North to Aspen

The incredible scenery continued north of Monument Valley. The colour and type of rock changed frequently.

I am amazed at how many rock types and erosion types are in evidence here. There would be many lifetimes of study for a geologist.

On leaving Blanding, the scenery changed completely. The road was lined in fir trees, there were clouds in the sky, and snow capped mountains came into view.

The vista changed back to red rock cliffs and fabulous monoliths as we passed Canyonlands National Park. Moab was a surprisingly hip town of serious jeep drivers and mountain bikers. An adventure sport town, obviously, with quad bikes for hire and bike tracks everywhere.

Onto the I70 and east towards the Rocky Mountains.

We had meant to stay at Glenwood Springs, where they have the largest outdoor hot springs in the world, but as we approached, reevaluated and decided to strike out for Aspen, giving us two nights in one place, and the whole of my 42nd birthday in heaven.

The view of the snow capped mountains drew us in.

Our hotel, The Innsbruck, is on Main Street, just a few short blocks from town. We have a suite, with lounge, kitchen and laundry! Chesterfields, open fire place.

Outside, the smell of open fire places was intoxicating. We walked to town and settled on a restaurant called 'Gisella' where the staff were wonderful and the food, better!

As I said, Heaven.

Las Vegas to Page, AZ

Being early on Sunday morning, check out and departure were a breeze.

Out into another beautiful blue day on the I15 north towards Zion National Park and then Page.

I want to mention how dry the air is. It is unusual to us, making my skin feel like paper and my eyes gritty. Of course I should have expected it, being in the desert!

Views all day long were a geologist's dream. Amazing rock formations and colored strata.

What looked spectacular early in the day was quickly overshadowed by the more incredible vistas as we travelled further north.

We chose to drive through Zion National Park ($25 per car) instead of the more southern route to Page. The park was more impressive than I remembered, with mountains of red and white rock.

We arrived in Page after 5pm, so we were too late to see Antelope Canyon. As There were many hotels to choose from, we opted for a 'lake view', which was actually much more about the vast, russet, canyon view than the lake.

Dinner was at a Mexican restaurant in town. Dom learnt that asking the Mexicans for hot sauce is like asking the Indians to make the vindaloo hot.

I'd like to say that even though the scenery photos are lovely, there's no way to accurately depict on film the vast beauty of these views.

Monument Valley

We managed to leave early this morning as we're hoping to do more miles than yesterday.

It's another hot, dry, blue sky day. There are jets criss-crossing the sky leaving a patchwork of white con trails.

Monument Valley is about 140 miles from Page, past grand vistas and Indian settlements.

Entry fee is $5 per person. You can take a self guided 17 mile drive through the scenic valley, although I wouldn't recommend it in a low slung car as the dirt road is very rough with rocky outcrops and soft, deep sand patches. If you arrive by bike, RV or bus you can take a tour on an open sided bus, but beware you will be covered in red dust.

Monument Valley is an awesome place of majestic buttes and soaring rock fingers.

LA to Vegas Baby

We'd set our alarm for 8am, having gone to bed too late to consider the early start we'd been planning, but woke at 6. We packed the car and headed out into the beautiful blue-sky day.

Traffic was light and we were soon happily rolling up the I15 to Las Vegas. We hired a Ford Expedition which sits solidly on the road and is very comfortable.

We joined the historic Route 66 for about 30 miles, stopping often to take photos of the mountains, salt bushes and signs. It runs parallel to the I15 which we rejoined in Barstow.

The scenery was spectacular and other worldly. The mountains looked like left over piles from a giant's mining efforts. No trees, but soil and rock in hues of mint to every yellow and orange in the spectrum.

The big blue sky and huge concrete highway made me very happy. I'd travelled this road first 15 years ago, and have been waiting to return ever since. It's still one of my favourite drives of the world.

We had lunch at Baker, in a Del Taco. $10 for lunch for two of us! Tasty soft tacos with fish and coleslaw and El Inferno hot sauce.

We passed a solar array power station - one of the most amazing things I've seen in a long while. Acres of mirrors on the ground with a central tower that was incandescent. Light appeared to have been reflected and was concentrated into a 'cloud'. Incredible to see.

Traffic increased markedly near to Vegas but we navigated successfully to the Venetian Resort and Casino on the strip. We have a luxurious suite on the 28th floor overlooking the airport. Whilst it wasn't expensive by Australian hotel standards, it was at the higher end in Vegas, partially due to the fact that it was Saturday night.

A swim was the perfect way to relax. The pool is set in beautiful gardens of topiaried hedges and fragrant jasmine. It was still about 30 degrees at 6pm.

We had an excellent dinner at Joe's, an alfresco style restaurant inside the Caesars Palace Forum Shopping mall, and then checked out the amazing interiors of Caesars, Bellagio, Paris and the Venetian casinos.

La La Land again

Our flight departed on time, with about 40 spare seats. We were seated at the exit door, next to a lovely older gentleman who fixed scales for a living.

A tad disappointingly, our exit row had no lights and no audio for the video. What to do for twelve hours?? We moved to a row right down the back where everything worked and it was warmer, but no luxurious extra leg room.

Being at the back of the plane, of course meant that we were last though the veeeery long immigration line at LAX, but our bags were ready and transit to the car hire site was easy via the courtesy buses that come along frequently. We hired with Alamo, through www.vroomvroomvroom.com

The navman we'd borrowed only wanted to go to Virginia, so we navigated to Long Beach in the old fashioned way - asking directions, using maps, and reading signs!

We'd booked into the same hotel as on our last visit, the Hyatt The Pike at Long Beach. It is in an unhurried part of town, with $7 parking and restaurants just a short stroll away. As they did last visit, they allowed us access to the room at 10am, and so we napped. When the alarm went off at 1pm, we headed off to South Coast Plaza, a shopping centre with all of our favourite US stores just a 20 minute drive south along the freeway.

After a tasty lunch of tacos and tostadas, we set off to shop. Zara, Macy's, Banana Republic, H&M, JCrew, Gap - all the shops I don't have access to at home. And the beauty is that the US is in sale for the season we're entering. Perfect.

A late dinner at the Yard House, Long Beach, was in order. The Yard House is a chain in the US and has many, many great beers on tap, friendly staff and tasty food.

The weather was gorgeous today, as it had been every time I have been here. Big, blue sky. Heavily scented flowers everywhere. I do like LA.

The hotel is fabulous, by the way. Very chic and comfortable.

Off to Las Vegas in the morning.

A New Adventure Begins

Time for our annual birthday-anniversary celebration escape!

In light of the continuing excellent exchange rate and our mutual love of the USA, we're departing today for LA, and planning to drive clear across the country in two weeks.

We're flying with Virgin Australia on a B773. Check in was a breeze, but didn't open til 3 hours prior to departure. As silver Velocity members, we had our own check in lane, something that has been removed in domestic land. We asked for and were given exit row seats, at no extra charge, and priority bag tags.

Very happy travellers.

The duty free always allows us an airport worker discount of 10% when we show our ID, so we use the time prior to boarding to pre-purchase goodies for our homecoming.

Sydney Town

On April 7 my eldest step-daughter and I flew to Sydney to attend 'All About Women', a conference at the Sydney Opera House.

We enjoyed the discussions and lectures, but mostly loved being in Sydney again.