Aug 25 Grand Canyon to Las Vegas and our days in Vegas

Today was another early start with everyone getting upto see the sun rise and take some more photos ( surprise) then we said goodbye to this amazing place and our cute little cabins to head to the Las Vegas Nevada. This was mostly freeway driving so you go places pretty quickly when you're doing 75 miles per hour. The temperature started to rise and it was very hot by the time we got to Hoover Dam to have a look around - I think it was around 114 degrees so baking hot in the sun. I'm sure you have seen the dam wall in a movie or 2 and it really doesn't do it justice. Everyone gets the picture of the border of Arizona and Nevada as it is on the dam wall. Lots of people around so didn't hang around that long. Next stop Las Vegas and the " strip".
Well what can I say about Las Vegas. If you like gaudy, cheesy, noisy then this may be the place for you. Lots of interesting characters around but everyone is out to make a buck so they are always trying to upgrade you with food , drinks or special offers. The best things we did were to jump on the bus and go to the shopping outlets out of town. Good bargains to be had. The other was we managed to get tickets to Jersey Boys which was excellent. Shelley and Richie went to David Copper field and both them and Popples saw a Cirque De Sol show as well . Having said all that there are millions of tourists come through here every year and some come back every year so different people, different tastes .
Today is our last day with Popples heading off to LA this morning to catch up with friends for a few days. The rest of us will spend the day working out how to pack all our stuff so we stay within our weight restriction!! We fly out at 6.400m and then on to  Melbourne.
The last month has been fantastic and we have visited some beautiful places and met some great people. Americans and Canadians are very polite considerate people and are always interested in you. I would definitely come back again just not to Las Vegas.

Aug 24 The day at the Grand Canyon

We were up bright and early this morning to see the sunrise on the Canyon.  It reminds me of Ultra where the hues change over the course of the day. In the  morning you have the soft blues and pinks and this changes to the reds and oranges as the day moves on . I'm sure we have only taken about 500 photos of the Canyon!  Then it was off to hire our bikes for the ride along the rim. All I can say is that we rode all the way out and back and it was worth every bit of the effort - better than getting on the shuttle bus and riding from point to point. Back to the cabins to relax and then Russ and I decided to go into a little town near the Canyon to have a look at the imax theatre show about the Canyon as we worked out a helicopter ride was a bit out of our budget range. Well worth it! Again that night sat out under the stars with pizza and drinks. Beautiful clear skies but completely different to home. Satelite spotting was still the name of the game.  Fairly early night as the tired bodies went to bed.

Aug 23 Moab to Grand Canyon

After a great relaxing night in Moab it was back into the car ( better packing ) and on  the road to the south rim of the Grand Canyon where we are staying at the Bright Angel Lodge which is located right on the edge of the Canyon.  Another hot day of 100 degrees plus but air con works very well. We made our way through Monument Valley on the way. Again hope the photos do it justice. Stood on the road where Forrest Gump stopped running to get the photo. More photos on the way so got into canyon around 6. Big rush to get to super market to get tea so we could sit on the rim and watch the sun go down as we sipped our champagne, beer or scotch and coke. Amazing place so try to put it on your bucket list if possible.

Aug 22 Denver to Moab

This mornine we headed out to the airport to pick up our car. Quite funny on the way there as Russ , Colin and I were in the same car together chatting away and Russ tried to include the taxi driver in the conversation. Found out at the airport that she had little English. How do you drive a taxi with little English in those circumstances?
We had been a bit concerned about the amout of luggage we have and whether it was going to fit in the car that we had hired. One look confirmed - not a hope in hell. So more money exchanged and then the jigsaw puzzle began. Finally got all the luggage and people into one car and onto to interstate 70 to make our way to  Moab Utah for the evening. Colin, Russ and Richie are going to take turns at the wheel and we will just rotate through the seats during the day.

Drove through the wide open hot spaces till we reached the turnoff to Cisco. Rich had been talking with so e one who advised us to go this way to Moab as it was very scenic. Well that was a bit of an understatement! Hopefully the photos will do it some justice. The road follows the Colorado river as it wind it's way to the Grand Canyon.

Had a great night in Moab as we had these charming homey cabins with a lovely BBQ area so off to supermarket to get stuff for tea and sat under the stars with steak a d a glass of red.

Aug 21 A day in Denver

Well today is a free day in Denver before we head off on the next phase of our journey. First up we have to the important stuff so it is off to the laundromat do some washing. With the important job done it was time to discover downtown Denver. They have a huge mall running right down the centre of the city with free buses running about every 2 minutes and you can just get on and off as you like. It's great as this is the only traffic you have to worry about. We just spent the time wandering about having a look around and recovering from what has been a full on 2 weeks on the  bike.
That night we all headed out for dinner again to say our final goodbyes before spreading across the globe.  We have had a wonderful time and been so lucky as the next Canadian tour that has just started as had to deal with the wildfires in Washington state and have been forced to detour away from the it original plans so they missed a lot of the spectacular scenery in the Cascades Park. There is also a huge smoke plume spreading over that area and into Canada which is severely affecting visibility. To really top it off there is now a big rain band heading their way as well. We were very fortunate!! So the email addresses have been exchanged, the Facebook
Friends confirmed and it's time to go. I have read. I see we really didn't take any photos in Denver so here is some random ones for you.

Aug 20 Steamboats Springs to Denver

Today was the last day of our tour. Everyone is a little sad in some ways because we have all gelled as a group and really enjoying each others company. We are off to the Rocky Mountain National Park. This was a morning to rug up as it has been unseasonably cold and you reach a elevation of around 12000 feet at the highest
Point so plenty of layers on before we head off. There was not a cloud in the sky as we left because of cold. It's normal for you to expect to run into thunderstorms in the summer but we have been so lucky with the weather for the whole trip. Headed up into the mountains with our first stop at a cafe to do Tim Tam challenge. Glenda had been carrying 2 packets of Tim Tams around with her so this was the morning to get everyone to try to drink their tea or coffee through a Tim Tam. A couple tried it  it most ended up just having the biscuit. Must have been good as both packets went.
We wound our way up into the Rockies with the temperature continuine to drop . Again the beautiful scenery but then there was a light dusting of snow on the ground. The top of the mountain is only open for about 3 months of the of the year and the rest of the time is closed so everyone stops at the top to climb to the very summit . Talk about hard work you are absolutely gasping for breath. Spent some time trying to get the perfect photo at first but unfortunately Russ started to get short of  breath and had forgot to keep his puffer out so quickly back on the bike and down the other side to lower altitude to help get his breathing under control. Back down into the valley for lunch at Smokin Joe's grill and a ventolin hit. The lunch stop was amazing as we wouldn't have looked twice at this place but go inside it's packed with people and the food was fantastic. Then it was time to wind our way down the other side to Boulder. This is a very pretty area but apparently it's the hippie town and a lot of cannabis is used as it is legal here. As expected as we got closer to Denver the traffic started to build and then on to the freeway with the final run into Eagleriders to drop our bikes off and head into town to get ready for our farewell dinner tonight at Hard Rock Cafe. Great night with lots of laughs and tears. Laura was heading off early the next morning as it's back to work for her and Ken our driver was having a couple of days off before heading off on another tour.
The rest of us were staying another night in Denver so arrangements were made to catchup for dinner the following night.