look like the set of a John Wayne film?

Is This a God Damn?

On Sunday morning, we hit the road out of Vegas and headed to the Hoover Dam (those of you familiar with the educational film Beavis and Butthead Do America will no doubt appreciate the reference!).

Ahh-mazing.

Half of the dam is in Nevada and half is in Arizona:

Observing, from the Arizona side

I can certainly appreciate some good civil engineering, but one particularly gobsmacking thing about the Hoover Dam is the fact that it is deco as all get out:

The 1930's was a great time, aesthetically speaking, to be undertaking huge public works!

Seriously!

Even the carpark signage was in keeping with the theme.

After a lap or two of the top of the dam, it was time to get on the road again. Next stop? Utah!