USA - Rockies

One of the seven wonders of man

My brother Jess lives two hours from Vegas, and lucky for me, rather than hitching through the desert, he was in the Gambling Capital for his wife Crystal's birthday. We pigged out at an all you eat buffet, so much so that I walked out hunch-backed, muttering like I do after every buffet: "Never again".

Concrete Heaven

Half an hour down the road is one the feats of engineering celebrated as one of man's greatest achievements. Hoover Damn. Powering a large percentage of bordering 3 States, it really is one scary thing to peer over the edge of.

Sister in law Crystal

The Colorado river continues on through the Damn after creating artificial lake Mead (which took 3 years to fill) then carving out the Grand Canyon before finishing up in the Gulf of California.

Those Damned Brothers

"A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

These words are from the second ammendment of the Constitution of the United States. Though written in 1789 and should be understood in the context of their time, I, like millions of other Americans was about to exercise MY constitutional rights, and shoot up the place; a place where guns are wicked easy to get your hands on. Welcome to the Wild West.

Average American Arsenal

It was thanksgiving, and what better way to start off the day than to shoot each other, first with paint, then get out the real guns and rifles and target practice some lemonade cans, furiously shaken up, for a full explosion sensation.

Scott loads the Rifles

Family friend Scott was the Lieutenant of the operation. In his car he carried around 3 rifles, a couple handguns and a grenade (one of those is a lie). All for sport though of course. The cans were placed hundreds of meters away, as I was about to learn, REAL bullets shoot REALLY far.

Shooting Cans

I manage to pop a couple of targets with the telesopic lens. It was impossible to maintain any kind of aim with the hanguns which almost fly out of my hand on every shot. What we see in the westerns with the cowboys - all that effortless shoot and draw stuff - it's a lie.

Dirty Jerry and his 45 Magnum

Dressed for a shoot-out in the Rockies

Thanksgiving Clan

The state of Utah, though notorious for being the breeding ground of Mormons, is in fact one of the most beautiful. Canyons and mountains, lakes and rivers. Part of the Rockies, here most of the rock is either a bright red or pink colour, made particularly astonishing during a sunset.

Zion's National Park Utah

In the time I had, I visited two National parks each as spectacular and wonderous as the other. Having girls on our entourage, the boys obviously have to disobey the signs saying DANGER OF PASSING THE FENCES, and venture out for these "danger pictures".

Boys being dangerous

It seemed like on every turn there were views of Canyons all equal to that of the splendour of the famous one further down in Arizona. These Canyons are in fact all part of the same plateau. On our way to the ski resort, we pass this view point lying casually on the side of the road.

Marta and Mark at Cedar Breaks Canyon

Cedar Break Brothers

A friend of a friend knew someone at the slopes, so we got our passes for free. Probably the reason I was skiing for the first time. It was fun doing Dumb and Dumber impressions on the ski lift, where I tried to convince everybody that my tongue was stuck to the railing. For a while there I think I understood the reason people get addicted to this kind of thing, the rush is quite immense.

First time Ski-ier

Another National Park, this one a few hours away, was made especially enjoyable as "Without a license me" was aloud to do some of the driving. That was until we passed a group of deer in the road.

Bryce Canyon Newlyweds

Moon-set over Bryce Canyon

Jess and me at Bryce Canyon

Rainbow bridge

The latest James Bond was playing in the Movie Theater (listen to me all American now) and a face off paper, scissors, stones with Mark saw the loser pay for all the treats and snacks. Guess who won.

Lucky, greedy, happy me

Coming up: Tales of the Caribbean