4th February - We got up and, as it had stopped snowing for a short while (Ralph spoke to an American later in the day who told him they are having the worst winter here since the 1970's and the snow is not due to stop until March) and so it wasn't cloudy, we headed back to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge to try and get some better, clearer pictures.We then headed to see an example of the Earthships which are built here.They are self-sustaining, environmentally friendly houses built with recycled materials (the structures are made with old tires filled with mud and then stuck together and bottles and cans fill in the gaps before it is painted over - sounds horrible but they are actually very beautiful) that survive completely off grid without the need to be connected to electricity (they make their own from the wind and solar panels) or water supplies (they store the rain and snow which falls throughout the year and also recycle it so the water that runs from the sinks and showers is filtered and cleaned and used to flush the toilets) so there are no utility bills at all.Because they don't need to be connected to utilities they are built in areas of outstanding beauty and have fantastic views.We learnt that some have even been built in the United Kingdom now, as well as other parts of the world.Ralph thought it was all for hippies, but there were aspects of them I absolutely loved and they were beautiful.We then headed to the Taos Pueblo, a Native Indian village for the Red Willow People, which was built in AD 1450 and has been continuously inhabited ever since.It has the largest existing multi storied pueblo structure in the U.S. and homes around 150 Native Indians.The rules on entering the Pueblo are very strict.There are only a few select areas you can actually look at, as they don't want outside influence to effect how they live.You had to pay to take your camera and were not allowed to photograph things like the inside of the church or any Native American, unless you had obtained their permission first.The most interesting thing was really that the Native Americans live in rooms all in the same adobe building, but all the doors to the rooms they live in are all accessed from the outside and they don't have a system of stairs but rather each room has its own ladder which reaches it from the ground.You therefore see one adobe building with lots of different length ladders reaching up to the different rooms at different levels.We thought it couldn't be easy on a day like this when the whole place was covered in snow and ice!We saw drying racks that are used seasonally to dry corn, meats and berries.We also saw adobe mounds called hornos used to bake bread, a bit like a pizza oven with a big stone door.They also had the circular subterranean chambers known as kiva, where they hold their ceremonies, but these were off limits to the public and the slight glance that you normally get from afar was hampered by the snow.The Taos Indians speak an unwritten and unrecorded language called Tiwa which is passed orally from generation to generation in the home and conduct their business and tribal law according to traditional unwritten laws.Ralph's verdict on this experience?"They are so backward in things.How do they expect to move on if they haven't even got Google?!!!".We then left Taos and drove the 3 hour drive to tonight's stop over, Alburquerque.

5th - Happy 12th birthday to my sister Kaycia!!Today is also Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday).We took a drive through the low lying snow covered mountains to the Sandia Peak tramway.This is the world's longest aerial tramway which takes you from the base of the Peak to the top which is 10,378 foot up.Kirsty had been really looking forward to going on this tramway and we had decided to go and have a hot chocolate on top of the snowy peak, but we were to be thwarted as they had closed the tramway for maintenance works. Disappointed, we headed for Petroglyth National Monument which offers three trails ranging in difficulty that encircle more than 15,000 rock etchings that date from AD 1300.On arriving there we realised that to take any of these trails would mean that we might not make the town of Flagstaff, Arizona by tonight, which is where we want to be.We therefore headed on again, this time to the National Atomic Museum just outside Albuquerque's historic old town (which is a really beautiful place).We only went there because Ralph hoped to get an "I love the bomb" t-shirt we had been told they were available in Los Alamos but had not seen any), but they didn't have any of the type he wanted - no luck again, so we started our journey to Flagstaff (about a 6.5 hour drive).I wanted to take an alternative route for part of the way, called Route 53, which is known as a scenic drive.We got on there and everything was fine to begin with and totally stunning, until we hit really bad snow and ice covered road.Because this is not the main interstate (motorway) route to Arizona it had not been cleared or gritted and the road steadily got worse.We saw a sign for some ice caves on route and, thinking they could be really interesting we pulled off, only to have to turn around and head back after a short way as there was no way we could make it down the road and back again with the amount of snow there.All this time it was still snowing so we knew it wasn't going to get any better.We carried on towards our destination and came to the Arizona border.Here we could tell we were leaving New Mexico (apart from the large Welcome to Arizona signs!) because the badly made road suddenly changed to amazingly smooth and immaculately snowploughed tarmac.This had also happened to us the other way round when we left Texas and entered New Mexico, it seems New Mexico just aren't as concerned with looking after their roads as other states.Pressing on we pulled off the Interstate at the sign for the Petrified Forest National Park, which we had seen in the guide book.Again, this was closed, it was not to be our lucky day!We therefore drove on to Flagstaff and arrived after dark.On arriving at our hotel and turning on the t.v. we learnt that massive tornados had hit some of the Southern states, destroying whole counties, including Tennessee and Louisiana, where we were just a month or so ago.We had planned on visiting these states later in our trip than we did, and could have ended up there now, so maybe we weren't so unlucky after all.

6th - Last night was a restless night as Ralph was extremely ill and had to get up at least every 30 minutes to be sick.We woke this morning extremely tired and it was obvious that there was no way Ralph was going to be well enough to go out so it was a day where he tried to recuperate and I went out and did lots of bits and pieces that we never seem to have time to do.I put in about 3 loads of washing (its been ages since we have had a hotel with a laundry) and got it dried whilst taking advantage of the hotel's indoor hot tub (we never iron anything on this trip as we seldom have ironing facilities and, even if we do, everything gets creased in the case anyway).I then got ready and headed out into Flagstaff.Flagstaff is a beautiful little town with a wonderful historic downtown area, full of boutique shops, bagel cafes and extremely well rated but cheap restaurants (not that we were able to try any whilst we were here as Ralph was confined to chicken broth, bread and water on my orders!).All the parking is free (one of the first places where parking has been free in the whole town since we arrived in the U.S.) and it looked totally idyllic all covered in snow.Although snow covered the town they had done a great job of clearing it from the roads and pathways and there was not a patch in sight on anywhere you needed to walk or drive (take note U.K. towns!!).I went to a wonderful bagel café and had a lovely pastrami bagel and a French croissant and then headed to the local library to print something off the internet that our U.K. bank needed (I will not start on that subject otherwise I won't be able to stop!) and was told that all libraries in the U.S. offer free internet for a set time period to international travellers, on showing of suitable identification.Glad that the bank issue which seems to have been hanging round our neck was sorted, I went to Safeway (they have them here in Arizona and they are mega posh with Starbucks inside - perfect!) and got some medication recommended by the pharmacist for Ralph's illness (viral gastroenteritis apparently which is the second most common illness in America) plus the soup and bread that I am allowing him to eat.I managed to book a beauty appointment for tomorrow morning and arrived back at the hotel totally enchanted with Flagstaff.I am not sure what its like in the summer (possibly unbearably hot) but, based on my time there, its somewhere I would be more than happy to live, a place where everyone (apart from me!) knew each other by name, and businesses were more than happy to let their employees spend time just chatting with customers, who are also their friends.The only other places I have felt I would be happy to live in whilst being on our travels are New York City, Nashville and Dallas.Ralph would add the Outer Banks and Cocoa Beach to this list, but there's not enough going on at either of those two places for me.After taking some of the medication Ralph was starting to feel a little better and so we headed to the Lowell Observatory, which witnessed the first sighting of Pluto in 1922.Admission includes access to a small exhibit on the planets and the stars but the main attraction is the telescope.We waited in the snow to look through the telescope, which they had focused on Mars, only to be disappointed when all we could see was a hazy white ball!We stayed for the lecture, which was about trying to locate caves on Mars with the help of NASA (don't ask!) and then headed back to the hotel.We were asleep by 9.30 p.m.!

7th - I got up and went out for my beauty treatment and called in at the post office (we spend a lot of time in post offices over here!) and, at 10.30 a.m. when I got back, Ralph had just woken up but was feeling much better.We therefore got ready and headed back east for a 40 minute drive to the Meteor Crater.This meteorite impact site in the middle of the desert is nearly a mile across, 2.4 miles in circumference and over 550 feet deep, as tall as a 60 storey building.When you have a look at the crater its hard to take in how big it actually is.Admission includes a free 1 mile trek out to a scenic point of the crater and back and we would suggest that if you get the choice, try and get Edwardo as your guide.He has lived at the crater for 12 years (he gets an apartment at the side of the crater as part of his job benefits) and has loads of knowledge and a fantastic sense of humour.He's also the star of many programmes on the crater made by channels such as the History and Discovery channels.He tells you all about the history of the place together with the geology and wildlife and is a truly fantastic guide.The crater is just not as impressive if you don't take the tour.We found out that the Apollo astronauts trained here on collecting rock samples, as its one of the few places on Earth that resembles the Moon surface.After leaving the meteor crater we headed a further hour east to go back to the Petrified Forest National Park which was closed a couple of days ago when we had tried to visit.This time it was open and we were allowed in.This park is known for its broken fossilized logs pre-dating the dinosaurs, but we found that the bigger appeal is actually the wonderful scenery, called the Painted Desert, which changes colour as the sun moves across the sky.The mountains appear to have rings of colour, yellows and reds.We were meant to have an inspection of the car at the exit of the park to ensure that we had not taken any of the petrified logs with us (there are loads of shops on the Interstate selling pieces of them) but the ranger simply asked us whether we had taken any (like we would admit it if we had!) before sending us on our way.We headed back to the hotel for another early night, as Ralph, although much better, is still getting over his illness and needs to sleep a lot (he slept most of the journey back, luckily I was driving!!).

8th - We headed out to a town called Sedona, south of Flagstaff, which had been recommended by Edwardo, our tour guide the day before.The journey there took us through beautiful snow covered mountain scenery.Arizona is known for its red rock and we saw plenty, all the while having the air conditioning on, as it is really hot, even in the snow.Sedona is a pretty and slightly upmarket cowboy town, full of pottery boutiques, shops offering tours and coffee shops.After a walk around the town we headed to Coffeepot Café, recommended by our guidebook and famous for its 101 types of omelette.I went for the open roast beef sandwich with mashed potato and gravy (this is some of the first mashed potato or gravy we have found in the U.S.) and Ralph, always the adventurous one, went for the peanut butter and jelly (jam) omelette.Mine was lovely, although as always with American portions, there was way too much.Ralph said that his was nice, but it was just something to try, not something he would order time after time.He reckons that if its good enough for Elvis on a deep fried sandwich, its good enough for him on an omelette!We then headed to Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, which is a 1000ft tall volcano cone north of Flagstaff.It was hard to get the best of the volcano as snow covered the majority of it, and so we took a drive around the 26 mile park and then headed to our stop over location for the night, Williams on the historic Route 66, in readiness for our trip to the Grand Canyon tomorrow.Williams is the type of place you can't believe still exists.It looks like a one horse town where the horse has been shot!In all the time we were there we hardly saw any other people or traffic.It consists of two roads which go through it and you could hardly believe that they had electricity here, never mind anything as advanced as the internet.The gas station has vintage gas pumps from the 1950's, and not for tourists either, but just because they have never bothered to update them (its definitely a case of "if it ain't broke don't fix it" around here).There are old signs and murals relating to Route 66 everywhere, but the place seems lost and left behind compared to the other places we have visited.

9th - We got up and drove 1 and a half hours to the Grand Canyon.Even though this was a Saturday the roads were quite quiet and we arrived there without any difficulties.You can tell this is a tourist trap as the petrol prices suddenly shot up, and there were still advertisements for places like McDonalds, even here.The cost to get into Grand Canyon National Park was $25.00 per vehicle, significantly more expensive than any of the other national parks we have visited, which tend to be between $5-10.00.We drove 5 miles into the Park to get our first view of the Canyon, and this will always be your best view as it is truly awe inspiring and something you just cannot stop staring at as its unlike anything you have ever seen before.The numbers are dizzying, its 1 mile deep, an average of 10 miles wide, 277 miles of the Colorado River runs along its floor and its housed in a National Park which consists of 1.2 million acres.The thing is, its almost too big and it makes it difficult to take it in.One of the driving routes which goes around part of the rim is usually closed to private vehicles but it was open, as it is every January and February.This route has lots of scenic stops for you to get out of the car and look and take more pictures and the stops have names like "The Abyss".We had thought about doing a hike into the canyon but the only one that we could really do around part of the rim seemed a little dull and took 3 hours.The majority of the other treks took an overnight camping stay to complete, something we just were not prepared for.Ralph had hoped to trek into the bottom of the canyon and back, but it takes at least 8 or 9 hours one way, so again overnight camping is a must.The treks were all quite treacherous as well due to the snow and ice, and it has to be said that we would have been mad to have attempted any of them in just trainers and our hiking boots are back in my cousin's storage area in the UK!We would recommend that if you go to the Grand Canyon you keep that first image that you see in your head, as you will not get a better one.Because the Canyon is so big, no matter which different vantage points you see it from, you almost get the same view, and it got to the point where we didn't really want to get out of the car to see the same view again at a different scenic stop.We decided we had "Canyon fatigue".Just one thing to say about the National Park itself, you would think that charging $25.00 for each of the hundreds of vehicles they get each day would mean that they could take good care of the roads, but as soon as you get off the main road in and out the roads are terrible, with raised lumps in the middle which you hope won't take something off the bottom of your car and numerous pot holes; it's a real mess and one that we weren't expecting at one of the most famous visitor attractions in the U.S.We left the Park and headed to our hotel, a lovely lodge type place with an open fireplace, indoor heated pool and spa, piano in the lobby etc.It's much better quality than the hotels we normally stay in and it was still on budget - result!