It's quite big, isn't it?

[This is the last post regarding our hols - again there are more pics on FB]

After spending a night in Las Vegas, we hired a car and drove to the Ranch for the Cowboy part of our stay at Ranch 10 the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. This area has a couple of advantages over the South, namely that it is far less touristy, and also about ten degrees cooler.

We drove through three states - Nevada, Utah and Arizona to get to our destination.

It was quite a trip - as suggested by the GPS when it said "Continue for 119 miles to your destination". First we stopped off in St George, which had the benefit of an extremely good cup-cake shop, and the local paper which exhorted us to go to the local body-shop which offered "a free gun with every paint job!!!". From then on it was dirt-track all the way - 70 miles of dust and pot-holes (which eventually gave us two flat tyres).

The Ranch was great. We slept in Cowboy Wagons (the sleeping arrangements were youth-hostelly - so there were dorms, wagons, or sleeping under the stars). For the most part it caters for the white-water-rafting tourists - helicoptering them out of the canyon and up there to have their first shower of the week. We just hung out, with ATV tours, walks, twice-a-day horse-back riding and even a helicopter ride down to the bottom of the Canyon itself.

There was loads of wild-life, as you would expect in a place so remote form anywhere; road-runners (meep-meep), a snake under the wagon, a scorpion in the pitch black of night in the toilets. One evening I went for a run and I think it was the first time I have ever experienced complete silence - no cars, planes. No background noise of what we have become accustomed to of every day activity. I was bombarded by bats though. JB on the other-hand swears he almost stepped on two rattle-snakes, hearing a couple of portentous rattling sounds as he jogged (and then, supposedly, ran) along.

We lay on the deck looking at the Milky-Way, drinking beers (smuggled in, it was a bit "dry") and watching the shooting-stars. Each night the generator went off at 10pm - which was great in that the other guests weren't encouraged to stay up late and chat. T had no trouble in staying awake until that time, even though we were getting up at about 6am.

It was all rather idyllic, and I recommend it to all my readers.