Well its been an interesting few days. My initial impressions of the US are oversized and busy. By this I mean everything you by has to be bigger than big. I had a small coda which by NZ standards would be the largest you can by. Busy - that's the traffic. Today coming back from the Grand canyon we hit rush hour(s). 8-10 lanes of bumper to bumper traffic, and by the looks of the car pool lane everyone was driving their own car by themselves.

Any yesterday Tibbs, my sister Darlene, her husband EJ and myself embarked on an overnight camping adventure to a place called Mormon lake (ironic). This was about 4 hrs drive from Mesa and at an elevation of about 6000 feet. Talk about a temperature change. Gone are the shorts and t-shirts that can be worn in an AZ winter in Mesa, and out with the poly-pro and gloves. Snow and ice was the theme for our camping trip, with about 2 inches of ice and an inch of snow covering the majority of the camping area. It was however loads of fun, listening to the coyotes howl at night and cooking tinfoil dinners on an open fire.

After a surprisingly warm nights sleep, we awoke to Darlenes three dogs barking at nothing as usual. A quick hot cuppa around another fire and we set off for the Grand Canyon. I can see why its "Grand". We had a perfect winters day with not a cloud in the sky, although now at 7000 feet it was a little chilly. So far I've managed to go through a roll of film, although I don't think the photos will do justice to the awe inspiring views.

Thats about it for now. In two days we're heading for a three day stopover in Las Vegas which should be exciting.

Jared (a.k.a fatti)