2 weeks have gone again and when I left off we were in Freddy's farmer house garden where the boys were playing volley before dinner- this time with huge steaks instead of vegetarian.

Sunday Freddy had to play a soccer game so Andreas and I had a slow morning and went to rent some bikes so that we could go riding with Freddy later in the afternoon. We all met for lunch at this spacey cute teahouse in Boulder before heading of to the mountains for some biking. We went up hill for a couple of hours and when our lungs couldn't handle it anymore Andreas and I turned around while Freddy bravely continued the climb up to his old neighborhood in the mountains. We met for volleyball at a beach court near the farm with Freddy and one of his friends in the evening and had a lot of fun playing while the sun set behind the mountains. Since we had been eating out for dinner every night we were quite keen for yet another homecooked meal (poor us - I know - eating out every night with no dishes to clean must be horrible but I guess you start missing little things like that when your on the road for so long;-) So again we shopped for dinner at Wholefoods (our utter most favorite food store ever - when will someone open one in DK?!) and stayed in at the farm. It was so nice to visit family and Freddy you were an amazing host.

Monday we got up early, drove by Freddy to give him a big hug goodbye and continued North West to Rocky Mountains national park. The nature here was so different to what we had experienced so far in red rock country and in the desert. We hiked two amazing trails in the park; the first among tall trees and rivers through the mountains and the second in the snow around the lakes in the park. We got a bit lost on the second hike so before we knew it we were ankle-deep in snow with sneaks on - not too clever. We had fun exploring the wilderness though and made it back to the car safe and sound - and exhausted. We had booked the nicest little B&B with a hut tub next to a small lake, a complementary glass of wine upon arrival and a fireplace in the room - aaarrhh what a luxury. We had discussed the possibility of skiing in the area for a while but it all seemed so expensive since we didn't bring any gear with us. However that evening we decided to go for it and got up at 6AM to take on the 3-hour drive to Arapahoe Basin, Colorado to go skiing/boarding for the day. We rented our gear and were on the mountain by 10AM - Andreas in jeans, which really was a sight for sore eyes. We spent the whole day skiing in the sun - no powder available whatsoever so we just relaxed and enjoyed the slopes in stead. In the afternoon we were back on the road going back West towards Utah. Kind of surreal to spend the weekend in shorts and t-shirts walking the streets of Boulder and the next thing you know you're skiing in the Rockies. We'll definitely have to come back for more someday as the whole area is basically built for offpiste skiing - all that was missing was the snow.

Wednesday we arrived at Capitol Reef National Park in Utah where we did some short not very committed hiking as we were saving our strength for Bryce and Zion - national parks that everyone we had met on our trip had recommended us to go to. Of course Mrs. Travel-Manager here had the parks on her list waaaay before even arriving in the US ;-)

So we got to Bryce Canyon Thursday afternoon just in time for a long nice hike. What is special about Bryce is what they call "hoodoos" - strange spikey rock formations that make the park look like something from out of Lord of the Rings. The landscape is just mesmerizing.

We got up for yet another spectacular sunrise the next morning and continued yesterday's success with yet another long trek around the park before heading southwest to Zion. Zion Canyon is also a very spectacular national treasure (I think it seems a bit like a mini Yosemite) with huge mountains surrounding green valleys and beautifully colored rocks. We were a bit surprised about the huge amount of people who were in and around the park as we up till now had basically been travelling in low season but with Easter and spring, people were everywhere.

We planned to hike a special trail called the Narrows the next day, which is usually not possible in spring time. The Narrows is a long hike in water, upstream, through a canyon - basically you are walking in water 75% of the time and since the water is ice cold (below 5 C) we wore waterproofs pants and shoes. Maybe you are getting the picture of our time spent by now: a lot of hiking in national parks, early to bed and some time on the road. Anyway we started hiking quite early in the morning and were lucky enough to escape the crowds - I guess it also helped that we hiked 3 hours one way in water before returning. When we got back we realized that most people just walk very little of the Narrows so the start of the trail was absolutely packed. Walking in water is really tiring but we decided to finish the day with a small hike overlooking some of Zion- I guess we just can't get enough ;-)

By now it was Sunday and yet another week had passed with amazing adventures and a lot of nature. We started the day of fdoing a 13KM round trip (uphill) hike to Observation point overlooking the entire canyon. I have never seen Andreas walk so quickly up a steep mountain and I guess it could have something to do with the fact that this was the last hike before heading to Vegas. He couldn't wait to get back down. But by now we both really needed a break from nature and healthy living so Vegas was just the place to go. For every kilometer we got closer to Vegas watching Andreas was like watching a kid before opening presents on Christmas Eve. His excitement was contagious so we were both really wired when we got to sin city and checking in to our kick-ass room on the 34th floor overlooking the strip didn't help. We had five nights here and were ready to go all in (get it J). Well the first night went as expected, we got really really drunk, not being able to handle all the free drinks you get while you sit at the black jack tables - and the more drunk you get the more money you lose. Clever casinos! We had a great night out, lost some money and paid the price with a raging hangover the next day. We hadn't been so much as tipsy since we left Brazil and even before that - so our bodies were just not used it. Luckily there is no shame in being hung-over in Vegas so we just spent the day walking around like zombies. We even went to the cinema at noon - I don't think I have ever done that before. We bought tickets for Rock of Ages at the Venetian in the evening and by then we actually felt almost human again. Rock of ages was a kick-ass show - so much good energy and not to mention good music. Highly recommendable.

Before the show Andreas was his usual romantic self and took me to a nice Italian wine bar were he gave me an infinity ring from Tiffany's. The occasion was our anniversary in March and the fact that we were getting re-married in Vegas and a girl can't get married without a ring (even though it's the second time around).

We had actually planned to spend a lot of time at the pool at our hotel but we hadn't really expected that a typhoon would wreck that for us. It was so damn windy that they closed of the pool. So instead we explored Vegas - this very strange city - some more. It's really hard to explain Vegas. I guess the fact that everything is "allowed" and nothing is frowned upon explains why people go here - to unwind and to go a bit crazy. Also everything is oversize, the food, the drinks, the buildings etc. Every casino is a city in itself and you can easily get lost and end up wandering around for hours before you find an exit sign. It's just crazy - and crazy ass expensive!! Even the Starbucks coffee costs double up in Vegas… As we are still on a budget that annoyed the hell out of us and we were kind of happy that we were only staying four days.

Due to the above mentioned "typhoon" we spent day two walking up and down the strip and in the evening we had the obligatory buffet dinner at one of the casinos (MGM to those of you who are interested). We ate and drank for hours getting our moneys worth and came back to the hotel tipsy and ready for a bit of gambling (and yes - again we lost J).

Wednesday was our wedding day!!! After our usual morning work out in the hotel gym we could finally chill at the pool since the wind had worn off, and in the afternoon we drove to "A Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas" (yes that was actually the name of the place). Things went a bit wrong from here as there was some miscommunication from their side, which resulted in us waiting around for more than an hour before everyone was ready for the ceremony - everyone being the photographer and Elvis of course. When we finally got to the ceremony everything went well though - Elvis re-married us, sang to us and we walked out of there as husband and wife (again). It was a bit surprising that the wedding was actually really romantic so I had to bite my lip not to start crying. After the ceremony we had a 30 minute photo shoot with a cool photographer, they had just forgotten to tell us that these photos would not be included in our wedding package and would cost an additional 250 bucks (we had already paid 199 for the simple Elvis package so we didn't want to spend anymore money). I guess we should have known that these kind of chapels do everything in their power to squeeze more money out of you once they have you. After all - you can't put a price on love - or can you?!

So all in all the experience was really cool and we still can't believe that we actually got married in Vegas. Now we are just missing the final wedding with all our friends and family - good things come in threes J After the wedding we celebrated with a nice steak dinner in downtown Vegas on Fremont Street which in our opinion is a lot cooler than the actual strip as distances are not so far and there is a real cool partyvibe.

Our last day we again relaxed at the pool face timing friends and family at home - in the evening we went to a cute tapas place of the strip and watched David Copperfield perform his magic. He is really cult and so 90ies. In my opinion he is the new Siegfried and Roy in Vegas - all kitsch, bad jokes and real cool magic. All in all a great show.

We left Vegas Friday morning and looking back we had such a great time but we were also happy to be leaving as Vegas just drains energy out of you - unless you win money of course.

Next stop - yes you guessed it: a national park!!! Saturday we spent in Death Valley: located 83metres below see level and the place with the highest measured temperatures on earth, 57 degrees! The park is just massive and not made for hiking so we drove from viewpoint to viewpoint seeing salt mines, sand dunes, marble canyons and Joshua trees all in one park and without the effort to actually walk which was quite nice for a change.

We spent the night by Mono Lake in Northern Cali has the plan was that we would head into Yosemite from there - no one had mentioned that the east entrance to the park is actually closed until May so if we wanted to get to Yosemite we would have to drive 6 hours to the West entrance. Well we decided to do Yosemite later on our trip and spent a day at the Mammoth Lakes in stea which is a skiresort with skiseason coming to an end. We just walked around some of the lakes, checked in to a very cool inn with a fireplace and spent the evening binge watching Friday night lights on Netflix - just our kind of evening.

Monday (yesterday) was Andreas' birthday! We had breakfast at the motel, bought a yummy affordable Starbucks coffee and headed further North to Lake Tahoe where we are currently staying with my "step-uncle" Larry and his wife. On the way here we stopped in Bodie, which is a ghost town from the Gold rush days. Back in the end of the 18th century thousands of people were living here looking for gold. The houses and shops were abandoned as the gold ran out and are now just standing there - I guess that's why they call it a ghost town.

We arrived in Tahoe in the evening and were received with open arms in Larry and Daphne's amazing home in Truckee, California. It's just beautiful out here and they have completely opened their home to us. I had arranged for a romantic dinner in Truckee, which had steak béarnaise on the menu - Andreas' favorite.

Today we've been exploring the neighborhood, visiting the tourist office and simply enjoying the fact that we have a backyard to hang out in.

We are happy and still enjoying being on the road experiencing something new almost every day. That's it for now.