America: Expectations exceeded and failed.

After Denver, we went to Avon. Avon is one of many skiing towns in Colorado and is only about two hours from Denver, but there are a few scenic mountains around the place, so we decided to try driving over some of them. We drove over some very nice undulations, dipping in and out of the snow line, and following signs for "Scenic drive." When we found the start of the scenic drive, we were stopped by a park ranger who saw NYC plates and heard four Australian accents and told us to turn around. Probably a wise move.

We arrived at the Sheraton in Avon at the end of the day, and were directed to a nearby restaurant that served Bison. We were all very excited that we could sit down and say, "Four Bison, please."

Bison steak and Lion stout, food of kings in Avon.

Whilst we were talking to the waiter, I asked him what was the difference between Buffalo and Bison. Turns out that there is no difference, Buffalo isn't a real animal, they're all Bison.

The next day was an off season day in a skiing town. This is how we were able to afford to stay at the Sheraton and eat Bison at the fancy restaurants. This is also how we were not able to see any snow or go skiing in any way. Instead we climbed one of the mountains. That is, we walked up hill solidly for almost four hours, using walking trails, roads and going the wrong way up ski runs. Turns out that we didn't quite make it half way up, so "Climbing a mountain," might be a bit of an overstatement. Still, the view was great, and we felt that we'd achieved something, so we went back down and got on with a far more Australian sport of having a pub lunch.

The next drive was to Flagstaff, where we would day trip our way out to the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately, on the way, this happened.

Fuck, the Police.

Turns out, Colorado is one of those states that DOES enforce its speed limit laws. Oh, well, we'll call that the driving-in-America tax. Well, we'll call the fine and the two hours I spend looking for a post office, getting a money order, discovering that you can only buy a money order from a post office with cash, finding an ATM, getting another money order and sending it to the Colorado police department the driving-in-America tax.

Now that we were all scared into driving at the speed limit, we arrived in Flagstaff, Arizona later than we thought we would. There were a few great bars in Flagstaff, and we did our best to do justice to them on the two night we spent there. During the day, however, we had a Grand Canyon to explore.

The Grand Canyon is about an hours drive from Flagstaff,
and the weather didn't look promising.

And it didn't get much better.
(Taking pictures of fog is quite difficult.)

If we had been on the north face,
do you think we would have been able to see anything?

Still, its a big hole.
And it goes on a bit.

They say that the Grand Canyon is the one place in America that will live up to your expectations, no matter how high they are. They who say that are correct. The view was truly epic, the sense of enormity was truly epic, and my disappointment that we couldn't do a day's walk into the Canyon was... well I was disappointed.

There are no barriers keeping you on the path,
So you can walk right to the edge to get the best view.
Apparently very few people try to commit suicide here.
They must be scared of heights or something.

So the photos woefully fail to get any perspective or sense of scale. All I can do is tell you that it is very much worth seeing, even if all you do is walk around the top and say "Wow" a few times.

The drive from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas takes you over the Hoover Dam. Naturally we stopped and had a look. I had a little engineer's moment, but apparently forgot to take the camera. Still, when you go to the Grand Canyon, stop by Hoover Dam whilst you're there, its also very good.

Once you've been to the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam, turn around. The next stop along that road is a town called Las Vegas. Vegas did not impress at all. Everything felt like a hustle. There was no soul or substance to anything I saw in the city. There wasn't even the glitz portrayed by Hollywood. No great rooms, no great service, no great food. At least not on our budget.

They do give you a lot of scotch, though.

Most of us couldn't get our of Vegas fast enough. Unfortunately, leaving Vegas meant leaving one of our number behind. As glad as I was to be departing, I was sorry that Reuben wasn't coming with us. He will be missed.

At least until we all join him back in the real world.