Friday June 8 - last flight of the holiday - any chance of it being the first to leave on time? Nope, none at all - due to leave at 8:45 - now estimated 9:20 - that estimated doesn't bode well... Now up to 16 hours delays on 4 flights - how much higher will it go?

Thursday 7 July - did little other than sit in the garden and read all day - so to make up for it I'll tell you a little more about Bryce Canyon from yesterday, now that I've managed to publish a small selection of our photos. As you'll see from the pictures Bryce is an amazing sight, a huge amphitheatre of natural stone structures about 8-9000 feet above sea level. To give you a sense of scale the rim walk above the escarpment is about three miles and the Hoo...

Big day out to Bryce Canyon. Apparently not a canyon at all but the most incredible of sites. Hard to even start to describe what we spent six hours marvelling at so see pictures (when Neil's sorted through the 600+ we took). Drove through some poor communities where 'dead' cars lay around in abundance. Saw some bison, elk, prairie dogs, chipmunks and antelope but to our disappointment no black bears. Even saw a cowboy on his horse. All very different from Essex ...

Tuesday 5 June - despite the best efforts of the unseasonal weather to block our plans the clouds lifted late afternoon and allowed us a great walk up from Zion Lodge to the three Emerald Pools - one of which was closed, one dry and the third almost inaccessible! However the evening light highlighted the weird shapes and fabulous colours of the mountains all around us. Still struggling with the American attitude to tipping - tonight's bill from Wildcat Willy's ...

Monday 4 July - awesome day dude! Drove through Utah to lake Powell in Arizona. On the way past a sign to Paria Town, apparently an old movie set, sadly destroyed by vandals a few years ago - but now a fabulous unpaved road through the most stunning red sandstone and limestone scenery (see Paria photo album). Page AZ is a town built entirely to support Lake Powell Dam on the Colorado river which is the basis for a huge hydro-electric plant. It is also home to t...