Greencard

The champagne corks are popping. Edmee has received her greencard today and is no longer an illegal alien, just a regular alien.

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Montezuma's castle

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Blitzing through Sedona

We read that Sedona is one of the most beautiful places in the United States, so it is a compulsory via point on our route. Driving past Flagstaff, we cannot imagine that the landscape can change so dramatically to make it look like the pictures we've seen from Sedona. Flagstaff is on a plateau and the land is as flat as we can see...But soon after Flagstaff we enter a narrow canyon and the road descents steeply. Not really a road designed for campers. But after the his initiation on the gnarly roads on the Northern Californian coast, Francis pilots the wagon as Schumi on a leisure drive.

Slowly the canyon opens up and we can see the stark contrast of the jagged red rock against the deep blue sky and we understand why Sedona is so special. Our feet itch to do a beautiful hike, but the tourist office has other ideas: there are no campgrounds in the near vicinity, and we also have to pay to park near the day hikes - if the parking allows campers at all. We don't really want to feel "unwanted" and it is against our principles to pay for a hike. So we decide to give Sedona a miss and to continue our journey. Maybe we will return on a romantic weekend "a deux" if ever the opportunity arises in the future.

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Where is the petrified forest?

From Santa Fe we head to Albuquerque. Our home for the night is the parking of a Casino, which we decide to give some gambling custom. But Tyler is considered to young to play the slot machines and we were politely told to come back in 15 years if we want to gamble jointly with our son. Francis gets into a friendly argument with the locals, on what the longest cable car is in the world: the Aiguille du Midi in Chamonix or Sandia Peak in Albuquerque (to our surprise the correct answer is the latter) .

In the morning we head West trough the prairies and land of native Indians. The next landmarks on our way are the "Painted Desert" and the "Petrified Forest". At the entrance of the national park we have to fill in a form declaring that we don't have any stones in our camper and that we have not entered the park to rob the country's national heritage. It is not easy to find the petrified trees and with help of binoculars and good eye sight we are able to make them out in the distance. You can imagine our surprise at seeing that we can buy a manifold of petrified wood at the park's exit and even much more in the local town. We would even go that far to claim that there is more petrified wood for sale in a 10 mile perimeter of the park than to see in the park itself. So we would not really have been robbing national heritage, just the local's livelihood....

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Checking ski resorts in New Mexico

We take the small roads to Taos, New Mexico. Not really to check the cultural heritage and Adobe style buildings of this little town, but to see if the slope grade is sufficient for a winter visit some time. The snow cannons are blasting away and the builders and workmen are buzzing around the resort to get it ready for the winter season. After the mountain guide in our family has given the heads up for a future visit, we continue our journey towards Santa Fe, where we take pictures, browse the art galleries and have some ice cream.

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Scrambling on red rocks in Colorado Springs

It is time to continue our journey to discover the other riches that the United States has to offer. Our next stop is the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. The setting is a collection of oddly shaped red rocks against the backdrop of Pikes Peak. The boys climb up all the climbable rocks as boys do, while Edmee tries to capture their achievements on memory card.

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Celebrating Tyler's birthday in Denver

After telling Edmee for the last 7 years about the very best pizza joint, we get the chance to taste Francis' favourite pizza at Beaujo's in Idaho Springs, where the dessert is the remaining crust of the pizza with mountain honey.

We arrive in Denver, a place we have shortlisted for its weather and outdoor possibilities. We are invited to stay at Francis' uncle and aunt's place on the outskirts of Denver and leave our four wheeled home for the first time in 2 months. We enjoy their warm hospitality and very much appreciate their effort of showing us around. We take opportunity of our stay to get some administrative things sorted, such as Edmee's greencard.

We celebrate a double birthday: Tyler's third birthday and Francis' aunt Debbie's, which falls on the same day. After practicing for 3 months, Tyler manages to blow out his three candles on the birthday cake. His biggest birthday wish is fullfilled: a miniature cable car, which will be real practical to hang up between the table and the steering wheel in the camper...

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Trick or treating in Moab

We visit Moab, still vivid in Edmee's memory as the place where she once nearly collapsed of exhaustion on the Slick Rock mountain bike trail with Francis a few years ago. Luckily the excuse comes in the form of Tyler, who is still a little too young to attack Slick Rock.

We decide to stay a little longer to enjoy the beauty of the landscape. We camp amongst the Arches in Arches national park and in Moab itself. Tyler is trained in his first "Trick or Treat" for Halloween and manages to fill up an entire shopping bag of candies dressed as a cat.

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Camping in Glen Canyon

From the San Raphael desert, we take the scenic byway South towards the Glen Canyon. We are tempted for a moment to include Lake Powell in our trip, but with so many things to see and places to visit, it is impossible to do everything. We drive through a burnt orange gorge, which becomes narrower and deeper as we drive on. All over sudden the gorge opens up and we are at the foot of the Colorado river at Glen Canyon. With no one in sight this is a perfect spot to camp. We open our beers with a big grin on our face while we watch the sun set behind the canyon.

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Warming up in the San Raphael Desert

On the way to Arches we decide to go to Francis' favourite climbing place, Maple Canyon, which is next to Edmee's favourite city Ephraim, Utah. We are the only guests in the RV park, which normally is fully booked for Mormon conventions. Francis is polishing his climbing hardware and recoiling his ropes in eager anticipation of the next day's climbing. But we wake up to a winter wonderland with 3 inches of snow. Francis is very disappointed but Tyler is jumping up and down the camper asking his dad to take him out for guide training. As we are not really equipped for winter adventures, we continue on our route East. We take the scenic route through Utah's turkey farms and end up near the San Raphael Desert with the warm burnt orange colours and eroded rocks.

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Straightlining Salt Lake City

We comply to the demand of our friends who have repeatedly asked us to check out Salt Lake City as a possible location, because they could come and visit and ski like they are used to. We explore a beautiful valley on the outskirt of Salt Lake City called Cottonwood Canyon (click here to see the pictures). We are warmly welcomed in the house of Francis skiing colleague Gordy, alias Str8line and his family where we enjoy a nice dinner. The next day Gordy gives us the royal tour and shows us his 15 minutes "commute" to Alta and Snowbird - that is shorter than from our old house to the Grands Montets.

Fooling the brain in the great Salt Lake desert

We climb up even higher over the Mount Rose pass. Francis skillfully combines checking out gnarly chutes on the back of Mount Rose with driving our rig. Beyond the valley of Reno, Nevada the great nothingness begins, Sally's screen is empty for miles and miles and occasionally we spot a speck of a town. We praise our RV and give her a good bubble bath in a truck wash stop before we begin our trip across the prairies...this is not the place to have a breakdown. We manage to resist to the gambling temptation which is present everywhere. There are slot machines in every restaurant, bar and gas station, often strategically placed just before entering the rest rooms.

At the Nevada/Utah border, the landscape changes dramatically. Francis gives the RV another treat by changing her oil and off we go. Only salt and sand for as far as our eyes can see. In the distance we perceive water, but know that it is a mirage. The landscape seems unreal, but maybe because our brain receives so many similar datapoints.

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Driving around Lake Tahoe

From Napa Valley we start our trip East to Denver. The change in landscape is dramatic as our RV works hard to climb up to 6225 feet (1900 meter) towards Lake Tahoe. Stunning fall colours, tranquil turquoise water and snowcapped mountains are awaiting us. We picknick at the "beach" in Tahoe City, take pictures and restrain Tyler from running into the ice cold water to play. We pick up some real estate brochures and are speachless seeing the some of the prices of the homes for sale on the lake, which easily equal the GDP of a small African country.

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No winetasting in Napa valley

We were looking forward to romantic wine tasting with candle lit dinners and staring deep into each other’s eyes – or so it was presented to us in the marketing material we picked up at the Napa Valley visitors center. However when traveling with a 3 year old, the reality is quite different. Not only do the wineries not permit kids under 13, but also staring in each other’s eyes with an active 3 year old around is out of the question. So we take advantage of Tyler’s little afternoon siesta to visit the Mondavi winery. We plan to pick up a few cheap bottles for the trip, but were surprised that not only do the wineries charge for a wine tasting, but also that most of the selection over $100. Those little differences with Europe……

We spend little time in Napa Valley and plan to return one day with Tyler and his wife. We stay in a beautiful forest near Napa Valley and Francis gives the fishing another try…..by now you can guess the outcome.

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