10th June 2025

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

We left Las Vegas in temperatures of 103º F (39ºC) yesterday and have arrived home to sun, cloud and 69ºF (20ºC). In Las Vegas today there’s a ‘Extreme Heat Warning’ warning for heat as it’s108ºF (42ºC)! 🥵

Our flight was uneventful apart from some turbulence and even that wasn’t too bad. We arrived at London Heathrow on time but were then made to sit and wait for 30 minutes as the stand allotted to us was still being occupied by another plane. This is the second year in a row that has happened. It’s so annoying. Once we’ve landed we just want to get off and be on our way home. I’m sure there are lots of you who would agree. 🤨

We were offered the Virgin pyjamas to sleep in so we accepted them this time although we didn’t intend on using them, but we were told we could keep them, so why not?! 😂

I didn’t have a meal but Si had a chicken dish that he said was just wonderful. I ended up having one bread roll and a cup of hot chocolate. We both had breakfast this morning.

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, there was no-one in Customs (green channel) to check our bags. 🤷‍♀️

The roads from Heathrow to home were extremely busy, it felt like a Friday afternoon.

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.🥛🤷‍♀️

Our next-door neighbour, Mike, had cut the front lawn for us while the other next-door neighbour, Allan, watered all our plants for the whole time we were away. Many thanks to both. 👏

We’ve had a magnificent time, met lots of interesting people, including one lady at Las Vegas who happened to be catching our flight. She’s a huge Elvis Presley fan and goes to all major events in Nashville. She was travelling with her brother as she is now on her own, so is he and so he accompanies her as often as he can on trips as she doesn’t like to travel alone.

The only complaint she had about her brother was that he never listens to what she says! Show me a woman who doesn’t have that problem with a man!!!! 🤣🤷‍♀️

We had a lovely funny conversation with them, she lives in London now, he in Scotland but both were born in Scotland, about the English-Scottish rivalry. 😂

We’ve seen some wonderful sights and accomplished quite a few ‘firsts’ along the way too.

We did strenuous hikes, rode horses, slid down a roller coaster and travelled by train to the Grand Canyon, ate lots of delicious food, drank a ‘few’ cocktails  and of course. enjoyed the Bellagio Cheese Plate plus, did lots of shopping too. Hence, why my bag was overweight! 🧳😉We also experienced different weather, some snow and extreme heat. ❄️🥵⚡️🎢🏇🥾🍔🍹🚂

Plus, after a rocky start with the car hire, it all turned out okay in the end! 🚙 Even when Si drove on the wrong side of the road, it all worked out!! 🤣

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 too.They are always appreciated.👏

So, until the next time, there’s just one thing that remains for us to say, and that is ………. “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. 👋😀 ✈️🚙🇺🇸🇬🇧

8th June 2025

Good morning from another hot, sunny day in Las Vegas. The temperature today is forecast to reach 103ºF (39ºC). 🌞🥵

Warning! This post is mainly about eating and drinking, so look away now if it’s all too much and skip to the part about shopping at Walgreens and the Bellagio Atriium! 🤣

So, last night’s dinner at Bavette’s. We were not disappointed. Everything was just wonderful.

First of all, they sat us in banquette seating which we love as we could see the whole of the restaurant laid out in front of us. Our waiter, Carlos, was very friendly and attentive. They start serving dinner at 5 p.m., our reservation was for 6 p.m. and the place was already packed with diners.

Carlos felt our cocktails were taking a little too long so bought over two glasses of complimentary champagne to enjoy! 🥂🍾

Complimentary Champagne

We started with cocktails, even for Si! He had a French Martini (vodka, pineapple and Chambord black raspberry liqueur) and liked it so much he had a second! I had my usual Amaretto Sour, well two actually.

Si with the starter and his French Martini

Sand and her Amaretto Sour

We shared a starter of Peppered Duck and Goat Cheese Terrine, apricot Mustarda (a traditional Italian condiment made from fruit, both fresh and dried, syrup, spices) and thick pieces of toast.

For mains, Si had the Classic Ribeye, Chicago Cut, 16 ounce steak with bearnaise sauce and I had the Filet Mignon, Petite Duchess Cut, 6 ounces, again with bearnaise sauce (they were so juicy and tender we didn’t really need a steak knife to cut them) and shared buttery mashed potatoes and creamed spinach with blue cheese and caramalised onions. It’s no wonder we didn’t have room for dessert! 😂

Si’s Ribeye Steak

Sands Duchess Cut

I wonder if we will be able to get up from this table! 😂

We did have a little ‘flutter’ (gamble) after dinner with some success!

So, I had a mini disaster yesterday evening getting ready for dinner. I somehow managed to knock my makeup bottle from the sink area onto the marble floor! Of course it smashed the glass bottle, make-up and glass everywhere! 😱

Lucky for me, the store Walgreens, is in an alliance with Boots in the UK so I was able to pop along this morning and buy my No. 7 make-up! 👏(Oh, oh, now I’ve given away my secret of how I stay looking so young …………. Boots’ No.7 range for the ‘old folk!) 🤣Thank goodness for alliances! Some of the products are much cheaper than in the UK while some are about the same price. Believe me when I say, no-one wants to see me at dinner without my make-up! 🤣 The day has been saved. 👍

Walgreens No 7 counter

We managed to take photos and a video of the Bellagio Atrium this morning too.

Health warning! My video is rather all over the place so may make you giddy! 😵‍💫🥴

Many of our followers will know that a stay at Bellagio must include a visit to the Petrossian Bar for the cheese plate. This ‘must do’ was done this lunch time. It was as delicious as ever. 👏

Si with his Lavender-flavoured Lemon Drop – just love the flower! He had two!

Sand and her Bellini

Here comes the cheese plate!

The cheese plate

Sand’s Amaretto Sour!

Snacks were brought out to enjoy with our second cocktails!

The snacks

The entertainment

After that lot a hot drink was required!

Si has decided that we need another meal tonight as it’s our last evening here so we’ve decided to go back once again to Jasmine here in Bellagio.

By the time we get home we will have put back on all the weight we lost during our hiking earlier in the holiday! 😔

Looking back at this post it’s mainly all about eating! Well, we are here in Vegas with some of the best restaurants anywhere so what are we supposed to do! 🤷‍♀️

Here’s another lovely flower display in the Bellagio.

Tomorrow we leave the Bellagio to fly back home, so please join us for our last U.S. post. 😊

Thanks for sticking with us. See you tomorrow.

7th June 2025

Another brilliant, hot sunny day here in ‘Sin City!’ It’s currently 100ºF (38ºC)! 🌞🥵Luckily, it’s a dry heat, no humidity, so it’s just about bearable when walking outside.

A new centre-piece at the Bellagio. I thought we had come to the wrong country! 😂

Since our return here, the famous Bellagio Atrium has been remodelled for Summer. It means either an early-morning or late-evening visit as it gets packed out during the day. Photographs coming soon!

The day so far has consisted of lunch (we were up too late for breakfast), shopping and gambling. We dined at Mercato della Pescheria in St. Mark’s Square in the Venetian Hotel and Casino. Another ‘first’ for us as the restaurant we used to eat at was taken over by this company.

I had a Margherita Pizza and a non-alcoholic cocktail while Si had Tortellini al Proscuitto, Tortellini filled with Prosciutto, in a Grana Padano Broth, finished with Tomatoes & Truffle Oil and a Fat Tire beer (any followers of Bosch on Netfilix will know the name as that’s what Harry Bosch drinks). All the food was delicious.

Si waiting for his lunch

Delicious!

Sand with her pizza

And her non-alcoholic cocktail

I’m getting just a wee bit concerned about the suitcases! So far, we’ve had to expand Si’s suitcase but I don’t anticipate doing any more shopping before we fly home on Monday, so I think we should be okay space-wise.🤞🧳

Coming out from London they had ‘Heavy’ stickers placed on them even though one weighed 24 kilograms (53 pounds) and the other 26 kilograms (57 pounds). Our allowance is actually 32 kilograms per bag so I thought I had done quite a good job packing. They are a wee-bit heavier now. That Si buys so much during these trips,😉 so they’ll probably get ‘fork-lift truck needed to lift’ stickers instead! 🤣

Tonight we will dine at Bavette’s Steakhouse inside the Park MGM Hotel and Casino.

In their words, they are a stylish departure from a traditional steakhouse, Bavette’s embraces French flair without the formality, blending fine dining with unabashed fun. Indulge in timeless steakhouse fare, including richly flavorful ribeyes, fresh seafood, traditional side dishes, and house made desserts. Strong cocktails and a well-curated international wine list enhance the gilded space which features red leather banquettes and glowing chandeliers.

The last time we were there the food was fabulous so we are hoping for a repeat this evening.

We shall have a little ‘flutter’ after dinner. Probably on the same slot machine that we won our $13,000 in 2023 and Ann’s $89 this week. Fingers crossed we are lucky again this evening, but we won’t be holding our breaths!

Once again, I’m sat at the window typing this post and the Bellagio fountains are below me. They look magnificent.

Sand typing the latest Post for the Blog

Tomorrow will be the last full day of our holiday as we fly back to Blighty (the UK) on Monday evening, so please join us then to hear about tonight’s dinner and to see what we got up to!

As always, thanks for reading.

6th June 2025

A beautiful start to our first full-day in Las Vegas. 🌞 At 8.30 a.m the temperature was c 79ºF (26ºC) with the highest predicted to be 94ºF (34ºC) by 2.00 p.m.

First of all, let me back-track to last night’s meal at Spago. Our good friend Julie has reminded me that I didn’t actually tell you what we ate!

Well, we both started with Maryland Blue Crab Cakes followed by an 8oz Dry Aged Ribeye Steak for Si and although Prime Fillet Mignon was available and would usually be my first choice, I had Cheese Ravioli instead. I’m saving the steak for Saturday night when we dine at Bavette’s Steakhouse. For dessert, I had the Spiked Lemon and Si the Vairhona Dark Chocolate Souffle. Fabulous food in a fabulous location.

The Spiked Lemon is interesting. It’s all edible. That’s flecks of gold on top and in side are layers of yuzu cream, chiffon cake and citrus mousse. When it’s delivered to the table, the waiter dramatically cuts it in half. Vegas theatre.

I’m posting these photos as thumbnails because Si is not looking his best and didn’t want me to put them on at all!!! 🤣

The Crab Cakes

The Ribeye

The Ravioli

The Spiked Lemon

The Spiked Lemon cut in half

The Souffle

Today we decided to visit some of the other hotels. In particular we went to the hotel and casino, Park MGM, the site of our big win in 2023, as our good friend Ann has entrusted us with $12 she found at the back of her underwear drawer, left over from her visit to the U.S. last year. She wanted us to gamble it on the same machine we used in 2023! Guess what happened? Once again, on a first spin, we won her $89.00! 👏Here’s the video of the event! 🤣 Apologies for any bad language you may hear! 👂

After the win we went for a quick lunch in Eataly (everything Italian) at Park MGM.

Si at Eataly

A refreshing drink

Our lunch

This is my view as I’m writing the blog today, the Las Vegas strip.

The Las Vegas Strip

This evening we dined at Jasmine here in Bellagio. The food was excellent. When we booked they asked if it was a celebration so we said it was. It’s 59 years since we first met so we thought that was worth celebrating! They gave us the best table, it was a large one and raised up for a good view of the fountains and a special dessert.

Our view from our table

The fountains through the window

Si started with sliced BBQ pork and then we both shared the Peking duck that they carved at the table. Another ‘first’ for us as we’ve never seen that before. They took the rest of the duck away and bought back the remainder mixed and in a lettuce leaf and then we finished with the special dessert.

The beautiful napkins

The chop sticks and yes, we did use them!

Si with his BBQ Pork

Carving the Peking Duck.

The rest of the duck

The special dessert

When we had finished we went and had a ‘flutter’ or two with some wins and some losses. Besides the Dragon Link machines, another one we have fun with is called Mo Mo Mummy, it’s hilarious. He doesn’t really talk but grumbles and makes weird noises. This is what he does when you win.

The weather forecast was right, it’s been a lovely sunny day and the temperature got up to 93ºF (34ºC). Tomorrow it’s going to climb even hotter! 🌞Thank goodness for the air-conditioning!

Thanks for keeping up with us. More tomorrow! 😊

5th June 2025

First of all, I must apologise for this Post being so late! We are eight hours behind here so some of our followers will be part-way through their day (Friday) before they see this! 😔

The reason for my tardiness is that we went to dinner at Spago here in the Bellagio,    where we are staying. We had patio seating so were able to have a close-up view of the famous Bellagio fountains every 15 minutes. We have eaten there on previous visits and they welcomed us back. As always, the food was fabulous.

Sand and Si at Spago – part of the fountains in the background

After dinner we decided to try our hand at a little gambling and managed to turn $300 into $1000 so I’d call that a successful evening all round! We won it on a Dragon Link machine (the same type of machine we had our big win on in 2023) but this was called Genghis Khan. 💵😊👏

The win!

So, back to earlier today. It was another driving day but much shorter than the other ones we have done, just 3.5 hours.

We left Williams after breakfast and a quick visit to town to check out the old Route 66 and of course, the shops!

Don’t think that fence would stop a buffalo!

On old Route 66

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before, but one the reasons we changed our plans (apart from the bad reports of the Grand Canyon North Rim) and came to Williams was because I saw a programme on television with Nick Knowles called Escaping the Grand Canyon. He came to Williams and travelled on the Grand Canyon Railway and it inspired us to do the same.

The drive was uneventful, apart from a 16 minute hold up due to road works and there’s not much to photograph along the way either.

Here are a few photos of our drive.

Welcome to Nevada

We think our roads are bad back home because of the pot-holes. Well, the roads we’ve travelled on here are far worse, if that’s possible!

We had to take the car back today so decided to drop our bags off first at the Bellagio and then return it to Hertz Car Rental. At least this car behaved itself better than last year! Although we did have an alert that the oil needed changing as soon as possible! 🤷‍♀️

We drove a total of 2,804 miles and during that time we only had one incident with Margaret on Google Maps and that was when we had a choice of three roads to take and she didn’t bother to tell us which one we should be on and so, of course, we chose the wrong one and had to turn around. We gave her a stern telling off and after that she behaved! 😂

We were a little dismayed on arrival in Vegas to discover it was raining and lightening,!! ⛈️ But that cleared up quickly and the sun came out. 🌞 It was 90ºF (32ºC).

Another hot day is forecast for today (Friday), it should reach at least 92ºF (33ºC) so it’s hats and suntan lotion all round me thinks!! 🥵🧢 😉

Thanks for reading. Back tomorrow (well today actually)! 😉

4th June 2025

Well, we have had the most fantastic day riding the Grand Canyon Railway to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. 👏

We arrived yesterday in Williams, Arizona, after a very long drive and checked into the Grand Canyon Railway and Hotel.

After settling in to our lovely room, we had a delicious dinner and even managed a visit to the gift shop! 😉

Miniature train running around the restaurant

We were a little worried when we checked the weather last night as it forecast rain and lightening for our visit to the Canyon today and even gave a Flash Flood warning! 🌧️⛈ 😱

The Grand Canyon Railway started carrying passengers to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on 17th September 1901 and since that time, notable passengers to ride the Grand Canyon Railway include Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, William Howard Taft, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Clark Gable, Jimmy Durante, Doris Day, Warren Buffet, and Bill Gates.

It’s estimated to carry more than 225,000 passengers every year, resulting in around 50,000 fewer cars entering the park.

Thankfully, overnight the weather forecast changed to only a slight chance of rain. After a lovely breakfast we wondered over to the train station to take photographs and then it was time to board the train.

This engine from the Pikes Peak railway was of interest as a couple of years ago we drove to the top of Pikes Peak instead of going by train.

A train engine from the Pikes Peak railway

At the station

Sand at the station

Sand hanging off a carriage!

Which way?

While checking out the railway station, we suddenly heard a train whistle and a freight train appeared. We were rather surprised to see it had five engines and wondered why! We found out soon enough when it took three and a half minutes to pass through the station. It was pulling 202 containers (yes, I counted them!) The driver waved and blew his whistle for us as he passed by.

Before we boarded, we were serenaded by a group of cowboys and then were treated to a cowboy gunfight by the Cataract Creek Gang (we were going to see them later in the afternoon!) and Marshall Tucker. They are a group of performers known for their Old West-themed gun fights and robberies. They were very funny.

After that boarding commenced.

The train consisted of 13 carriages and appeared as though every one of them would be full. Our train carriage was called ‘Fred Harvey’ and had a glass domed ceiling. Everyone in our carriage were just fantastic and friendly. Our hostess was called Noel and she made the day. She was so funny and could she talk! 😂🗣️

The ‘Fred Harvey’

Fred Harvey had a strong connection to Grand Canyon hotels because he and the Santa Fe Railway formed a partnership to create a chain of Harvey Houses along their train routes. Harvey recognized the need for better accommodations for travellers and worked with the railroad to build hotels and restaurants, including those at the Grand Canyon. 

The journey to the Grand Canyon was just 65 miles and the train travels at about 35 miles per hour so took us approximately 2.5 hours. We had a buffet and plenty of drink to keep us occupied during the trip.

This is our train. Sorry for the poor video!

As well as watching the scenery, which was mostly flat countryside, we were on the look out for wildlife and saw cows, elk and Pronghorn antelope. Fact: Did you know Pronghorn antelope are related to giraffes?! No, we didn’t either. 🤷‍♀️Another fact given to us by Noel.

We were also treated to entertainment in the form of Brian, who sang and played the guitar. He was great and we even sang along to a couple of John Denver numbers.

At the back of our carriage was an open-air platform so we took advantage of that as we had never stood in the open-air on the back of a train before. Another ‘first’ for us.That was fun!

On the back of the train – another ‘first’ for us

We reached the Grand Canyon in lovely warm sunshine and were, once again, overawed at the amazing sight before us. No matter how many times you gaze upon it, it always takes your breath away. We took loads of photographs. Here are just a few. No photograph will ever be as good as seeing it in person.

While we were there, we were surprised to see this elk having his lunch and the squirrel waiting for his! 😂

Elk having his lunch

Squirrel hoping he gets lucky!

Sand and Si at the Canyon

Si on ‘top of the world’

I’m not going back any further!

Then it clouded over and started to rain. Luckily, we had booked to have lunch in the El Tovar, the South Rim’s hotel, so managed to miss getting wet. 🌧️ The rain passed quickly and there was no thunder or lightening.

Sand with her elk bolognese and Amaretto Sour

Si with his lobster ‘roll’

We boarded the train for our return journey and again, were treated to a buffet and drinks, although we couldn’t manage much after having such a delicious lunch.

Once again there was entertainment, this time with Singing Sam who sang rock and roll and played guitar. Then suddenly, the train stopped and was boarded by the Cataract Creek Gang, who were wearing masks and carrying guns (not real ones!) They tore through the train robbing as many people as possible! In hot pursuit behind them was Marshall Tucker who eventually caught up with them as they had run out of train and marched them off to jail. It was hilarious! 🤣

Marshall Tucker!

We learnt a couple of things on the way back to Williams. Noel was telling us it snows in Arizona, we did not know that, and has 600 volcanic mountains!! Who knew? 🤷‍♀️

Sand and Noel

Tomorrow we leave Williams for the relatively short drive to our last ‘port of call’ on this holiday, Las Vegas.

Please join us for tales of gambling, fine food, fine wine and if the weather forecast is correct, very, very, high temperatures!! ☀️

Thanks, as always, for joining us on our adventures.

3rd June 2025

Before I begin, I would like to give a shout out to good friend Dot who noticed a mistake in last night’s blog. I had posted a photo with the wrong caption! Ten points and a gold star to dearest Dot!! ⭐️

Today has been a long day!

We left Capitol Reef Resort at 8.30 a.m. for the long drive to Williams, Arizona, calling into Monument Valley , home to the Navajo along the way. In the end the total drive was about 7.30 hours.

We had a lovely surprise today when we discovered Glen Canyon, another first for us. We had heard of it but never visited and my, my had we missed out on something grand. It was magnificent.

Sand above Glen Canyon

Sand in Glen Canyon

Glen Canyon

The landscapes from Capitol Reef to Williams have been so different it’s hard to imagine they are in the same country. From canyons and towering monoliths to flat ranges. From red rocks to white and grey.

At one point we had a cows being herded by wranglers on the open ranges.

Just before we reached Monument Valley we passed the famous Mexican Hat. The nearby town called Mexican Hat is named after the rock formation that resembles the sombrero, or a Mexican Hat.

Mexican Hat just outside Monument Valley

We visited Monument Valley (Navajo Nation’s Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park) about halfway into our journey. The views were as magnificent as ever but the passage of time has changed things!

Monument Valley

Sand in front of ‘Right Mitten’ in Monument Valley

Si at Monument Valley

One point of excitement was when we reached U.S. Route 163 near Monument Valley. This road is commonly referred to as “Forrest Gump Point“. In the film, Forrest Gump, as he runs up the road he comments that he has run for three years, two months, 14 days and 16 hours and then says “I’m pretty tired … I think I’ll go home now” and then “and just like that my running days was over”. 

Ever since then when you reach that part of the highway, there are cars and people everywhere just trying to recreate that same shot.

Sand and Si on the Forrest Gump Road!

Most of the roads we travelled today were single lane and at one point we had to travel on a gravel one down the side of a mountain for some distance. It was quite terrifying as on my side it was a sheer drop. That was the famous Moki Dugway!

The Moki Dugway is a dramatic, unpaved switchback road carved into the face of Cedar Mesa in southeastern Utah, forming part of Utah Route 261. It’s known for its stunning views and challenging drive, especially for vehicles with trailers. The 3-mile stretch climbs 1,200 feet with an 11% grade, offering a unique experience of the American Southwest. 

This video makes it look as though we were flying along but we weren’t!!

At one point the sky became very dark and down came the rain. At least it gave the dirty car a clean! 🧼🧽

Here comes the rain!

We have arrived at the Grand Canyon Railway and Hotel but will save all the details to incorporate into the blog tomorrow when we have completed our trip to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Very excited! 👏🚂

As always, thanks for following our adventures.

2nd June 2025

Well, what do I know? 🤨

I said yesterday that we would not be hiking today and of course we did! 🤷‍♀️

But, first of all, the most important news of the morning is that Si has had one of his photos go into Explore on Flickr.! 👏 Flickr is an online site for photographers to show their pictures.

The photographers among you may know this already, but everyday, Flickr choose 500 of the best photos from the millions they receive on a daily basis and put them into Explore, so it’s very special. This is the photo taken when we were in the Grand Tetons and is called ‘Teton Sunset’.

Sunset at Snake River Overlook now on Flickr Explore 1st June 2025

It was originally our intention today to do another ‘first’ and drive two hours to the Temples of the Sun and the Moon, two iconic sandstone monoliths located in the Cathedral Valley here in Capitol Reef but we were warned by a Ranger not to attempt it as rain was expected and the roads would become impassable due to the sand turning to mud and we could become stuck! 😔

So, instead of a ‘first’ for both of us we decided to do a ‘first’ for me and a ‘second’ for Si. We drove to Goosenecks Point Overlook and Sunset Point, they were a ‘first’ for me as the last time we were here I caught Covid so Si hiked up alone whilst I sat in the Car, hence a ‘second’ visit for him.

Goosenecks Point

Goosenecks Point

Sunset Point

After that we decided to hike to Hickman Bridge. We both did that the last time we were here and before I realised I had Covid.

River at Trail Head

Hickman Bridge Trail

Cactus Flower on the trail

Sand at Hickman Bridge

Si at Hickman Bridge

The hike was a two mile round trip, classed as ‘moderate’ with an elevation gain of 400 feet. It seemed much longer and after yesterday’s hike to Cassidy Arch, our legs were not happy! 😂

It has been overcast all day and this evening we’ve had some rain. The temperature this morning was 62ºF (17ºC) and the highest it rose to was 73ºF (23ºC).

We had our last dinner here in Capitol Reef Resort at the Pioneer Kitchen again. The food is excellent and the staff lovely and very attentive.

Sand with her chicken pot pie!

Si and his burger!

Sand and Si at the Pioneer Kitchen

Tomorrow is a driving day, a long 6.5 hours to Williams in northern Arizona. It is known as a gateway to Grand Canyon National Park via the Grand Canyon Railway and is situated on the Historic Route 66.

Route 66, also known as “The Mother Road,” is a historic U.S. highway established in 1926 that ran from Chicago, Illinois, to Santa Monica, California covering 2,448 miles.

Williams was the last town on Historic Route 66 to be bypassed by Interstate 40. The community, bypassed on 13 October 1984, continues to thrive on tourism.

We shall be passing by Monument Valley en-route so we intend to stop and take some photographs there too. It is said to be one of the most photographed places in the world.

The Valley’s landscape has been a backdrop to many Hollywood movies and television shows, beginning with several John Wayne films including “Stagecoach” in 1939 and “Forrest Gump” in 1994.

Well, they say things happen for a reason!  We were originally going to stay on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in the Grand Canyon Lodge cabins after leaving Capitol Reef National Park, but Si saw a report that things were not as they should be with accommodation and food so we cancelled our stay and decided to go and stay in Williams and travel by train to the Canyon instead.

Are we glad we did, because we’ve just seen a report that as of today there is a power outage on the North Rim and all visitor services are closed until further notice. 😱Grand Canyon Lodge has cancelled reservations for tonight and dining/food services are suspended. People will have to travel outside the park for food and fuel as the Lodge is the only place to eat. Nightmare!

It must have been fate that made Si read that report or we could have found ourselves sleeping in the car!!! 🤣

Thanks, as always, for reading and following us on our adventures.

1st June 2025

It was another ‘first’ today as we decided to hike to Cassidy Arch (named after Butch Cassidy who had a hide out here) in Capitol Reef National Park. This was a ‘first’ and believe me, there is never, ever, going to be a ‘second’! 🙂‍↔️

After we ate a quick breakfast, we set out at 8.00 a.m., it was 73ºF (23ºC) so it was already starting to get warm. 🌞

When we arrived at the trail head the car park nearly full but we managed to get one of the last two spaces and off we went! 🥾

Walk to the Trail Head

Walk to the Trail Head

Si walking the Grand Wash

From the Grand Wash

From the Grand Wash

From the Grand Wash

We walked down into Grand Wash and after about a quarter of a mile we realised, even though we were following AllTrails, that we had missed the sign telling us where the Trail Head was to start the hike to Cassidy Arch. Along with another family who had done the same as us, we retraced our steps and realised a huge bush was covering up the sign! Lesson learned here, always keep your eyes on the AllTrails map on the phone! 😉

That’s the way!

According to AllTrails and Strava, (an internet service for tracking physical exercise which incorporates social network features) the elevation gain is between 685 and 1058 feet and the hike is classed as strenuous. This is the map showing how steep the climb is!

The first half mile is really vertical and to quote a previous hiker “kicks butt!” I was ready to turn around at that point but Si wouldn’t let me so we trudged on to the summit.The trail was very steep and rocky and some of the stone very slick. There was some shade but not a lot but I have to say it was well worth the agony in the end. The views were magnificent. 👏

I told Si it was reckless!!! 😂🤷‍♀️

We joined a lot of other people at the summit with some choosing to walk out and stand in the middle of the arch. It looks very thin but in fact you could probably drive a car over it.

Cassidy Arch

Hooray, we made it! 👏👏👏The summit at last! 😊!

Sand and Si on top of Cassidy Arch with two Abseilers about to descent into the canyon!

Sand and Si on top of Cassidy Arch

As we hiked down there were lots of people hiking up even though it was midday, the temperature extremely hot and dark clouds were starting to gather! If you read the blog yesterday you’ll know about rain and thunderstorms! We had checked the weather forecast before we left and there was no mention of rain, but you never can tell. It changes quickly. 🌞⛈⚡️

At one point, we passed a family hiking up and the father was carrying a small baby! How he was going to manage, scrambling up and over rocks and boulders goodness only knows. People can be so silly at times. 😔

We also met a Volunteer Ranger hiking up, and we told him so that he was aware that a situation could occur, especially if they were not carrying enough water. 💧

Sand on the way down! This photo reminds us of 2013!!

Help, I’m exhausted – and I’m 12 years older now! 😂

The hat I’m wearing says GRITS on the front ……………. but in this case it’s not the kind you eat (Grits are a type of coarsely ground, dried corn that’s a staple in Southern U.S. cuisine). It stands for ‘Girls raised in the South’! That’s right, I was, but not southern USA 🇺🇸but southern UK! 🇬🇧 😉

Help! I’m exhausted – 2013. Yosemite Falls Trail .

It was a great hike but what a relief to get back to the car! We were covered from head to foot in red dust.

The hike took 3 hours 19 minutes and we covered a distance of 4.20 miles.

When we left there were loads of cars trying to find somewhere to park so what do they do? Why, park where it specifically says “No Parking” of course.🤷‍♀️ They don’t give any thought to the fact that if the emergency services need to get down there, there won’t be enough space for them to get passed the parked vehicle!! 😟

I think we deserve a large glass of something 🍹🍺for our efforts today so you can be sure we shall indulge at dinner!

Tomorrow is our last full day here but we haven’t decided yet what we should do. I definitely do not see a hike of any kind on the cards that’s for sure! 😂

Please join us again tomorrow to see what adventures the day brings.

31st May 2025

This morning, we were up, breakfasted and in the stables by 8.30 a.m. ready for the great ride! 🐎

There were eight in our party including Brett and Ellie, our wranglers. Brett was basically born in the saddle and was hilarious for the whole ride. Because Si looked so comfortable in the saddle he kept saying he must have been born and lived in Texas in his early life! Ellie was a local girl born on a nearby ranch.

We all wore hard hats and were given water and a bag to hang from our pommels to put anything in we wanted to take with us on the trail. None of the party were really experienced riders but the instructions we were given by Brett and Ellie were second to none. We all felt very comfortable.

The hard hat was not very flattering, I look like my granny! Bless her! Long departed this world. 😱😂

Sand looking like her granny! 👵

Si looks okay

Some of our party

Ella rode up front and Brett at the back. He kept us fully informed about the red rocks, trees and vegetation.

I was riding Rocco and Si was on Rio, the horses are best friends. Rocco likes a good drink of water and takes every opportunity to quench his thirst. Before we even left the coral he made his way over the trough for a good long drink. Brett reckons he’s part camel! 🐫

The sun was already warm so we were pleased we decided on the early ride. We were feeling a little nervous but once on the trail it was if we had ridden only yesterday. Of course, the horses make it easy.

We rode through magnificent scenery, riverbeds and under the red rocks. As the area is very dry there was quite a lot of dust but it wasn’t a problem. My horse, Rocco, likes to be last in the pack so that meant that Brett and I got the worst of it. 🤷‍♀️

I have to say that every time we’ve done a horse ride on holiday, I’m always the one who ends up riding at the back! What’s that all about?! 🤷‍♀️😂

The ride actually took about 1.5 hours and we both felt that was about right once we dismounted and found that we’d both developed bowlegs!! 😂 I dread to think how our legs will feel in the morning. 😔

I think I’m getting too old for this! 🫩

Brett said we should hold hands!

Once we’d showered and changed, you can imagine what our clothes looked like, we took a ride to Fruita and the Gifford House, famous for fruit pies and ice-cream, with the fruit coming from their orchards. We last visited here in 2023 when I was suffering with Covid so it only seemed right that we should return and once again, sample their delicious home-made pies.

All the seating was taken so we found ourselves a nice shady spot to enjoy our pies.

We didn’t arrive until 1.15 pm so felt sure all the pies would have been sold, they are usually all gone by midday, but it must be our lucky day, there were still a few left. One pie really serves two people but we grabbed two, together with two small tubs of vanilla ice-cream. Si, had the rhubarb and strawberry pie and I had the apple.

While we were sitting on the grass Si spotted a hummingbird amongst the lilies and he was lucky enough to capture this wonderful picture.

It’s unfortunate that they are currently undertaking maintenance work on the 7.9 mile (12.7 km) Scenic Drive to improve roads, washes (dry riverbeds and channels that can be traversed to access various canyon sections or explore specific canyons) and car parks, so there’s only a few miles open and in June the whole Scenic Drive will close. That’s sure to cause chaos!! It’s lucky that we were able to drive and enjoy that on our last visit.

Capital Dome

Followers of the blog may remember that we walked one of the washes in 2022 and a couple of weeks after we arrived home there was a flash flood (click on the link to see what a flash flood looks like) in the same wash and people were stranded and vehicles washed away! We are always reminded not to hike a wash if a storm is forecast. The speed, depth and debris in the water is unbelievable! 😱

We will probably be hiking in the Grand Wash tomorrow, but you can be sure we’ll be checking out the weather before we go! 🌞⛈

Here’s a couple of random photos.

The view from our balcony.

Sand writing the blog!

Sand writing the blog on our balcony

Our plan for tomorrow is to do a hike but we are not sure which one to do. We will wait and see how our legs feel in the morning as some of them are quite steep but whichever one we choose will be another ‘first’ for us.

As always, thanks for reading and I hope you’ve enjoyed it. 🤗

30th May 2025

Today has been a driving day. We left Salt Lake City for the 4.30 hour journey to Capitol Reef Resort.

However, we were sat eating breakfast this morning when I saw an advertisement on the television that said “Harry Potter The Exhibition” now in Salt Lake City!!! What?! 😱I dropped my spoon on to the table and gasped! This was all news to me. Apparently, it opened on 24th May. 🤷‍♀️

Well, what’s a girl to do when she’s a huge Harry Potter fan? Well go to the exhibition that’s what. Luckily, it happened to be on the very road we would be travelling out of Salt Lake City, so even more reason to go.

When we arrived it wasn’t busy as it’s still school time here. There was much confusion when buying the tickets as everyone serving was new and the technology had not bedded in properly, so we had to wait quite a while to get in.

It’s a fairly small exhibition compared to the one at Leavesden Studios where they actually filmed the series but it was well worth a visit. Quite a lot of interaction and a lot of the original props from the films. Enough to keep any Harry Potter fan happy.

There were also exhibits from the Fantastic Beasts series.

Here are a few pics from the Exhibition.

Sand at the entrance

A first edition of HP and the Philosopher’s Stone or Sorcerer’s Stone

Si repotting a Mandrake

Sand in the Ministry of Magic phone box

Si in Hagrid’s chair

Sand in Dolores Umbridge’s office

Sand and Si in Harry’s cupboard under the stairs

Si scoring a Quidditch goal!

Sand and Si disappearing into a suitcase!

The final battle!

Of course there was the obligatory gift shop and even though my cupboards are fairly full of memorabilia, I still managed to find a few things I don’t have and of course, needed badly! Plus of course, the ‘official’ photographs that we bought but will put in a cupboard and never look at again!

Our journey to Capitol Reef Resort was uneventful and the temperature along the way climbed to 90ºF (32ºC), so very hot indeed. 🌞

On the Road

Arriving at Capitol Reef Resort

We have a lovely room at the Resort, overlooking the red cliffs and have settled in nicely. Tonight for dinner we will eat on site at the Pioneer Kitchen and venture further afield tomorrow evening.

Pioneer Kitchen

The view from our room.

Sand on the balcony

You may think our first adventure tomorrow would be a hike but oh no, tomorrow morning the Barretts will be riding like John Wayne!! It’s been quite a while since we sat atop horses 🐎so hard hats have been requested and fingers crossed, we will complete the two-hour ride with no mishaps! 🤞🤕

Please join us tomorrow to see how we fair!

29th May 2025

First of all, last night’s dinner. As I said, we ate at the Blue Lion Restaurant in Jackson and the food was as good as always.👍

I started with the obligatory salad (there always seems to be a salad course before the Main course in the US!), followed by beef tenderloin, with crab au bleu sauce, mashed potatoes, and asparagus.

Si had stuffed mushrooms consisting of crab, cream cheese, and Courvoisier stuffing followed by the salad and then seared scallops with Sunchoke puree, curried carrots, pickled mustard seas and sesame seeds. To finish off he had the Russian cream and raspberries.

Si with his stuffed mushrooms

Sand and her beef tenderloin

Si with his Russian cream and respberries

He then staggered out of the restaurant, ready for a lie down! 🫩🛌😂

Today has been another driving day, so we haven’t done much except sit in the car and admire the scenery.

We said farewell to Dornans 😔 where the temperature at 9.30 a.m.was 70ºF (21C) and made our way to Salt Lake City, where the temperature when we arrived was 86ºF (30ºC). 🌞 The drive was very easy, even though we started on small local roads before hitting the highway and took about 4.5 hours.

Farewell Dornans

Our journey was hastened by the fact that some of the highways had an 80 miles per hour (128 kilometers per hour) speed limit.

We are staying over night at the same Best Western we stayed at last week on our way to the Tetons.

I’ve been meaning to say ……………… regular followers of the blog will know that we’ve always called our satellite navigation (satnav) ‘Margaret’ in honour of our dear friend Dot, who has a saying she uses when she wants her car to get a move on and that’s “punch it Margaret”,

You can see why we are all such good friends! Dot is our leader! This was taken some years ago at Watkins Glen State Park, New York. She will hate this picture! Sorry Dot! 😂 🥰

We used to include satnav (Margaret) with our hire car from Hertz and sometimes she could be rather difficult (she was getting on in years! 👵) sending us in the wrong direction etc. Well, Margaret retired last year to the home of Elderly Satellite Navigators and as with all things, times change.

Si has free roaming on his phone in the USA (“free roaming” on a phone, in the context of international travel, refers to international roaming plans offered by a mobile carrier that doesn’t charge extra fees for using your phone in other countries) so we now use Google Maps instead. We are pleased to report that the voice guiding us now is actually Margaret’s daughter, also called Margaret in honour of her mother and who is carrying on the family tradition. Touch wood, everything’s been fine so far with Margaret 2.

Today we travelled from Wyoming, then one and a half miles into Idaho and back into Wyoming again before finally landing in Utah.

Welcome to Idaho!

Along the way we passed through Plymouth and Weston (spooky, that used to be my maiden name!) 😳

One interesting fact is that by using Google maps we receive alerts along the way telling us  there are reports of Police ahead and then a prompt appears on screen asking us to confirm they are still there or have left. The same happens with roadworks and objects in the road! Good system! 👍

On the way back today we had to drive over railway tracks again and this time there was an actual train heading our way, thankfully very slowly. There were no crossing gates or anything telling us a train was coming so that was a little hairy! 😱

Here comes the train!

For dinner this evening we returned to another favourite eatery, Texas Roadhouse. Again, our dear friend Dot first introduced us many years ago to the wonderful Texas Roadhouse Rolls brushed with sweet honey butter and we always return there if there’s one in town.

The Texas Roadhouse Rolls 😋

I had the 6oz Dallas Fillet. It is a popular steak at Texas Roadhouse and is known for its tenderness and lean, melt-in-the-mouth quality and my goodness are they right! It was fabulous. All the steaks are hand cut. It was accompanied by mashed potatoes topped with bacon and cheese and buttered corn on the side.

Si started with a cup of chilli topped with cheese, followed by a 12oz ribeye steak with a mushroom topping accompanied by mashed potatoes topped with bacon and cheese plus prawns on the side.

Sand with her Dallas Fillet

Si with his Ribeye Steak

Some of you will remember that last time we tried to get a drink at the Texas Roadhouse they wouldn’t serve us because we didn’t have our Passports with us! I’m pleased to report that things have improved and they were happy to accept our driving licences instead.

Sand with a rather large Margarita

Si’s lager

We seem to have lots of pics of us eating today but I know there are regular followers who enjoy nothing more than seeing, in particular, what Si’s been eating. 😂

Here are a few more picture from our journey today.

Is that an elephant’s head?

There’s still snow in them there hills!

A rather large chicken!

Just another train

I do like a pic of a Coca-Cola lorry!

Tomorrow we travel on to our next destination, Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. The Park covers 58 acres and there’s plenty to do there as well as hike. It is one of the ‘Mighty Five’ National Parks in Utah. The other four are, Canyonlands, Arches, Bryce and Zion.

As for wildlife, Capitol Reef has black bears who are more timid than grizzly bears and tend to shy away from people, but we still have our bear spray and will take that with us, just in case! 🤞

On a closing note, I’ll be lucky if I get this post out tonight as the wi-fi’s being a nightmare and keeps falling out! 😔

Anyway, as always, thanks for reading and we hope you’ll join us tomorrow for the next stage of our adventure.

28th May 2025

Last night we drove out at dusk in yet another attempt to see wildlife! We did see some Elk and  Si took some lovely sunset shots from the Snake River Overlook.

Sunset at Snake River Overlook

This morning, our last full day in the Tetons, we were up and out fairly early to continue our quest. It’s been another lovely day and everywhere was very peaceful this morning.

In Jackson this morning we saw this fabulous tree! If anyone knows the name, please let us know.

Si with the fabulous tree

We saw a few Wildlife Management Managers in a couple of places and thought that boded well for seeing wildlife but alas, that was not the case today!

On our boat trip on Monday, First Mate, Brooke was telling us how all the colleagues keep in touch with each other when it comes to wildlife sightings but when talking to each other they have to talk in code because people are monitoring their airwaves for information of sightings and will then race to the location, but they are able to overcome this by speaking in code.

We did stop and talk to one Manager who was trying to educate visitors on good practices whens it comes to wildlife, in particular, bears. This will have been the only time that we actually got up close and personal with two bears. One Grizzly and one Black bear!!!!!

You can tell the difference between the two as the Grizzly has a hump on his back.

Grizzly Bear

Black Bear

One interesting fact about bears! Mother Bears like to stay near the road with their cubs because they feel safer as male grizzlies, who usually try to kill the cubs in order to mate with the mother bear, will not come near the roadway.

After our failed outing this morning we once again stopped off at the Pioneer Grill at Jackson Lake Lodge for breakfast. I had the healthy granola, yoghurt and fruit while Si had the U.S. equivalent to bacon and eggs. Food was delicious as always.

After breakfast we decided to visit Signal Mountain that had been opened again after a Grizzly attack! The views from there are just amazing and well worth the fairly long drive to reach the summit.

View from Signal Mountqin

Balsam Root on Signal Mountain

Once at the top we got talking to a lovely lady called Kris who, with her husband Mike, two cats and a dog, has a You Tube channel called Positive RV Journey. They originally hail from Maryland but are now two of the US’s full-time RVers (that’s people who live full-time in their Recreational Vehicles).

Kris from Positive RV Journey

We have spoken to a few full-time RVers on this trip and it’s quite amazing that they all seem to follow the same You Tube channels as us! Spooky! 👻

Kris has done a cruise from Iceland to Southampton. Spooky again, as that used to be our home town and of course our football team is Southampton Football.Club. Well, someone has to follow them! Also, Kris is a American Football fan and follows the Washington Commanders as does Si. What a small world it is! 🤷‍♀️

She has also visited London and had afternoon tea at Fortnum and Masons. Her next trip will be to Dublin, Ireland. Have a great trip Kris.

Also on the mountain we came across a couple who were married last Friday in Seattle, Washington and were on their honeymoon. We have now seen six couples recently married. It must be that time of year and love is in the air! 👰‍♀️🤵💕

On the way back we stopped off at Oxbow Bend.

Oxbow Bend

Our next quest was to try and find the Big Horn Mountain Sheep. They too have been hiding away but we found a small herd. Hooray! Along the way we also saw some Pronghorn Antelope so all was not lost.

Big Horn Mountain Sheep

Si thought was a good shot of the Teton mountain range with no traffic in sight!

As this is our last night here we are going to get out of our hiking gear and dress up (well sort of!) and dine at The Blue Lion Restaurant in Jackson. We’ve eaten there before and the food was delicious.

So, this is our last post from the Grand Tetons. Our next one will be from Salt Lake City where we will overnight tomorrow before heading to Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. Regular followers of the blog will remember that on our last visit in 2023 I caught Covid so was unable to hike or appreciate the beautiful surroundings.

Please keep everything crossed that our visit this year will be problem free!! 🤞

Thanks for reading.

27th May 2025

Today has been one of ‘firsts’ again!

As it was going to be another hot sunny day, we decided not to hike but to spend a leisurely day in Jackson. 🌞 Shorts and short sleeves were the order of the day!

This was such a beautiful tree, we felt a photo was in order.

The first thing we did was a ‘little’ shopping 🛍️followed by lunch once again at the restaurant Local where I had crab cakes and Si, steak frites.

Sand and her crab cake

After lunch our first port of call was to the Snow King Resort in Jackson,

where we rode the Cowboy Roller Coaster! This is how it is described on the website:

Climbing the Mountain

Hop in the driver’s seat, get comfortable, and buckle up! The Cowboy Coaster does the work for you as you make your way up the mountain. During the roughly five minute ascent, enjoy unparalleled views of the Tetons. As the ride nears the top, get ready to smile or make a funny face for the camera!

Race to the Bottom

When the auto-lift ends and the ride begins to go downhill push the hand brakes forward and rush down the mountain. The curves, twists and turns, and 360 degree loops are sure to thrill every rider! For everyone’s safety the coaster will automatically brake when it reaches 25mph. For those looking for a more leisurely ride, use the brakes to ease your way to the bottom.

Now, the Barretts are not usually reckless roller coaster people but we had seen this activity on You Tube and felt we would like to try it. We were a little nervous but knew that we would be able to control the cart ourselves so we decided to go for it. 🫣

Ready for lift off!

It was exciting but hairy in parts but we were well strapped in and there was safety netting round the tight bends so it was quite safe. Needless to say, I did not travel at 25 miles per hour but made my way down at a leisurely pace. Si wondered where I was as he came down much quicker than I did. So reckless! 😳

Look at him with his cap on backwards! 😂

Here I come, nice and steady!

After that excitement we made our way back to the town for another ‘first’. We had a ride in a stagecoach round the town square. We had always wanted to do it, so decided today was the day.

We were surprised how smooth the ride was but we were only in it for a short time.

Riding in style

One other thing I had never tried before was a huckleberry milkshake so that was another thing ticked off the list today. It was rather delicious, thick and creamy. Just what was needed on a hot day.

Sand putting the world to rights with Benjamin Franklin!

Tomorrow will be our last full day here at Dornans in our lovely cabin, Osprey, 😔so please join us to see what adventures we have in store to complete this part of our holiday.

26th May 2025

Last night we went out once again in search of wildlife. We were lucky in that we saw a Moose, but not so lucky because he was well hidden in the brush so difficult to photograph.

There’s a Moose there somewhere!

This morning we had another late start, 9.05 a.m. I’m beginning to think we are getting lazy or is it all the early starts and hiking catching up with us oldies? 😔

Today has been another fabulous hot, sunny day. The temperature started at 54ºF (12ºC) and is currently 70ºF (21ºC). 🌞

We did the narrated scenic boat tour around Colter Bay, part of Jackson Lake and Mrs. B. did not embarrass herself thank goodness. 🥴👏

There were lots of people kayaking and canoeing on the lake too. A lovely day for it.

People out on the Lake.

The Colter Bay boat area – waiting to board!

We had Captain Dave as our ‘driver’ and Brooke from Raleigh, North Carolina as First Mate. She was excellent and her knowledge first class and very informative. We learnt a lot today. Our boat today was called Teewinot.

Our Boat Teewinot – on the left!

Captain Dave from Chicago

First Mate, Brooke from North Carolina

We were lucky that the water was very calm, as during high winds and various other activities, waves have been known to reach up to 6 ft high (1.83m).

Grand Teton from our boat

The lake is 437 feet deep and is the second-largest in Wyoming with Yellowstone Lake being the largest. As there are only about 60 frost-free days in the Tetons it means the lake freezes over in the winter and the ice can be 5 feet thick. When this happens wild animals and people often walk across the lake to Elk Island. Elk give birth on the island too. Everything is glacier created and that means the mountains are always on the move. Grand Teton is the tallest mountain in the National Park.

Camping on Elk Island

Moose are aquatic animals and have double jointed knees so can swim doing a type of breast-stroke up to six miles per hour. Who knew, not us that’s for sure! 😂

Aspen trees grow in groves and are all around the lake. The individual groves are all  connected to one mother tree by their root system.

Aspen Trees

The first mountain to be named in the Tetons was Teewinot (apparently from an Indian word meaning Pinnacles, but when this was queried they said they didn’t know the word!) It stands today at 13,775 feet (4199m) and it is still growing.

The Tetons are the youngest mountain range in the USA at 10 million years old and are continually on the move. They are measured every two years.

In 1950 a plane crashed into Skillet Glacier killing all 22 people on board. The plane was never recovered and remains there to this day. A priest went up the mountain to carry out a memorial service. Some say on a sunny day you can see the remains of the plane glinting in the sunshine.

In the past two years, due to contact with humans, lots of bears have had to be relocated across the lake to wooded areas. They are not content to stay there however, and can often be seen swimming in the water and often swim alongside boats. Sadly, we didn’t see any today.

There are an estimated 200 bears, both black bears and grizzly bears, living in Grand Teton National Park. Within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, which includes Grand Teton, there are roughly 700 grizzly bears. The 200 bears in Teton National Park are tagged so they can be monitored. 

After our boat trip we did a short hike to Heron Pond and were lucky to encounter a large Moose on the trail. At one point he looked very hard at Si so we moved away quickly. 😱 Perhaps he thought he would be good for his entree! 🤣

Moose

Moose having lunch!

View of the Lake from our hike to Heron Pond

For lunch we went back to the Pioneer Grill where I had my first Bison Burger of the trip and Si a Cowboy Burger consisting of 1/3 lb Beef Patty, Honey-Bourbon BBQ Sauce, Bacon, Crispy Onions, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, and Cheddar Cheese. He said is was fantastic.

We were served by a lovely young lady called Emma Rose from Massachusetts. She has been studying to be a nurse and has just graduated. Her wish is to become a Theatre Nurse and we wish her well for the future.

Emma Rose

Emma Rose and her colleague, Jake, from Wisconson

Just an update from our trip to Yellowstone last Saturday. You may remember we saw a beautiful little bird that we didn’t know the name of. Well, thanks to a friend and follower of our blog who has the Merlin Bird ID app, he was able to tell us that it is called a Chipping Sparrow. Thanks Jim.

Chipping Sparrow

The app was also recommended to me by my friend Ann and I now have it downloaded to my phone. It’s a great app and so far today I’ve been able to identify five birds! I can see a new hobby coming on! I expect I’m late to the party and lots of you already know about it. 🤷‍♀️

Our time in the Tetons is coming to a close very rapidly, too rapidly in fact. We leave on Thursday. 😔

We haven’t decided yet what to do tomorrow so it will be a surprise for all of us! 😳

As always, thanks for reading. See you tomorrow for more adventures!

25th May 2025

We had a later start today, out at 9.30 a.m. so had time for my breakfast in bed supplied of course, by Mr. B. ☕️🍞 Once again, it was a chilly start but this afternoon it had reached 70ºF (21ºC).

It was another ‘first’ for us today as we hiked the Lake Shore Trail at Colter Bay. It consists of two loops, Colter Bay and Jackson Lake. It was an easy hike and the start of it was on tarmac. We had fantastic views of Grand Teton and the water was crystal clear and not too cold either.

Colter Bay is a beautiful area with lots of beautiful boats too! Those reading this post who know me very well, will be rather flabbergasted by what I am going to say next ………….. tomorrow we are going on a scenic boat tour of Colter Bay!!! 😱🫣🤢I’ve packed plastic bags and will be taking my travel sickness pills before embarking on this adventure! 🤣 Let’s hope I don’t come to regret this rather foolish idea. 🤞

Colter Bay

Boats at Colter Bay

Colter Bay with Grand Teton

Colter Bay

Sand resting a while with Grand Teton in the background

Sand studying All Trails

Photographer on the trail

At the end of the trail there is an amphitheatre. What a fabulous setting.

Unfortunately, the only animals we saw today were Bison and just a tiny squirrel. We are beginning to think that this isn’t our year for wildlife. 😔

We had lunch at the Pioneer Grill at Jackson Lake Lodge. We’ve had breakfast there before, lovely food. It’s like an old fashioned diner. We enjoyed tuna melts and fruit plus white wine for me at a cost of $16.00 (£12.00). I didn’t notice the cost when I ordered it) but there was enough for three good glasses …………… in a can!

Pioneer Grill at Colter Bay

Sand’s lunch with the can of Pinot Grigio

A couple of things I keep forgetting to post ………………

On our first day here we purchased our Annual Pass for all the National Parks, cost $80.00 (£61.00) and the young lady who served us asked where we had come from. We told her Las Vegas and she commented that no-one ever wins in Vegas. Wrong! We told her about our big win in 2023 and she was flabbergasted.

When we went through again on Friday she remembered us and said she had been telling all her friends about the English couple who had had success in Vegas. 💵

Also, I consider that I am quite knowledgeable about all things Apple but even I learnt something yesterday. 🤗Some of you may know this but I certainly didn’t. If you have an Apple watch and call up the compass, it has a Back Track setting on it. What ……………..? 🤷‍♀️How did I not know this? We could have used that two years ago when we got lost and had to be saved by a Ranger.🤣 So, we now have two options to save us from getting lost, the compass and What 3 Words. 👏

Also, even though I’m quite ‘techie’, sometimes things baffle me too. Last night I started to back up my laptop and it suddenly stopped and said it couldn’t complete the task. It seems that it didn’t like one of my videos. 🤷‍♀️Couldn’t get to the bottom of it so had to go and buy another back-up disk today. 😔 Hey ho! Modern technology is excellent when it works. 🤷‍♀️

Note to my good mate Ann! You will see from one of the photos of me at the lake that I am using the phone holder you told me about. Good call, thanks.👍 I used it today to hold Si’s phone to follow All Trails to make sure we were walking in the right direction.

Another busy day comes to an end.

Please come back to read tomorrow’s post on our scenic boat tour. Will it be a success or a total disaster for Mrs. B.? 😂🚤

.

24th May 2025

Before I start today’s Post, there’s one thing left over from yesterday’s!

Last night we decided to take a quick drive to Mormon Row to see if Si could get any decent sunset shots of the Tetons and the famous T. Moulton Barn. This was more of an experiment really as he doesn’t usually photograph straight into the sun. This is one of the shots.

Sunset at Mormon Row and the T. Moulton Barn

Also, while we were there a newly married couple arrived for photographs. We don’t know them but it seems fitting to include them.

The Happy Couple!

The Happy Bride!

So, to today’s adventure.

Another early start today! We were up and out at 6.00 a.m. for our trip to Hayden Valley in Yellowstone National Park. This was another first for us as we have never stopped there before. It took two hours to get to drive there and for most of the journey it was just us on the roads. .

It was chilly at first, 35ºF (1.6ºC) and on the way to Yellowstone we had snow ❄️ and rain. 🌧️It didn’t bode well for the day but I’m pleased to say the day turned around and we ended up with a hot sunny day with a top temperature of 70ºF (21ºC). 🌞

On our drive to Yellowstone we saw Elk, Pronghorn Antelope and Bison. Once in the park we saw loads of bison 🦬 and the rear end of a bear 🐻but it was too far away to photograph! 😂

Elk

Bison on the way to Yellowstone

Yellowstone River

We were surprised how much snow there still was, much more than here in the Tetons. Lewis Lake (named after one of the explorers Lewis and Clarke) was still partly frozen over. Yellowstone has a high average elevation, around 8,000 feet (2,400 meters) above sea level.

Lewis Lake Frozen

Along the way we passed over the Continental Divide. A line of high ground, often a mountain range, that separates where rivers and streams flow on a continent. Basically, it’s the line that divides whether water flows towards one ocean or another. In North America, the Continental Divide primarily runs through the Rocky Mountains, and it separates water flowing towards the Pacific Ocean from water flowing towards the Atlantic or Arctic Oceans. 

The Continental Divide

Our first stop was at the Fishing Bridge Mud Pots.

Steam from the Mud Pots

Mud Pot

Dragon’s Mouth Spring

We also saw this lovely little bird. Sadly, we do not know what it is!

The Hayden Valley.

The photographer at Hayden Valley

The Photographer’s Assistant at Hayden Valley

We had breakfast at Canyon Village where we met a President Trump supporter and his wife. We spent a very interesting 20 minutes chatting with them. He actually went to both of the President’s Inaugurations.

We decided to drive on to the Old Faithful Inn where we watched the Old Faithful Geyser erupt from the boardwalk behind the geyser instead of the front as most people do. Another first for us.

He’s watching Old Faithful erupt!

Old Faithful erupting

Solidified mud!

On the way back to Dornan’s we suddenly came upon a rather long traffic jam. We thought there must be traffic lights or an accident but it turned out to be a rather cheeky bison 🦬walking down the middle of the road. He was in no hurry to get anywhere and he made sure we wouldn’t be going anywhere in a hurry either! It took 30 minutes to clear the traffic. Still, it is his home after all.

Bison Traffic Jam

To finish with, here are two interesting photos we took today.

Just a random cloud

Downpour just outside Jackson

Tomorrow it is our intention to hike around Colter Bay and fingers crossed, grab a glimpse of Blondie and her cub.🤞At least we won’t have such an early start to our day. Perhaps have breakfast in bed for a change! One can only hope! 😉

Hope you can join us again tomorrow for more adventures.

23rd May 2025

So we were up and out by 5.30 a.m. for our early morning trip to Schwabacher Landing (SL) for sunrise shots. 🌅 It was rather chilly at 34ºF (1.1ºC) with ice on the car’s windscreen 🧊 but the day warmed up beautifully and ended up at 64ºF (18ºC).

When we first came to the Tetons five years ago and went to SL for sunrise shots there were about 12 people, including us, to experience the event. What a difference five years makes!

We were flabbergasted when we arrived to find the parking area was full and people were parking in every available nook and cranny and when we left, about an hour later, the cars were parked right back to the main highway with more cars trying to get in! We counted at least 80 cars and that was a rough count, so there could have been more. There must have been between 200-300 people all vying for the best spots and SL is not exactly a huge area. It was crazy! 🤷‍♀️

So, how have things changed so dramatically in such a short time? I think we all know the answer to that ………………. the curse of the Internet that’s what! The Grand Tetons are being mentioned everywhere and once people see how beautiful it is well, enough said. Things will never be the same again. 😔

It was a beautiful morning so we were well rewarded for our early start.

Sunrise at Schwabacher Landing

Sunrise at Schwabacher Landing

After the shoot we went for breakfast in Jackson at The Bunnery Bakery and Restaurant. It’s a very popular restaurant but as we were so early, just after 7.00 p.m. we got a table with no trouble at all. The food was delicious. I had huckleberry pancakes and Si had ‘The Glory Bowl’ consisting of Swiss cheese melted over two fried eggs, mushrooms and hash browns garnished with sour cream. A healthy dish indeed!! 😂 We won’t mention the cakes we purchased on the way out for a snack later! 😉

Si and his ‘healthy’ breakfast ….. not!

We stopped off quickly at Mormon Row the historic district that showcases the settlement patterns and architecture of Mormon families who settled the area in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Si’s always hopeful that he will find slightly different photographs to the ones he’s taken there before.

House on Mormon Row

House on Mormon Row

We decided to dedicate the rest of the day looking for wildlife. Alas, we were not exactly successful on that front. The first animal we saw was a deer hoovering up someone’s front lawn but we were not able to stop for a photo opportunity and the second was a Coyote but again, we were unable to get a photograph.

So, you can imagine how we felt when we stopped at an area called Colter Bay and a lady told us that yesterday, a famous bear called Blondie (for regular followers of the blog you may remember we photographed her and her three clubs two years ago and then the cubs were killed by a grizzly bear?) had spent all day around the commercial area with her current cub.

Blondie had three cubs again this year but again, two of them were killed by a male grizzly bear. That girl does not have a lot of luck! 😔

There was also another famous bear in the Tetons called Grizzly 399. She was world-famous and there are official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts for her too. Sadly on 22nd October 2024, aged 28, she was knocked down by a car and killed.

She was the oldest documented grizzly bear to reproduce in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (Grand Tetons is part of that). Her last cub was born in 2023 when she was 27 years old. She had at least 22 cubs and was followed by as many as 40 professional wildlife photographers and millions of tourists came to the area to see her.

Most of her ashes were scattered in Grand Teton National Park and Static Peak was renamed to Peak 399 in her honour on 1st May 2025.

Her eldest surviving daughter Grizzly 610, often referred to as “Princess 610” or “the Princess of the Tetons,” was also in the Colter Bay area yesterday so we are hoping to see her or Blondie when we hike the area in the next couple of days.

We had lunch today in the Mural Room at Jackson Lake Lodge and were lucky enough to sit at a window table that affords magnificent views of the Grand Tetons. Si had the turkey club with fruit (much healthier!) and I had salmon croquettes with roasted red pepper remoulade and grilled lemon.

While we were out driving today we came across this sign. Not one we are familiar with in the U.K.

When we arrived back at the cabin this little guy was waiting for us. We’ve named him ‘Gordon the Ground Squirrel’. I guess that’s actually three wild animals we’ve seen today!

Gordon the Ground Squirrel

Tomorrow looks like being another early start as we plan to take a drive to Yellowstone National Park. We have been there a few times so instead of re-visiting the areas we have already seen our plan is to visit Hayden Valley instead.

It has abundant wildlife including bison, elk, grizzly bears, wolves and various bird species so, fingers crossed, we may have more luck tomorrow. 🤞

As always, thanks for reading.

22nd May 2025

Today has been a day of ‘firsts’.

As the weather forecast was for cloud all day, we didn’t rise early for sunrise shots (we have that pleasure tomorrow morning). Instead we decided to undertake a hike we have never done before around the String Lake Loop Trail.

Grand Teton from String Lake Loop Trail

The trail is 3.7 miles long (if you don’t miss the turnoff, walk for a mile and then realise you are going in the wrong direction!) and takes approximately two hours. It rises 325 feet and is considered easy. The area is popular for picnicking and water sports.

The first thing you see as you start the walk is a large sign warning of bear country and telling people what to do in the event of a bear attack and not to hike without bear spray. Shame some people are unable to read!

When we started the trail three people passed us and found it quite amusing that we were carrying bear spray. When I enquired if they had any, one of them replied that he didn’t but he wasn’t bothered. I told him to make sure they walked in front of us then! Stupid or what! 🤷‍♀️

It is a beautiful hike and along the way we saw a Marmot, American Robin and a large Moose. We met two people from North Carolina and walked a while with them. They had intended to bring bear spray but were staying with a friend and she couldn’t find the spray so they came without any too!

Marmot

American Robin

Moose

There was quite a lot of snow on the trail but it was all passable without walking sticks and crampons. At one point we had to strip off some our layers as it was so warm.

String Lake

String Lake

Grand Teton from String Lake

Sand taking in the view

The Photographer

Saw this on the trail!

??????

After we had completed the hike we set off for Oxbow Bend, one of our favourite spots, just to check it was still there and to take some photographs.

Oxbow Ben

This evening for dinner we went into Jackson and another first, had dinner at a steakhouse  called Local. It has received some very good reviews and the food was indeed, excellent.

We started with sharing a crab cake and salad followed by a WAGYU Philly Cheesesteak consisting of shaved New York steak, sautéed onions, white cheddar fondue on an amoroso roll served with either salad of fries. We had one of each to share. Needless to say I could only eat half but there’s always room for a pudding so we shared the Sticky Toffee Bread Pudding served warm with toffee caramel sauce and vanilla ice-cream. All washed down very nicely with a few Amaretto Sours for the lady and beer for the gentlemen. 🍹🍺

Oh my! The ‘Lady’ after a few Amaretto Sours!!

It occurred to me earlier that there were a couple of things I missed from the previous blogs!

The lady from Florida who I mentioned holidays alone, well she told us that on one occasion she was camping overnight on her own and at one point her tent was surrounded by eight bears!! ⛺️🐻She said she just sat perfectly still until they went away! Again, a much braver woman than I.

Next, while we were shopping in Jackson yesterday, a man walked past me with a gun in a holster on his belt. To say I was rather stunned is an understatement. You hear about it but to actually witness it was something else. Wyoming is an open carry state, meaning open carry of firearms is legal without a permit. Anyone who is at least 18 years old and legally allowed to possess a firearm can open carry in Wyoming. No permit or license is required for open carry. 🤷‍♀️

Tomorrow, the forecast is for a lovely sunny day with temperatures ranging from 35ºF (2ºC) to 60ºF (15ºC). Sunrise is at 5.50 a.m. so we shall rise early, about 5.00 a.m. to make our way to Schwabacher Landing to, fingers crossed, capture some fantastic sunrise shots. 🤞🌅

As always, thanks for reading and please join us again tomorrow to see those fantastic sunrise shots!

21st May 2025

Well, what a difference 24 hours can make! It has been a lovely bright, sunny and fairly warm day. 🌞So different to yesterday.

We started with a visit to Jackson for some shopping, as you do and headed straight for the Eddie Bauer store. The clothing there has always been of high quality and it’s where we stock up on our hiking gear. You can imagine our disappointment when we discovered they were no longer trading in Jackson! 😔We we were bereft and were a little lost for a while. Of course, there are other outfitters in Jackson so we made our may to one of them and managed to find a thing or two, some in the Spring sale.

My favourite hiking and gym shoes are by La Sportiva and I found a lovely pair the colours of which reminded us of the Gryffindor colours in Harry Potter, so of course, I had to buy them! 👏 I haven’t been able to buy them in the UK although they do sell them across Europe.

As it was a lovely day we knew it would be okay to ride the Teton Village Aerial Tram as the views would indeed be magnificent and we were not disappointed.

Jackson Aerial Tram

The trams leave every 15 minutes and can transport 600 people per hour up to Rendezvous Mountain. The mountain stands at 10,450 feet and in the winter can have 400 inches of snow. There are over 200 species of plants and lots of wildlife live up there including Golden Eagles.

For those who like the technicals, the trams are run by 1000 horsepower motors, 15 miles of steel cable, 200 assorted wheels and three braking systems!

The ride up was spectacular. When we arrived it was bitterly cold and there was a lot of snow.❄️The temperature at the bottom of the mountain was 52ºF (11ºC) and 25ºF (-4ºC) at the top! 🥶 But more of a concern was the wind. It was blowing a gale. We were told the wind was 30 miles per hour but it felt much stronger to us. 💨

On the tram

On the tram

It was quite scary at times and I thought I would be blown away. Everyone was holding on to glasses, hats and scarves. There was a viewing platform that went out over the mountain but because of the wind, most found that a step too far. Si, of course, braved it to see what photographs he could get. The views were magnificent, we could not have chosen a better day.

Grand Teton from the tram

At the summit there is Corbet’s Cabin Top of the World Waffles where waffles are made to order and hot drinks are available. Very welcome after experiencing the cold wind.

Corbet’s Cabin Top of the World Waffles

Corbet’s Cabin

Corbet’s Cabin

Sand and Si on top of Rendezvous Mountain

Si on top of Rendezvous Mountain

One of our sunrise visits will be to Schwabacher Landing so we drove there to make sure the road was open. Although we’ve been there previously, it’s a beautiful place and Si’s always on the look out for a better sunrise photograph. That means a very early start any day now! 🥱

Schwabacher Landing

Schwabacher Landing

Sand at Schwabacher Landing with Grand Teton in the background

There were two nesting sites with geese sitting on eggs so that was an added bonus.

Sitting goose

As we left the Teton National Park we had our first siting of large wildlife, a young Moose. We were not the only excited ones. The two National Park employees in the Entry/Exit booths also had their cameras out taking photos.

It was our intention to dine in Jackson this evening but after quite a long day we decided to eat once again at Pizza & Pasta with Si having the buffalo pasta and me the Lobster Ravioli for a second time. Well, it was delicious. The restaurant is only a two-minute walk from the cabin so we can stagger back easily after a drink or three. 🍷🍻🥴

Please join us to see what adventures tomorrow brings.

20th May 2025

We have settled in to our lovely cabin here at Dornans. One thing we had forgotten about was the height of the bed. Si at 6.0 feet tall has to climb into it so you can imagine what it’s like for me at 5.0 feet nothing! Si’s worried I’ll get a nose bleed or suffer the return of altitude sickness. 😂

As this is our first full day in the Tetons, it was only right and proper that it started with breakfast in bed, well for me anyway, of toast with huckleberry jam and coffee. 🍞☕️

One of the delights for me at being back in Wyoming is huckleberry everything. Yesterday while shopping at the Deli here at Dornans we found cinnamon bread, another favourite and huckleberry jam made especially for them. Well, who could resist that?! 🤷‍♀️

Huckleberries have been described as having a taste of blueberries and raspberries. I also have huckleberry chocolate and Huckleberry Mini Sammies in the freezer. I believe the Sammies are huckleberry ice-cream with coconut on the outside. They look delicious.

Our plan for the day was not to hike but to do a recce to establish which trails are currently open and hikeable and those that are not and to decide if we needed to buy crampons and new walking sticks. Some trails still waist-deep in snow but as usually happens, not everything went according to plan.

We started our recce with a drive to Taggart Lake and once there decided to hike the Taggart Lake Trail to photograph the lake. It’s a fairly short walk from the car park, although quite a steep one but we’ve done it a few times before and knew it would be okay. We were at an elevation of 7,000 feet.

Once at the lake it started to snow ❄️ but not heavily, so then decided that perhaps it would be a good idea to hike the Taggart Lake Loop as we had never done that before. That would be a total of approximately four miles. By now the snow had turned to rain 🌧️ and it was a little chilly🥶 but not too bad.

This is snow melt on the way to Taggart Lake.

Snow melt

The Taggart Trail

We met a lady from the Florida Evergades hiking the Loop from the opposite direction to us. She was all alone and told us she always holidays that way and has done all kinds of exciting adventures like undertaking an 8,000 mile boat journey, all alone! She’s a braver woman than I McDuff, that’s for sure. 👍

One thing we are always told is do not hike alone in bear country. One good thing, she did have bear spray with her.

On our hike we decided it was a good idea, in addition to shouting “hey bear” so if there is a grizzly present he would know we were coming so wouldn’t be startled and charge at us, is to also play some music, so we decided on John Denver (JD). After all, if we were to be confronted by an angry grizzly 🐻what better way to smooth his troubled breast than by listening to the gentle tones of JD! Always smoothes my troubled breast that’s for sure. 🤣 There was evidence of bear activity by means of bear poo and scratches on trees. Luckily, we didn’t come across any creatures apart from one lonely chipmunk.

Tonight we ate at Pizza & Pasta again with Si enjoying the Lobster Ravioli and I had pizza. Delicious! Sadly, I was unable to have my Amoretto Sour as they had run out of Amaretto! 😔

The beautiful view from Pizza & Pasta

Si and his lobster ravioli

Sand and her pizza

Coming to the Tetons at this time of year is a gamble regarding the weather but we are always prepared for that and it doesn’t detract from the beauty you see everywhere.

Although the day started sunny it’s ended mostly cold and wet but, fingers crossed, it should be sunny tomorrow and if that’s the case, please join us for an aerial tram ride to ‘the top of the world’ with magnificent views over the mountains …………………. or so the literature says! 🤞

As always, thanks for travelling with us.

19th May 2025

Today was another driving day to complete the final leg of our long journey to reach the Grand Tetons in Jackson.

The day started with a delicious breakfast provided by the Best Western Plus, Cotton Tree Inn in North Salt Lake. We’ve stayed there a few times and they never disappoint.

Before departing we filled up with petrol (gasoline) and it’s certainly more expensive here than it used to be (well, what isn’t I hear you cry?!) 🤷‍♀️ but still a lot cheaper than in the UK.We paid $3.66 (£2.81) a gallon compared to £5.18 per gallon in the UK!

The drive today was just 4.5 hours, 283 miles. It was a lot more pleasant than yesterday and the traffic much lighter. The temperature at one point dropped to 37ºF (3ºC ) but we had come prepared and dressed accordingly.

The first part of the journey was undertaken once again on Interstate 15 but then we found ourselves on much smaller roads, similar to back home and for a large part it was just us speeding along, singing a song or two to pass the time.

At one point we had to drive across railroad tracks. It was like something from a film! 🎥

Train Crossing

Railroad Tracks

Welcome to Idaho!

Every time we travel to Jackson we pass through a small town called Soda Springs in Idaho (population 3,204). As well as being part of the pioneering Oregon Trail it is also famous for its mineral springs and for having the only Captive Geyser in the world. That is a geyser controlled by human intervention. Rather than naturally erupting it operates by means of an electric motor that opens and closes a valve, mimicking a natural geyser’s eruption. This was necessary because the initial, uncontrolled geyser, discovered in 1937, threatened to flood the town. It is now capped, controlled by a timer and erupts every hour on the hour. The geyser reaches heights of 100 feet, 365 days a year.

We have noticed active mining sites together with evidence of mining activity from the past and we thought they were coal mines, so were surprised to learn that in fact it is phosphate rock being mined and what we have seen is what’s left over after mining the rock. The area is a major phosphate producing region in the US.

Welcome to Jackson!

We arrived early at Dornans, our home for the next ten days, and received a very warm welcome from Zoya, who we have known for some time and is ‘in charge’. Although check-in was at 4.00 pm we were pleased to find our cabin was ready for us and after a long trip that was very welcome.

Our Cabin, Osprey

A little friend guarding our cabin

Before we arrived, we popped into the Visitor’s Centre to buy the essential bear spray. Zoya was telling us that two weeks ago two men were hiking round an area called Jenny Lake (it was our intention to do that this year too) when they turned a corner and out of the trees came a grizzly bear. He was startled by them and lunged. Luckily, they had bear spray to hand and so was able to get away unharmed.

I think we may take the boat across Jenny Lake instead of hiking round. 😱With our luck at the moment, one of us could become a meal!! 😂

She also told us a story about her husband, Geoff Barnard, a professional photographer here in the Tetons. They were out walking a dog they were dog-sitting when a bear suddenly appeared and started running towards them. Zoya picked up the dog and started to run but Geoff, being a photographer, started videoing the event!! Thankfully he was okay. Photographers, what they will do for a good photo opportunity!! 🤷‍♀️

After settling in we went for dinner at one of the three eateries on site, the Pizza & Pasta Company. It overlooks the mountains and the food is fabulous. It’s very popular, but we were still amazed to find it heaving at 3.00 p.m. I had the lobster ravioli and Si had garlic chicken pasta.

View from Pizza & Pasta

The service is excellent and when I asked Si to order me my favourite Amaretto Sour he was doubtful they would know how to make one but the barmen came up trumps and it was so good I had two! That’s probably why I’m having trouble typing this post! 🍹🥴😂

Lobster Ravioli and the Amaretto Sour!

Please join us tomorrow to see what our first full day has in store.

A very good evening to you all! 🥴

18th May 2025

Today we collect the car and then drive to Salt Lake City to overnight before arriving tomorrow at our favourite place, the Grand Tetons! 👏

But, before then, let’s finish off the post from yesterday and our flight to Las Vegas.

Our flight was due to take off at 4.35 pm and were called to board at 3.35. Normally, we all sit around before boarding but not this time. We had only sat down for about five minutes before they called us forward. I don’t think the flight can have been full as everyone was on and ready to go at 4.20. Needless to say we didn’t take off straight away and Air Traffic Control (ATC) said there would be a 15 minute delay. That turned into an hour and we finally left at 5.20. ✈️

Why is it that a flight very rarely leaves on time? Answers on a postcard please to ………..😂

Regardless we had a great trip over on ‘Mystery Girl’. Did you know that all Virgin Atlantic planes all have ladies names? I bet you didn’t! 😂

The crew were a delight and looked after us very well. We had our three course meal and later they came round at various times with tubs of ice cream, vegetable samosas and finally Love Hearts. Who doesn’t love a good old-fashioned Love Heart? Then, just before we landed we had afternoon tea. Strange eating tea at 2.00 am UK time!! Very nice though. 😋 For the food watchers, here’s our onboard meals.

Tomato Soup

Sand’s Haddock

Si’s Pork Belly

The Pud! Mixed Berry Moose. I know what you’re thinking!

We’ve been flying into Las Vegas since 1988 and usually there are long queues to get through Homeland Security but not yesterday. We were through in five minutes. Our flight was scheduled later than usual and that meant we were one of the two flights expected at that time. The other one was a British Airways flight, reportedly carrying Janet Jackson.

We did have one incident on board …… well of course we did! When Si went to put his laptop in the overhead it fell out of his backpack scratched his new glasses and hit him on the nose and fell to the floor!! Pleased to report there’s no problem with the laptop and Si seems to be okay too!!! 😂 Luckily, I always carry spare glasses in my carry-on luggage for just such an event. Looks as thought the new glasses are goners though. 😔

Our driver from Las Vegas airport told us about the Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas music festival is taking place here until tomorrow (Sunday) and that 300,000 people had descended upon Vegas! That would account for the fact that the casino here was heaving last night.

We did manage a little gambling before we ‘hit the hay’. We had a couple of good runs but not as good as the one in 2023! 💵 Fingers crossed that happens when we end our holiday here in three weeks.🤞

For those who don’t know (and I’m sure there aren’t many who don’t know, it’s a story we repeat often!) 😂 on the last day of our holiday here in 2023 we managed to win a Grand Jackpot of, just over $13,000 (£10,000),

Yesterday was the last day of the Bellagio’s Spring display in the Atrium before they started taking it down ready for the Summer display so we thought a few photos were in order. We are lucky that on this trip we will see two different displays as we’ll be back at the end of our trip. For those who are not aware of the famous Bellagio Atrium displays, everything is made up of fresh flowers.

Bellagio Spring Display

The Chicks

The Bird

So, on to today’s adventure!

The Atrium is looking rather sad this morning with everything being ripped out.

We had breakfast at Sadelle’s in the Bellagio and were delighted to see that Susan, one of the servers, who we have known for some years is still working there. We had a lovely catch up and hope to see her again when we return in three weeks.

Susan

Si had an American omelette and I had the Yoghurt Parfait with a Bee’s Knees cocktail. The food was delicious but the cocktail not so. Just a little too much lemon for my taste.. The Bee’s Knees made up of gin, lemon juice and honey with a cinnamon sugar rim round the glass dates back to the Prohibition-era and is an extension of the classic Gin Sour but has honey instead of sugar that creates a much richer drink. It is credited to Frank Meier, an Austrian-born bartender who worked at the Hotel Ritz Paris during the 1920s.

Sand’s Bee’s Knees

It was then time to go and collect the car! Well, after last year’s fiasco we did say we would give them one more try but I’m sorry to say they did not exactly shine this morning! 😔

Being Gold Members the idea is that there’s no queuing to collect the car.  We should just be able to walk in look at the board and it tells us the bay number our car is in and we jump in and off we go. Well, not today! Our name wasn’t on the board and no car waiting for us. We had arrived early and that was originally given as the reason for not being ready for us.

Eventually, a car was brought round but not the one we had ordered, although it was in the same category. We were not happy to see it had 61,000 miles on the clock either but after checking it out decided to go with it. We drove to the Exit only to be told by the attendant that she couldn’t let us take the car as the licence (car tax) was due to run out in the middle of our hire! 🤷‍♀️

Upon our return to the office (smoke now coming out of our ears) the only person serving was an elderly gentlemen called Joe. Sadly, he was rather hard of hearing and didn’t seem to understand what the problem was. It was at this point that I walked away and Si continued to explain what the problem was.

Long story short, Joe eventually found us another car, an upgrade, with just 21,000 on the clock so we took that and went on our way, albeit an hour later than intended. I feel another complaint winging its way to Hertz!

The Beast. A Ford Expedition

As today was a driving day there’s not much to report. The drive took about six hours to get to Salt Lake City crossing various time zones along the way. That can be very confusing with the car and our watches flicking times back and forth. We started off in Nevada then passed through Arizona before arriving in Utah.

We set off from Las Vegas in glorious blue skies and lovely hot temperatures but alas, the further north we came it started to rain and at one point, was so bad we couldn’t see the road in front of us. But, by the time we arrived here it had all cleared up and the sun was shining once again but the temperature on the trip dropped by 30º. 🌞🌧️🥶

The road from LV to SLC is 435 miles on Interstate 15. The sat nav doesn’t say a word for 5.3 hours as there are no turnings. It is one long, more or less, straight road and very boring!

The long boring road!

This doesn’t look good!

This doesn’t look good!

So, what’s wrong with this picture?! 😱

It was just a truck cab pulling another truck cab but it did us a bit of a scare! 😂

One, kind of funny incident, happened as we left the hotel this morning. When we went to breakfast we put our valuables in the safe and I told Si not to let us leave without them. Needless to say, as we were leaving the room checking that we had everything I casually said we should check the safe to make sure we hadn’t left anything and it was then I realised we had nearly left without our cash, passports etc. 😱💵🛂

Can you imagine if we had driven six hours only to find we had to drive all the way back again to Las Vegas!! 😱I blamed Si of course!! 😂

Tomorrow we drive to Jackson, Wyoming where it seems they have had a little snowfall today!! ❄️ Good job we packed all our winter gear as well! 🧣🧦🧤

Thanks for reading. Comments always welcome.

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17th May 2025

Well, after a week of mishaps, one being a chipped tooth from eating a rather thick piece of chocolate straight from the fridge (left over Easter egg), to dropping my phone from a great height onto a wooden floor (luckily, no damage, thank goodness for my ESR phone case) to tipping over a bowl of water on to the floor of the en-suite, it seemed inevitable there would be one more thing to make the week complete!

That turned out to be the road to Heathrow’s Terminal 3 being closed and our driver having to turn around and go another way. Luckily, as usual, we had factored in plenty of time so it was no big deal.

We had already checked in last night so just needed to drop off our bags and go through security. As Virgin have their own dedicated suite for Upper Class passengers the process only took five minutes as we were the only ones in there.

We didn’t have to take our laptops out of the bags, take off our shoes or show liquids. The whole area is fairly new so I was wondering if they have the new scanners.

I was particularly proud of the fact that even though we have a baggage allowance of 32kgs per bag, both our bags actually weighed in at just 24kgs, so why they felt the need to adorn them with those orange stickers saying ‘heavy’ is a mystery to me! 🤷‍♀️

Once all the formalities were done we settled in to the Virgin Clubhouse and partook of a very tasty venison smashed burger with some of the best fries we’ve had in a long time! Goes very well with the champagne and Maiden Voyager cocktails!! Hic!!🍹

Maiden Voyager

Note our very own special burger bun!

We will be staying in Vegas for just one night before we collect our hire car from Hertz tomorrow, Sunday, and hope to do a little gambling before we ‘hit the hay’!

Followers of the Blog will know of the problems we had last year with Hertz but we’ve decided to give them one more try to see if there have been any improvements. 🚗

As we have now been up for 24 hours I think it’s time for bed 🛌 so I’ll finish this post here and tell you all in tomorrow’s blog about the flight and our first night in Vegas.

See you tomorrow! 🙋‍♀️

One week to go, everything’s sorted and so it’s time for a practice pack! 🧳

Things are complicated this year as we could be hiking in snow ❄️ in the Tetons but have hot temperatures everywhere else 🌞so a mixture of clothes are required. 🧢🧤🧣🩳👙The cold gear takes up so much room. 😔

I’m a great believer in making lists so this year I’ve made a Clothes Menu to help things along. Well, what’s that you ask? 🤨

Well, if you’re like me, I usually overpack and lug around lots of clothing that I’m never going to have time to wear. So, this year I decided to work out in advance what I’m going to wear each day and make a list of all the clothes I will need and that will save Mr. B. from having a meltdown when we weigh the cases. We are allowed 32 kgs per case and they weigh less than that so all good so far. 👏 We are allowed to take a total of four cases but Mr. B. would divorce me if I tried to take four large suitcases to the airport! 😱😂

Please join us next Saturday 17th May as we fly off for the start of our next adventure! ✈️🇺🇸 👏

Another year, another visit to the U.S.A! 😀

So, what do we have in-store this year? 🤔

We fly off to Las Vegas (that’s a surprise!🤭) on 17th May. Our followers will know that our last visit was in 2023 when we had a fantastic win at the Park MGM casino on the final morning of our holiday. A great way to finish a wonderful holiday.

We will have one night at the Bellagio Hotel. I hear the cheese plate calling to me! 😉

The cheese plate and Champagne

I was disappointed in 2023 when I discovered the new Chef had changed the make-up of it. 😔 There used to be a choice of crackers and breads whereas now it’s just the garlic bread! Still, better than nothing! 🤷‍♀️ We will then drive via Salt Lake City to our favourite place, the Grand Tetons in Wyoming.

We will be spending 10 nights in a lovely cabin at Dornans (not like the one we spent 8,000 feet above sea level in Gardener, outside Yellowstone National Park some years back where I got altitude sickness. There were holes in the walls and spiders ran amok!!) 🤣 I know I’ve mentioned it previously but that will stay with me for the rest of my life! 😱

From there we will travel again, via Salt Lake City, for a four-night stay in Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. Some of you will remember we stayed there on our 2023 trip but I caught Covid and wasn’t well enough to do much. We hope to right that wrong this time. 🤞

We will then drive to Williams, Arizona (situated on the original Route 66) for three nights and will be travelling on the Grand Canyon Railway for a day-trip to the South Rim of the Canyon. We have visited the South Rim before but never arrived by train. 🚂

Our original plan this year was to stay in a cabin on the North Rim but after seeing some disturbing reports on the cabins and eating facilities we changed our plans and settled for a day-trip to the South Rim instead.

We will finish our holiday in Las Vegas (cheese plate here I come ……. again!) for four nights before flying home. ✈️

We look forward to you joining us on our new adventure. 😀