On 20 April 2001, we flew from Washington Dulles Airport to Salt Lake City at the start of a ten-day vacation.

We hired a bright red Chevy Blazer and headed off south down Interstate 15 in the driving rain. Our first overnight was in the Best Western at Fillmore, Utah. Not much to say about that! Next morning we continued south towards Bryce Canyon. The sky was grey and threatened snow. We breakfasted near Big Rock Candy Mountain. Then it snowed. We saw Bryce in the snow. Or rather, we didn't.

Since Bryce had decided not to play ball with us, we returned to US89 and motored south to Kanab, then east through the Escalante National Monument to Page, Arizona and the Glen Canyon Dam. From the road we could see the rain falling on the Navajo Nation's coal-fired power plant.

Next day, we discovered that Arizona doesn't do Daylight Savings Time (except of course in the Navajo Nation), which explains some strangeness the previous afternoon. In the biting cold wind, we took a trip on an open-backed truck to Antelope Canyon, a slot canyon formed by the effect of flood water on the soft sandstone rocks.

In the afternoon, we boarded a boat to take us many miles up Lake Powell to Rainbow Bridge, sacred to the Navajo People and now a US National Monument.

We left Page early the next morning and drove across the Navajo Nation to Flagstaff (for breakfast at Miz Zip's). We drove the alpine country (lunch at Bear Wallow) and reached Silver City, New Mexico. Next day we drove to Las Cruces, where we lunched just off the plaza in La Mesilla, the old Spanish settlement.

The next day we visited White Sands National Monument, near Alamagordo. What a stunning place! The sand is white because it is made of chalk, not quartz. The dunes move at about 30 feet a year. The habitation has learned to adapt, believe it or not.

From Alamagordo, we crossed into Texas and stayed overnight at San Angelo. Next day it was just a morning's drive down to Marble Falls, in Texas Hill Country, to stay with Colette and Bob. April and May are the wildflower months in the Hill Country and I doubt you have seen fields covered in such color any where else. Apparently we were two weeks late for the bluebonnets at their best, but look at what we did see...

And finally we spent two great days out on Lake LBJ with Colette and Bob on their boat.

A really enjoyable vacation, thanks to Colette, Bob and the South Western States of America.