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| The Open Road |
Hey Folks,
It's been a while since our last blog - I wish I could give excuses of 'we were held up in a Texas jail' or 'we've been practising our Bear Grylls skills in the Arizona desert' but needless to say, our only excuse is that we've been having too much fun. So in order not to use up your monthly quota of reading (which is what the description of the past 2 weeks would take!) I'd like to walk you through a few choice photographs!
Monument Valley, Arizona
When people ask me what my favourite part of our USA trip is so far, this is the place that I say...
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| Four Corners |
This is me 'hopping over' to Colorado from Arizona!
The 4 states that meet are Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
Durango, Colorado - this bar was kept in the fashion of the 1800's - women were in corsets, suspenders and fishnets and the men wore waistcoats and bow ties...raw deal if you ask me...
Tim's bear hunt is kinda lived out as we see these beautiful bears at one of many amazing art galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Just as we leave Debbie's college room-mate, Kathy, we see this little fella in the driveway...at this point might I note that in this elegantly decorated house in the desert of New Mexico, they also had 3 dogs, 2 cats, 1 feral cat, 4 snakes, 19 tortoises and about 6 lizards (1 of which was a bearded dragon which Tim held), gazillion fish and thousands of cacti (they have a cactus farm). A great stay.
Elk City, Oklahoma - on our drive from Albuquerque to Oklahoma City we stopped for 'gas' and what should we come across but a horse stopping traffic. But of course...So, to Oklahoma City we went for family fun! My cousin Jan was to be wed and being one of 20ish in the bride's immediate family - fun and games was to be had...
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| Aunt Donna, Uncle David and Cousin Allison |
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| Father/Daughter dance |
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| Aunt Kim, Allison and me |
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| Cousin Tony, Aunt Ronda, Uncle Jay |
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| The morning after the night before trying to capture photos of many birthday boys and girls! |
To Texas! And what must one do in Texas but the RODEO!
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| Tim sporting a new cowboy hat and shirt |
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| Megan (our hostess with the mostess) fighting for her share at the petting zoo at the rodeo! |
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| A decked out goat - one choice of dozens of food establishments at the Rodeo |
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| A 'brick' of fries. Yes we ate them. Yes we are slowly becoming the size of small trailers... |
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| Finding out about the produce...and from which parts we eat of the cow! Tim asked him about Maccy D's...ask him for further details... |
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| Cowboy wellies. Why not? |
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| The gals - yes I too have purchased a hat... |
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| True Texans... |
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| Fried chicken, pork and veal hotdog and a sausage on a stick. Nutritious and delicious. |
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| RODEO! |
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| Just to include the kids they make them grip onto sheep and then see how long they stay on for....when asked what technique he uses, this kid answered 'I jus' howld ow'n' and when asked how he practised, the commentator asked whether he had a sheep at home 'No, just mai dawg'. Priceless |
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Just waiting to catch the bulls
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Jump off the horse, onto the cow, et voila - it's on the floor....
Eight seconds you have to stay on...not a single one did - it was a-mazing!
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| Barrel Racing - like it says on the tin - you race around barrels... |
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| First place 30 youth under 20 on the dirt, surround them by 'volunteers' in cowboy hats, let loose 15 cows and stir. Once the youth have caught a cow, drag back to chalk square and receive a round of applause. |
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| Rascal Flatts - a very cool country band after the rodeo performed. And of course the USA had some indoor fireworks for effect! |
We left the confines of Houston for the countryside ranch belonging to the Bells.
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| Us on the porch |
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| Momma Bell |
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| Classic |
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| Yes that is a gun. |
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| Just getting some more ammo... |
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| Walking the empire before we leave. Mom and Pops Bell. Yes that's another gun. |
Tim's continuing search for wild snakes.
So Megan wanted to take us on a tour of Texas. What do you want to do? she asked. Theme Parks we said...
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| Waiting in line - the calm before the storm |
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| Naive excitement |
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| Too old for this... |
So here we are at the end of the blog. Will update with real words soon....
TTFN
Tic Toc xxx
Elk City, Oklahoma - on our drive from Albuquerque to Oklahoma City we stopped for 'gas' and what should we come across but a horse stopping traffic. But of course...
Jump off the horse, onto the cow, et voila - it's on the floor....
Eight seconds you have to stay on...not a single one did - it was a-mazing!
Tim's continuing search for wild snakes.
