Howdy

Well, adventures are over for the time being. I feel like I've had a good travel. Do you agree with me that there is a difference between travel and holiday? This was definitely travel.

After a loooong flight and a loong drive, ending with a loooong gravel track (at which point Doris the sat-nav gave up knowing where we were), I finally found the ranch. It's right at the bottom right hand corner of Arizona, at around 5,000 ft up. The moonlit scenery looked stunning as I was driving through.

Trouble is, the next morning it looked like this.

Luckily in Arizona, snow doesn't last too long.

You can see Mexico from the south pasture, but as neither of the cowboys have passports they're not allowed to go there. This is me helping to move some (pig-headed stubborn) cattle.

Here is the ranch manager looking picturesque in Jackwood canyon. He was younger than me and would sometimes answer questions with a 'Yes, ma'am'. I couldn't work out if I liked it or if it made me feel 102. The Man has not been able to adopt this without a heavily sarky tone so unforts this sign of respect will have to be limited to interactions with cowboys. Shame. ;)

Then on to Tombstone, tourist-central. I have never seen so many tacky gift shops!

Big-Nosed Kate's Saloon - she was Wyatt Earp's girlfriend. I love the sign on the left. Perhaps we should get one for the flat.

The Man gave me a helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon for Christmas. It was stunning. This is him looking slightly scared (he doesn't like heights).

And guess what? There was snow at the Canyon too!

It's a mile deep, and the river has now eroded down to the earth's crust through all those layers of sedimentary rock. The canyon is just so big your mind can't compute it, and all formed by the Colorado river.

Then on to Monument Valley, where they filmed nearly all the Hollywood Westerns. Here are the Mittens (left and right hands - see?) ...

...and the Three Sisters, which also looks like a W for John Wayne, apparently.

And back in Scottsdale in Phoenix we got busy in the cowboy boot store.

There was a Chihuly exhibition at the Desert Botanical Gardens, which was amazing. The pieces are internally lit at night, it must be magical. They were impressive enough with the Arizona sun streaming through them. (Click on these for bigger versions.)

And now back to work. Yay.