Monday morning and it’s quiet on the home front before the sun rises, apart from the alligator’s honking in the lake and the birds having their morning catch up in the trees…a moment to reflect on the fun times of the last two days…

Saturday….it was golf day for the boys and shopping for the girls…and a houseful of family and Kiwis at the Wachtstetter homestead.,.

The go cart came out to play, morning activity for the Harder boys(Tonas nieces’ family who had joined us all for the long weekend)

Then around midday, the boys loaded up for their golf afternoon and the Girls…headed to the Lake Jackson Mall…TJMaxx, Ross Dress for Less…just a couple of lengthy stops…and more!

Cavenders boot store, everything country!…found us dressing up our model (Jess) in good Texas style…Kristin(Tonas niece) leading the charge…by 5pm…things had just found their way to my overloaded credit card which was feeling somewhat heavy!

Tona had collected Texas BBQ to feed the golfers and shoppers…for an evening of TV baseball and eating!

Sunday morning, Tona was up early, preparing the feast for the afternoon Easter celebrations.

But first…all off to Church for the Easter service…then the festivities began..

Chris’s and Lori’s family with the grand daughters Easter dresses that Tona had bought for all the girls …

The lunch was served…all the family adding to the feast! (The fridges are still full of leftovers) The kids played in and out of the pool and a 300 Easter egg hunt for them in the garden! Tona, Jodi (Tonas sister) and I had stuffed these plastic eggs with candy and money…the 12 kids all collected a good stash!

We (kiwis) got to catch up with (George with Tonas mum here) all the family and meet more members from Tonas side…

Kristin (Harder) and I still realing from the previous days shopping trip! This gal likes to shop too!!!

Their youngest son, Lawson, was celebrating his 9th birthday … an Easter cupcake and the happy birthday song for him!

George had bought the wachtstetter crew (adults) all All Blacks Rugby shirts, which they all donned for the afternoon…

George told them they all needed to fold their arms and look tough!!! Tona did a great job!

Then it was time…the traditional (or so it has become) water balloon fight…Gran’ma Sue against the kids and whoever else wants to join in!

I copped one in the face!

George and the girls ready for battle!

I certainly needed some reinforcements on my team…these kids are getting bigger! 100 water balloons were just not enough! Next time 200 at least!

Ok so I was wet…time to join the kids back in the pool…

Lizzie and I taking Mr Trump for a swim…shortly after this…he deflated…but sure he will resurface!!

As all the visitors hit the road for their journeys home (some of them having travelled 3 hours) we collapsed in front of the TV for some baseball and basketball entertainment- none of which produced the desired outcomes! We can’t win them all..we had all had the best day!

After a good sleep back in Texas….the busy times for the Easter weekend begin…

Tona and I went grocery shopping on Thursday morning, we filled a trolley each!!!

Tesla trucking in the carpark…not a pretty sight…but here they are!

We then drove to Houston in the afternoon to collect George and Jess, who had managed to escape the storm turmoil in Auckland and arrived on schedule…a three hour round trip in the rush hour traffic, dinner and bed for the weary travellers. Friday morning (Good Friday) was a slowish start with a family stroll to the end of Sheri Lane and back…

George and Chuck leading the charge and catching up on the last three years!

The boys then went for a little Shoot (we are in Texas) Chris (Tona and Chucks eldest son) joining them and Tona, Jess and I a little shopping excursion! Boys shoot, Girls shop!

The boot shop…overwhelmed for choice…need more time to spend here for sure! A new pair of these is on my shopping list!

The afternoon held a family gathering at Kelly and Eric’s (Kelly -Tona and Chucks daughter) with a Mexican themed meal, George in pigs heaven! …we headed up around 2pm.

All three of T &Cs kids, and their families and three of us Kiwis having a great afternoon in the warm Texas outdoors… the kids swimming,

Trampolining…and having a great time…while all the big humans caught up with George, who was here in 2022 last and got to know Jess.

Dear little Emma, the youngest grandchild (for now… a new one due in a month) giving her Nonna and Gran’ma Sue a cuddle!

Today is Saturday, slightly overcast, but another busy day planned with more family!

Leaving Cortez Colorado just after 7am…

Heading east to Albuquerque, New Mexico to catch our flight back to Houston, the sun was peeking through the clouds on the hills…

Back seat photos at 80 miles per hour!! We hit a little rain through the desert areas, drove thru miles of Navajo Indian land, filled with trailer parks , surrounded by car graveyards! When your car no longer goes, you evidently just leave it where it stopped!!

We arrived on the outskirts of Albuquerque around 11.30am and headed for one of Chucks favourite Mexican joints for an early Lunch…

Framed by strings of (real) large Chilli peppers…a great rambling restaurant with outdoor and indoor dining areas..

A day before the Easter break and Peter rabbit was there to greet us on arrival at the entrance…

A vast selection of hot sauce, and the range of Tequila drinks on the menu, covered a whole page….however at 11.30am….coffee, water and iced tea was more preferable…with still a fair journey ahead of us.

Tonas taco salad…including an edible taco bowl if so inclined…

My (small) quesadilla meal and snacks were almost daunting, so glad I ordered the small, even then I could only manage half…

Bursting at the seams…we headed to the airport and said goodbye to the Red Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross…and shuttled to the airport for the penultimate leg of our journey.

The airport was busy and even sported a pet bathroom…there was an artificial grass mat, a fire hydrant for the boy canines, and instead of hand towels a roll of doggy bags.. hanging in a wall dispenser… however I didn’t actually see any dogs waiting for planes? Nice touch though!

A two hour flight, and the final drive Home, by 8pm – having gained an hour (Timezone) on the way…meanwhile my friends and family back in NZ battling through the cyclone and power cuts…my fences taking a bit of a battering I believe…

Hope the Lemon tree survives!!!

Not literally, just enjoying the south western roads of Colorado and everything in between – from the Mesa Verde National Park, and ancient Pueblos Indian cliff dwellings, dating back to 600AD, to the town of Durango, established in 1881, to service further expansion of the Rio Grande Railway system and service the San Juan mining district…

A sleep in…breakfast at 8am, and then up to the Mesa Verde National Park…..which turned out to be a drive around lookout tour, as being not the summer season until May….tours into the cliff Dwellings were unavailable and some areas still closed off from the winter months.

First lookout stop on the mountain road, having climbed 2000 feet.

First view of the spruce tree house built into the rock faces…

The air was cool and it was a winter woollies day…

A small climb, but smooth path out…we have become selective on our trails over the last week!!

The Cliff Palace – the largest cliff dwellings in North America.

In the Summer months one can take a tour down through the cliffs to get up close and personal with these original remaining structures.

Not sure how people would get down there right now, but apparently they do!

Balcony house lookout – natural shelter from the overhanging balcony…

Next stop the Square Tower Dwelling…

Bearing in mind these dwellings haven’t been inhabited for eight Centuries – many signs and messages around the place informing us “they did not disappear” …. Their souls and footprints remain! Although we did not see any!

We then visited a number of remains of the above cliff pit house dwellings …

Great construction techniques back then, with original foundations all intact!

And closer to the cliff dwellings …

Cliff palace…

After a shower of rain out came the sun (and smiles) again…

And finally the Sun Temple…

All sealed and our experience of this was walking around a sort of circular stone wall….George (6’7”) may have been able to see over! However Tona did get closer to the dwellings with the (free) telescope!

Having spent five hours, of driving and jumping in and out of the car…our self drive tour was now over and the team consensus was to head North to the town of Durango for lunch/dinner…

A mall with a great little Mexican cafe…huge meals and a drink…around 3pm.

To walk off our full tummies, we took a small hike along the Aminas riverside Trail…

A little mid stream island, nesting place for a very large duck (about the size of a goose)

A book exchange library…now a must have around the world for us book lovers!

The white rabbit garden – encouraged by the town council to make a garden from any trash folks pick up..

And white(brown) water rafting activities down the river…

Final view from the bridge on way back to car…and Cortez for our final night…but we are not talking about that!

This morning we left Rubys hotel (and everything she owns) in Bryce Canyon…

This hotel has it all…swimming pools, gym, shops, artwork…

Indian artefacts…

A reception area of log cabin genre…

Where I met my fellow travellers for a buffet breakfast before hitting the road from here (Utah) to Cortez(Colorado) and a couple more states in between…..a proposed 6 hour drive – that actually took 8 hours with our sightseeing stops! After a couple of hours (maybe three) on the road, we were in Arizona…and came to the Glen Canyon Dam…(not on the agenda but well worth a stop)

Another hydro electric dam on the Colorado river – which was constructed from 1956…to provide electricity and water reservoirs (supply) to these southern states…

Chuck had a little work to attend to and Tona and I explored the Carl Hayman information centre (the namesake of the senator who drove this project)

Again in the middle of the desert this water body was spectacular!

Yesterday in the rocks at Bryce Canyon, I mentioned this landscape looked like what would have been dinosaur country and sure enough …here at the Glen canyon dam…was a monument to these creatures!!

Inside we explored the history of the area and I had a little play in the Junior Rangers area…

After this leg stretch, we hit the road again travelling the long straight roads in northern Arizona…to a random town in the middle of nowhere where we stopped for a snack! And continued on to the four corners monument…as we crossed….four states in one hit…

I am standing in four states of USA at one time…

As above, however, travelling with a land surveyor, I was duly informed the actual spot may be wrong…the actual four corner meeting point is around 1500 feet away in any of the four directions from the photo opportunity spot!! (As above)

A 20 minute stop and a long drop bathroom break cost USD 8,00 each…. The Indian land obviously holds a high value…but as Russ always said “might as well see the place while we’re here”

We arrived in Cortez, Colorado around 4pm…checked into our hotel for the next two nights and crossed to the adjoining restaurant/bar at 5pm…for a few beers (finally enjoying our beers of choice) and snacks….on the terrace as the sun went down …very pleasant end to a long car day!!

This morning after a hotel breakfast, we left Springdale and Zion National park…a two hour drive to Bryce Canyon National Park. Google drive time was actually 2 hours short and the drive was 4 hours, however, we did make a few scenic stops as we traversed mountains, visited caves, took the (dirt road) scenic route…and stopped to fuel up! From hot rocks to mountain snow as we travelled from Cedar Park through the Dixie National Forest.

Over the mountain pass we stopped at several viewpoints to capture the valleys and mountains dotted with snow!

As we dropped over the top of the range in the valley the lakes were still frozen, and snow was bordering both sides of the roads…

First planned tourist stop was the mammoth caves…a free attraction…waving in and out of internet and google map updates our driver(Chuck) found himself reversing out of dirt roads and private property…and finally heading in the right direction…a 4 mile dirt, rutted track to our proposed destination..,

Sue climbed in and Tona and Chuck were the emergency rescue team (if needed)

First climb was a cave in this black hole… with a locked gate until next month leading to the bat breeding colony!

The second cave, and much smaller hole to climb in was about 2.5 foot high. I had to climb in on all fours…and snapped a couple of pics…

Just to prove I had been underground!

We then headed off…towards Bryce Canyon National Park….again taking a few detours and dirt roads… and entering the Red canyon area, diving through arches…

And surrounded by cliffs of red rocks…then on into Bryce Canyon….We decided to take the car to the first lookout point on the agenda …. Inspiration Point on the Canyon Rim Trail….now just warning you all, the next series of images may be a “you had to be there” scenario, but the views and heights were unbelievable that these are a mere snapshot of the pics I took!

Parking in the viewpoint car park…of course it was a climb up! With an unbarriered track edge….dropping off thousands of feet into the canyon. my stomach turned every time I got a little close to the edge…

Rock formations in yellow and red cascading into the floor of the canyon.

A handrail edge at a very strategic lookout point…where we were comfortable to take a selfie!

From the track climbing up to inspiration lookout, the panorama opening before our eyes.

This tree living on the edge, its roots barely holding onto the ground!

Quote: “Truth be told, Bryce isn’t a canyon. It’s a natural amphitheater carved into the eastern flank of the Paunsaugunt Plateau by millions of years of wind and water erosion” Unquote…

To me it looked like a giant volcano had erupted leaving the enormous circular hole filled with the most incredible rock formations..

Inspiration Point, outside the viewpoint area, the track fell horizontally down….

A panorama of the canyon…

And yours truly bravely clutching the outermost rail of the point…

Looking down to the Forest floor…if you look closely you can see a zigzagging walking trail to the bottom…and if we looked hard we could see the odd person down there…I didn’t envy their walk back out!

This viewpoint then continued with a rim walk to the next lookout Bryce Point…a 1.5 mile (3km) walk around the rim edge of the canyon. We decided to walk this and back to the car rather than driving the next area.

This part of the rim track fell away both sides…with quite a breeze whipping across…the stomach somersaulted a few times!

Another example of rim track edge – without any safety rails!

A view of the canyon looking further out to the snow capped mountains in the distance..

Finally reaching the Bryce point viewpoint ….and dizzying heights continued…

More vegetation on the edge…

The final rim leading to the platform..

Majestic views from the opposite side from where we started…

And…..More…. Ok that’s it for today, but honestly, if you are ever in this National Park area of Utah….Bryce Canyon National park is a must see!!

Instead of retracing our steps (on foot) we took the (free) shuttle back to our car and headed back to our place for the evening….nearing 4pm and all hungry

Ruby’s Inn, and everything else…one room ready the other not…we decided late lunch, early dinner, and a drink was much needed …we devoured a huge buffet selection and then settled in for the evening….much longer drive ahead tomorrow on the National Parks adventure!!!

Yesterday did not end with the Vegas strip meandering…we each gave the pokie machines $50+….

Was hard to choose our machine! Then it was time to don the evening glad rags and head to the Eagles concert in the newest music venue on the strip “ The Globe”

Lit up with an ever changing light show from the outside..Tona and I both chose green as the wardrobe code..

Inside the globe the graphics were amazing and ever changing, moving images

Even though we were enclosed in the sphere it felt like we were at an open air concert with the sky image.

With an hour to kill, having been given strict etiquette instructions, that there was no standing, dancing or phone lights allowed, we decided that a beer or two was the only alternative! Three pints came to $138.00NZD so we really lashed out with two rounds and kept the cups as souvenirs, as I’m sure we paid a premium for these too!

Don Henley and the band, including Glen Fry’s son pounded out two hours of fantastic music accompanied by ever changing images and graphics on the inside of the sphere! I knew almost every song (and words)…..I didn’t realise I knew so many Eagles songs…it was an amazing concert, sounds wise as well as visuals! Probably puts it at my number 1, ahead of Cooper Alan and Cat Stevens. The walk back to the hotel was a challenge…to find an open door to enter our maze of a hotel and possibly added another couple of thousand steps onto an already big count! Midnight bed time after a very action filled day!

We left our Venetian Hotel, yes even with their own gondola river, around 8am and headed northeast to the state of Utah, destination: Zion National Park.

We had been spying these road side cafes and fuel stops (in Nevada) called Terribles…also touting clean bathrooms (like Buc-ees in Texas) so in need of a comfort stop we decided to check them out…

The entrance to the toilets was pretty impressive but the toilets not a patch on Buc-ees!

Onwards and upwards to the township of Springdale on the edge of the Zion National Park….an afternoon of hiking on the agenda..

Too early for check in, we dropped our car at the hotel and caught the (free) shuttle buses into the park and disembarked at stop number 6 to start the walk to the emerald pools and waterfalls!

The walk started with a horizontal zigzag of about a mile uphill…by now warming up, this climb was interspersed with tree shade rests and water sips!

It was pretty much a narrow rocky, orange dirt track with human (lots of them) traffic both ways…we soldiered on….

Stopping to admire the sheer cliff faces on either side of us.

Lots of pancake rocks

And prickly pear cactuses on the side…

The rock towers were orange, white, black and every shade thereof!

The emerald pools were a little unimpressive, as were fairly dry waterfalls feeding them…did manage a steep side track to catch this trickle…

However the towering cliff faces were spectacular!

As it was only mid afternoon and we were still standing after this two hour hike we decided to venture further into the mountains to walk (the easy) highest 2 mile track following the riverside walk up to The Narrows..once again on the shuttle bus(no cars allowed in the park) we commenced this trail, somewhat heartened by the sight of prams returning!

Following the river on a flat concrete path, only slightly undulating, we encountered some local wildlife…

Little squirrels starting to hop around the many walkers….increasing in numbers (walkers and squirrels) the further in we ventured…

A couple of young deer sunning themselves at the foot of the cliff faces…

Hand rails on this trail unlike the last more precipitous one, where there were no barriers!

The mountains closed in and the river became more rapid…super pretty bush and rock formations…

The end of the track, The Narrows, where one can continue on a three day wading hike further in and up the river…

A quick selfie, the Texans and Kiwi, still standing….but feeling like we had legs that were starting to scream out for a rest(food and a cold beer)

Back down the trail at ground zero…

Drinking in the sights and sounds and the last of our water…and trying not to step on the scurrying squirrels running beside us!

Back at the visitors centre with the crowds these two deer sent us a sign….bottoms up….so it was burgers and beer at the pub before catching our final shuttle back to our hotel, to check in, shower and put our weary feet up…another great day of adventures!

Early morning start to meet our shuttle to the little red birds to fly into the Grand Canyon…blue sky morning and the Texas crew up front with our pilot Ryan!

We took off around 8ish, after a very comprehensive safety briefing, life jackets firmly tied around our waists in case we ended up in the lake Mead Reservoir…

We flew over the Hoover dam… constructed between 1931 and 1935 and supplying power to the greater area since…

Lake Mead is a man made reservoir, courtesy of the Hoover Dam backfilling the Colorado river further up into the Grand Canyon, with a water area of 640 square kms, 162 meters deep at deepest point, supplying water to a large area of this desert. It is also a recreation area for fishing (introduced fish) and swimming in the very hot months of summer!

About an hour in our little red birds, found us land near the bottom of the Grand Canyon on the south side..

Stretch the legs….

Check out the local plant life…

Room with a view…

And Bubbles for breakfast along with a picnic snack basket…

9.00am….very on vacation aren’t we!

Loading back into our helicopter we flew back over the cliffs and crevase’s of the Grand Canyon..

Getting a great view of the reservoir waterways..

Our Pilot, testing the champagne intake as he swerved and circled the Las Vegas Strip before landing to shuttle back to our hotel

One of many, majestic hotels on the strip!

Time to strip off the jeans and don shorts and head out to the strip….this hotel is so huge…that can take half an hour…but we found it and went off in hunt for lunch..

This was it…streets were filling up either way some interesting sights and attire (or lack of it in some cases…sure it was hot but street wear v’s beachwear is a fine line.

Opposite our eating place we entered the flamingo hotel establishment….complete with the casinos, food halls, shops…

And a wildlife habitat – flamingos sunning it…

Big fat gold and white fish

Turtles…and…

Texas Lovebirds! Tona worked out its 12 years to the day since they last visited Las Vegas.

A few more sights…the Las Vegas Eiffel Tower…

Caesar’s Palace…

With fountains and Roman monuments…terrazzo marble floors and millions of slot machines…

A much needed lie down out of the 35 degree (celcius) afternoon in preparation for tonight’s show!

Thursday morning found the Lake Jackson crew packing for hot and cold and yes…..even Chuck is on holiday…

This little guy sunning it by the pool…

While Chuck added water to overflowing (?) so as to stop the water level dropping too low while we are all away for a week…

Leaving the house around 1pm we headed to Houston Hobby airport for a 4.30 pm flight across country to “Las Vegas” the starting point of our adventure!

Almost three hours in the air, a coffee and a couple of snack bags of crackers, saw us flying over the Grand Canyon mountain range on a blue sky day!

Lake Meade in the distance as we neared Vegas…

Off the plane and straight into the hustle of Vegas(we hadn’t even got our bags yet), it was 8pm Texas time, but we had gained another couple of hours so 6.00pm Nevada time….it was going to be a long day!

Collected bags, caught a shuttle bus to the rental car hub..,about 15 mins from airport…. Et voila….

Come all the way to Vegas, and get to travel around in the clone of my car – first Mitsubishi eclipse cross I have seen in the states and it’s the same colour as mine and all (back in nz)!!! Minus the baby seats!

Chuck and Tona navigated the shortish trip to the Venetian hotel…on the strip where we are staying for two nights!

Spying the Trump Hotel – there you go!

After walking a couple of miles ( just from hotel car park) we found the check in foyer… Wow what a place – the suite I am in is about as big as my house!

By now it was 8.30pm (10.30 pm Texan time) and these Texans were hungry…so we went to food hall alley (still inside hotel) and found a restaurant to eat a light dinner, followed by a quick flutter on the pokies(still in hotel) – Tona and Chuck on the positive side and me kinda watching as I don’t know how these things work- will have another bash today!

Rolled into my luxurious bed around 10pm local time… and up early this morning for our next adventure!!!

Buc-ee’s fuel stops, founded in 1982 in Lake Jackson, Texas by a couple of guys with the business model of “Clean bathrooms” has taken off to include 50 locations across America, boasting…cheapest fuel, longest car wash and worlds largest convenience store…selling like everything…food, clothing, toys, homewares, gifts, pet stuff, BBQs, Artwork and anything else you can think of!

Buc-ee is a beaver! This store is in Texas city about an hour south of Lake Jackson, and Tona and I set off for a shopping day…first hitting the outlet mall…

A very quiet Tuesday, and great customer service as we hit the Levi’s, Hey Dude, and every other brand you can think of…beelining for the clearance sections (me anyway) and picking up some great bargains! Saving the best for last and spending an hour and a half at buc-ees…

Greeted by the smell of their famous BBQ cooking as we entered…we picked our way around the Warehouse sized store…collecting our treasures…

A bathroom stop…in the beautiful art adorned bathrooms, who else would think of selling artwork on the bathroom walls!

A bakery full of 99cent cookies, which I forgot to stock up on as we left…

There huge range of beef jerky in every flavour you could imagine and more…and their production line of pulled pork, brisket, turkey and chicken sandwiches …. Whose aroma filled the store, and one just had to grab a variety for dinner on the way out…

Then to top it off…the job vacancies board outside…

Some pretty good wage rates for those looking for work, especially when converted to NZD! At this time.

While the world is reeling from Mr Trumps tariffs, fueled by mainstream media….business at Buc-ees is booming, and life goes on!