22nd October 2026

I’ve just realised, that although this post was listed in the side-headings of Recent Posts published, I didn’t actually publish it on the blog, so some of our regular followers may not have seen it! 🫢I’m pleased to say that I’m feeling much better now and getting back to my ‘normal’ self! 😷🤗

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It’s been quite the week since we arrived back home last Tuesday!

I was just re-reading the final post of our adventures and was amazed to see that it did in fact make sense! That’s a miracle!

When we arrived home, I was feeling rather ‘under the weather’ and just wanted to fall into my bed as quickly as possible, 🛌 but knew that if I didn’t get that final post done there and then, it would be a long time coming! 🤒

Si had been suffering badly with some ‘bug’ since the second week of the holiday and by the time we reached home, I had it too and it’s wiped out the past week. I’m on the road to recovery now as is poor Si. He’s feeling a lot better, but not fully fit. 🤧

One thing that did ‘buck me up’ was when I discovered that this photograph, one I took of the Snake River Overlook, on Wednesday 30th September, was published last Friday 9th October, in the digital newspaper of Wyoming, the Cowboy State Daily. The paper asks people to send their sunrise photographs in daily and they choose one each day to publish. I just sent mine in on the off-chance it may be chosen.

Sand’s Snake River Overlook Sunrise, Wyoming Sunrise, photograph as printed in the Cowboy State Daily on Friday 9th October 2026.

I’m also very pleased to report that a similar photograph taken by Si on the same day, has made it into Flickr, Explore also. 👏👏 It went onto Explore on the 10th October and currently has 4,080 views.

Si’s Snake River Overlook Sunrise – now on Flickr Explore

Si had one printed in the Cowboy State Daily back in 2023 too, of Schwabacher Landing.

Si’s Wyoming Sunrise Photo 2023

I was intending to include information in the final post that I thought some of you may find interesting, well those of you who like facts and figures that is, but that all went by the board. As I’m feeling much better now, I thought I would right the wrong.

I wonder how many of you could guess just how many countries in the world our blog is read in …………. answer: 131!! Considering there are 195 sovereign countries in the world, I think 67.18% is quite a good result. 👏😄

For a long time, I thought it was just our families and friends taking time out of their days! Who knew?!! 🤷‍♀️

Considering that we only started this blog thirteen years ago, when we did our three-month driving holiday of the U.S. so that everyone could keep an eye on us and know that we were safe, it’s come a long way and has been worth all the effort. 👏

It is mostly read on desktops, with mobiles in second and tablets in third place. Chrome is the most popular browser with Windows the most popular operating system.

So, there you are folks. Ending on a high note.

Thanks once again to all of you who have read, commented and ‘liked’ the posts and we hope to see you all again soon for more adventures! 👋✈️🌎🤗

We are home, after a very long day and it’s a little chillier and less sunny than Las Vegas. ☀️ It’s still up in the mid-90°s (35°C) there whereas here, it’s only 65°F (18.3°C).

So, all too quickly, this year’s adventure comes to an end! 😔

Our flight was uneventful apart from some turbulence and even that wasn’t too bad. We arrived at London Heathrow on time, but the plane was put into a holding pattern, so that added on another 15 minutes. ✈️

I didn’t have a meal as I hate eating late  but Si had a chicken dish that he said was delicious. We decided against breakfast.

We were surprised when we reached the e-Gates (Security) at Heathrow to find them not busy at all, We both managed to get through okay this year. Plus, we were not stopped in the Customs (green channel) to check our bags. 🤷‍♀️

We don’t know what happened to the off-loading of the bags, because they took an age! 🧳The plane had an auxiliary power unit (APU) problem, so we wondered if that had any to do with the problem. The APU is a small secondary engine, usually located in the tail cone, that provides electrical power and compressed air when the main engines are off.

Our driver, Andy, was waiting to take us home.The roads from Heathrow to home were extremely busy, it felt like a Friday afternoon, plus, a car had broken down on the motorway!

When we turned into our road, everything was looking just the same as when we left. I don’t know what I was expecting. 🤷‍♀️The lawns looked just the same, brown! 😔

No matter how long we’ve been away for, everything remains just the same. It’s as though we just popped out for some milk.🥛🤷‍♀️

We’ve had a magnificent time, loved seeing the Tetons and wildlife again, even if the elk did leave it to the last meeting to appear, met and talked to lots of interesting people, were shocked to see our neighbours, Leanne and Dan in Las Vegas, enjoyed meeting up with Ann and Simon, friends from home and managed a few ‘firsts’ along the way.

We did a couple of strenuous hikes, 🥾ate lots of delicious food, 🥘drank a ‘few’ cocktails 🍹and of course, enjoyed the Bellagio cheese plate

Sand and the cheese plate

a couple of times, did a lot of shopping and the weather was mostly, very good indeed. ☀️

Of course, we had a problem with the car and the puncture, but even that worked out, thanks to our own initiative. 😉 Hertz have asked for a review on how the problem was handled!! Only too happy to reply! 😒

As aways, we would like to say a big “thank you” to all of you who read and followed our adventures on the blog and for the comments and ‘likes’ too.They are always appreciated.👏

So, until the next time, there’s just one thing that remains for us to say, and that is, as always ………. “goodbye again” 🥲

arrivederci, adeus, hejdå, 再见, zoi geen, zai jian, tot ziens, au revoir, tschüss, shalom, ciao, じゃね, anyeonghi gasyeo, poka/Пока, adios, hejdå, tạm biệt, vΘleft, farvel, ya sas, tókša akhé,

and hope to see you all again on our next adventure. 👋😀 ✈️🚙🇺🇸🇬🇧

Days travelling home are always so tiring! We just want to get on the plane and be home in an hour! But that’s not going to happen! 😒 ✈️

We had arranged for late check-out today, 3.00 p.m. So, it was a slow start and after breakfast, we packed up the few things we had unpacked and headed out for a little gambling. We did okay, but we are not coming home with the $13,000 we did a couple of years ago. 😩

We are now at the airport, check-in doesn’t open until 6.00 p.m. We’ve already checked-in on-line. We just need to hand over the cases. We shouldn’t have any problems like we dd last year with the weight. This year we’ve made sure that the large cases are packed with exactly the same things as when we came out.

I’ve packed all new purchases in my smaller carry-on suitcase and that will be checked into the hold.

After we’ve handed over the bags we are will be off to the lounge until our flight at 10.00 p.m. (6.00 a.m. UK time).

A very nice gentleman called Jeffrey dealt with us. He was such a chatterbox, that we were with him for 45 minutes and we were the only people he served! 🤷‍♀️He was so funny. 😂We basically heard his life story and he said he would be at the gate, so he would give us priority boarding, after the wheelchairs. He told us all kinds of tricks to get priority treatment, including getting a wheelchair for Si! 👨‍🦽‍➡️ 😂 We didn’t think we were ever going to get away. 😀

So, that’s about it for today folks. I will catch you all up on how our flight was when we get home tomorrow – jet lag permitting! 😉

Si, passing the time, editing photos

As always, thanks for following our journey. 🤗

Today’s blog is going to be a short one I’m sorry to say, as our last full day didn’t turn out exactly as we hoped. 😒

After breakfast, Si had granola parfait (that’s a first), he loved it and I ordered a bagel with cream cheese, we walked over to the Aria Hotel. It’s accessible by walking from the Park without having to go outside. As soon as we arrived we noticed how it smelt of smoke. Park MGM is a smoke free hotel, so it was very noticeable. 🚬

We sat down at a machine, had a large win, when I suddenly got the most excruciating pain in my upper back.⚡️ I normally don’t suffer with my back, so all I can think is that I must have turned awkwardly! 🤷‍♀️

We decided it would be best to walk back to the Park immediately and I had to lie down. Si went and bought me hot chocolate. ☕️ Bless! For me, hot chocolate solves most problems. 👏So, our day was not as planned. By this evening, my back had recovered enough for us to go back to the Aria to finish what we had started.

I think someone’s telling me it’s time to go home. 😂

A couple of days ago, we went into one the stores in the hotel and saw merchandise with NKOTB on. Just goes to show our age, we had no idea what it was all about. We had to ask someone and they said New Kids on the Block – The Right Stuff have a Las Vegas residency and are appearing here apparently. 🤷‍♀️ There was even a photographic opportunity with cardboard cut outs just off the lobby! We had no idea! But it was causing a lot of excitement. 🤪

Here are a couple of photos that I’ve missed off before. First, is the T-Mobile Arena that our original room was opposite. You can see why it would have been a problem.

Our view of the mountains from our new room

One of our wins last night

The Sphere advertising the Wizard of Os

We played the Wizard of Oz – I’ll Get You My Pretty game at Aria this evening and I have to say, we were very successful! 👏💵

We leave here tomorrow. We have late checkout until 3.00 p.m. as our flight doesn’t depart until 10.00 p.m. We had a little scare yesterday, as when we changed rooms, it appeared as though they had cancelled our late checkout. Horror! 😱 But we spoke to someone in VIP and they assured us it was still active. 😅 We are booked into the lounge at the airport, so at least we’ll be able to relax in there. Fingers crossed our flight leaves on time. ✈️

It’s a shorter flight going back as we should have a tailwind🤞so, it will be approximately 9.30 hours and we should land about 3.00 p.m. UK time and be home by 5.00 p.m. It’s lovely being on holiday, but there’s always a right time to go home. 🏠

As always, thanks for reading. 🤗

Well, there’s not much to report today, it’s been a rather lazy one. Apart from one  incredible act of kindness!

The temperature this morning was 90°F (32°C) and this afternoon, was 95°F (35°C). Even in Vegas, it’s hot for this time of year. 🌞

We went for breakfast at Primrose, here at the hotel and was served by Jeremy from Stockport, England. He’s been in America for about 30 years and is 62 years old. He has travelled all around the world and plans to retire next year. He was quite the character. He’s bought himself an old RV (recreational vehicle) and next year will start to travel round the country. He said he cannot afford to live in Vegas. We had quite the chat and he was telling Si how England were beating Croatia in the UEFA Nations League.

Si had the American breakfast and I had a bagel with cream cheese, followed by a banana muffin. All delicious. As it’s nearing the end of our holiday, I decided on a Mimosa.

After breakfast we had a trip to the Bellagio on the tram for a little gambling, shopping and lunchtime cocktails at the Petrossian Bar. Probably not a good idea, as we are dining at 6.00 p.m. this evening! 😂

While we were enjoying our cocktails and couple walked in. She was very tall ,wearing a furry sparkly jacket and he had on a loud multi-coloured sparkly jacket too. He looked quite the part and smiled at us when he sat down. The one thing that caught my attention was his shoes. They looked like sparkly bovver boots but had spikes on them! 😱 You could tell he was very proud of them as he kept crossing his legs and starring at them. 🤷‍♀️

We were entertained as usual by one of the resident pianists.

I forgot to say yesterday, that the husband and wife we got chatting to on the next table last night at dinner, was telling us how they have travelled to 102 countries in the world and this trip is their eighth to Las Vegas this year!!! Good heavens! 😱

On the way back through Bellagio we stopped off at one of the shops and noticed a man carrying a Wizard of Oz bag. I asked him if he had been to see it at Sphere and he said he had.

His wife walked over and asked if we had seen it and did we get an apple? We told her we had seen it but didn’t have an apple, but I was intending to order one when I got back home. To which she said we could have one of theirs, plus a poster! They had booked the Wicked Witch behind the scenes experience, so had been given three red apples and three posters! Well, to say we were amazed and thrilled is an understatement! The poster is beautiful.

We have met some lovely people on this trip and these people were so kind to us. People they had only known for five minutes and would never meet again! 🤗

For dinner this evening, we went to Bavette’s Steakhouse and Bar, here in the hotel. We dined here a few times. Quote: It’s an upscale, French-influenced American steakhouse. Moody, intimate “Gilded Age” and speakeasy-style vibe featuring red leather banquettes, dim lighting, jazz music, and dark wood. The food is delicious. 

Si started with Sizzling Shrimp Scampi, followed by Skirt Steak Frites and I had a 6oz Fillet Mignon, Petite Duchess Cut and both shared the Gorgonzola sauce and Elote styled corn (chilli, lime, cilantro (coriander) and parmesan). It was delicious.

Si had red wine and a Espresso Martini. I had a non-alcoholic drink to start, a Seedlip Sour (seedlip grove, cranberry and lime), followed by my usual, Amaretto Sour.

Tomorrow is our last full day before flying home on Monday, so please join us to see what the day holds in store. 🧐

As always, thanks for reading. 🤗

It all started so well ……………….

We left our hotel in Salt Lake City (SLC) after a quick breakfast and set off for Las Vegas. It was 9.00 a.m., so very busy with people off to work. It always seems to take an age to get out of SLC.

Las Vegas here we come!

The temperature was 64°F (17.7C) so a little warmer 🌞than we’ve been used to. In the Tetons, some days, we were wearing four layers. Today we only needed one.

We travelled mostly in the Express lane. That’s such an excellent idea as most people travelling to work have only one person in the car, whereas if there’s two or more. you can zip along quite nicely without having to keep changing lanes and overtaking people.

Today’s entertainment was a podcast called ‘The Rest is History’ and we were listening to one about American History and the War of Independence. If you’re a history buff, I would definitely recommend a listen. 🎧👍

I have to say the scenery today was pretty boring compared to the Tetons, but hey ho, we’ve been spoilt!

I’ll post a few photographs anyway! Today, we drove through Idaho, Utah and Arizona before arriving in Nevada.

See the white car in the truck’s reflection? That’s us!

A triple truck!

One thing we saw on the way here was a placard that said bananas give off more radiation than a nuclear site!! Is that true? Answers on a postcard please ……………….🤔

The drive was quite uneventful until we approached Vegas and then all the traffic ground to a halt. There had been two separate major accidents on Interstate 15. One involved turned over cars and at least 12 emergency vehicles.

Las Vegas

Some drivers are dreadful, weaving in and out of traffic, cutting people up and driving to close. I find it very stressful. 😩With speeds of up to 80 mph, it’s no wonder there are accidents.

When we arrived in Vegas, it was 100°F (37.7C), so a little warm. 🌞We also lost an hour, so now we are eight hours behind the U.K. It all gets so confusing! 🫤

We handed the car back to Hertz and got a taxi (cab) to take us to the hotel. The driver was just about the most miserable driver we’ve ever had. 😔He looked at our cases and remarked, they must be heavy and then stood back whilst Si loaded them in the car. 🚗🤷‍♀️Needless to say he didn’t get the best tip! 😒

He tried to take us down The Strip, forgetting there was construction work today as they are preparing for Formula 1 in November, so had to do a U turn and then tried to take us to the MGM Grand instead of Park MGM, so that made him more grumpy. We told him the right hotel. 🏨🤷‍♀️

We had already checked-in online so had our room number already and didn’t need to join the waiting queue and came straight to our room. That’s when things started to go wrong!! Our room was overlooking the T-Mobile Arena!! Not happy about that, as we knew it would be noisy. 💥

We decided to go and eat, do a little gambling and decide what to do when we returned.

As we had twenty minutes to spare before dinner, we decided to have a little gamble. Si did very well, winning $381.00 (£293.00) on the Mo, Mo, Mummy machine. Not the best video. This was before I had a drink! 🥃

We ate at La Pizza e La Pasta,here in the hotel. Delicious food and very pleasant staff. It was just a shame that my food arrived ten minutes before Si’s!! They’ve just sent asking for a review!

Si had a pizza and red wine, while I had ravioli and my ‘usual!’

It was another one of those ‘small world’ moments this evening, as on the next table was a man (American) who used to work in London. He loves the UK and would like to live there.

Also, a couple of days ago, again, we met an American who worked in the U.K. for five years and lived in West Byfleet, not that far from us.🤷‍♀️

We arrived back in our room and just as we thought, it was as though we were part of a disco. The noise coming from the T-Mobile Arena was so loud, we knew we wouldn’t be able to sleep, so requested a room change and one was given immediately, away from the noise.

Very annoying because I had already unpacked! 🧳

Si went down and was referred to the Concierge, who took him to the VIP area and provided him with new room keys. He told Si that when there’s a concert on it’s a nightmare. I can just imagine. Who on earth is going to pay good money for a room overlooking a concert venue? Crazy! 🫤

Fingers crossed there will be no further problems.🤞

Before I sign off for the day, I decided to check our Ring doorbell, just out of curiosity. Well, what did I see? Deer on our front lawn! We travelled 5,000 miles (8,046 kilometers) to see wildlife, when we could have stayed home instead!! 🦌😂

One thing we do know for sure, is that we wouldn’t see bison or elk on the front lawn! Well, hope not anyway! 😂

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. More tomorrow! 🤗

It’s been a long driving day today. We left at 9.30 a.m. with the temperature at 49°F (9.44C) and arrived in Salt Lake City at 2.30 p.m. Good job we had plenty of treats to nibble along the way! 🍫🍪

Today we decided on the music of Bruce Springsteen for a singalong.

We said goodbye to Zoya, the manager of Dornans’ cabins and started our long journey. We decided to drive over the Teton Pass this time so it was another first. It was a long and winding road but with beautiful scenery.

WARNING: DO NOT WATCH THIS VIDEO IF YOU SUFFER FROM MOTION SICKNESS OR ANY SIMILAR CONDITION!! IT IS A VIDEO OF A LONG AND WINDING ROAD:

After the Teton Pass, we travelled the rest of the way on Interstate 15, which is just one long straight road.

We passed through Idaho and Utah, including lots of farming country. I mentioned in an earlier post in the blog about Idaho being known for potatoes. Well today we passed their Potato Museum. It was a shame we didn’t have time to stop and investigate the history of potatoes.

Welcome to Utah!

One of the places we passed through was Swan Valley and it reminded us of the Palouse in Washington State that we visited some years ago.

Palouse in 2013

Another was Aberdeen ……. I was concerned we had taken a wrong turn and arrived in Scotland! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿😱🤣

Most of the way, the driving speed is 80 mph. At one point, we were nearly knocked off the road as a car coming towards us decided he would overtake a lorry on double yellow lines. 😱

When we arrived at our hotel the temperature was a barmy 73°F (22.7C).

For dinner this evening we went to the Texas Roadhouse, where we’ve been many times and always makes us think of our dear friends, Dot, John and Nat. The Steakhouse is famous for their peanuts and hot buttered rolls. Before Covid, each table would be given a bucket of peanuts and the shells would be everywhere. But since Covid, they are now served in a packet. It’s a shame, it used to be fun shucking the peanuts.

Today, we were served our rolls, but noticed the rolls were dry! They are usually served brushed with melted butter and come with honey cinnamon butter on the side. We thought this must just be a new thing. Anyway, we had just started our meal and the manager stopped to ask us if everything was okay and I mentioned the dry rolls. He said they had never stopped serving the rolls with butter and it became obvious that someone had made a mistake. 😱 I felt awful,  because he immediately went off to talk to the staff.

He arranged for us to have another basket of rolls, this time nice and buttery.

Si had a 6oz Dallas Fillet with a half-slab of ribs, a bowl of chilli and a caesar salad. I had a 6oz Fillet with mashed potatoes and corn. I had a Tropical Breeze (non-alcholic): A blend of coconut, mango, and blue Curacao syrup with sweet-and-sour mix and club soda. It was delicious. Si had a beer.

Just lately on the blog we’ve had a few instances where we’ve referred to it being a small world. This occurred today, because it turned out that the manager’s sister lives in Weymouth in Dorset and he will be visiting the UK next summer. Again, a small world! 🌎🤷‍♀️

Tomorrow will be another long driving day, from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas, about six hours.

Thanks for reading. See you in Las Vegas! 🤗