We are sitting in a Starbucks in American Fork in Utah experiencing our first rainy day since we have left Australia... it's kind of great after all that sunny desert!

Since Palm Springs we have done a heap. First stop was Las Vegas, not what we expected in our innocence... more prostitution than gambling, an amazing eye opener! Then down to Lake Mead to see the Hoover Dam. A nice receptionist at our hotel at Lake Mead directed us to a camping store that was having a closing down sale and we found ourselves a cheap tent at last.

So it was then off to Red Rocks, just outside Las Vegas for a couple of days fantastic camping and climbing (great tip Carlie, thanks). From Red Rocks we headed north east to Zion National Park - so far our hands down favourite place... talk about wow factor!

The Grand Canyon came next, which we found to be , well large... grand perhaps but not quite so wow. Perhaps it is too big to understand.

After the grand canyon we headed north to Monument Valley and watched the most amazing sunset... perhaps ever? Makes perfect photos. We had the camping spot to ourselves until 11pm that night when a car pulled up and loudly and longly pitched their tent right next to us... we thought they might have been afraid of the dark and coyotes, turns out they were actually straight out of Wayne's World ughhh....

We went upto Moab and Delicate Arch after this for our alloted shower and comfy bed night... Moab is a lovely small outdoorsy town, so of course in the block down from our hotel there was a seige. A father held his wife & kids hostage at gunpoint, we heard a number of shots and apparently the father was killed by a police sniper. Only in America.

Yesterday we arrived at American Fork Canyon, just outside Salt Lake City in Utah to do some climbing. So' at the moment we are camped in the snow and waiting for the weather to change for us to get a climb in, tomorrow maybe.