Christmas Holiday - the last week

I am back in England, safe and sound. The weather here seems unusual in that it has snowed a lot, and the roads basically have not been cleared. I am getting the feeling that the British overall don't really know what to do with snow, the driving becomes tricky and the idea of clearing the curb from snow seems to be totally unknown (The broken hips, arms, and wrists that are filling up the ER rooms are apparently all due to "acts of god" and have nothing to do with the lack of clearing away the snow ... ). Anyway, C and I bought some excellent rubber crampons when we were in Zion two weeks ago, these are really useful right now! Should almost think about importing them for the next snowstorm, I am sure you can make an awesome amount of money on that in a very short time!

Anyway, at the writing of the last post we were in Arizona, having failed to drive to the Grand Canyon. We did end up going there the next day, although it was very cold (luckily we had not planned on camping!). Pictures don't do it justice, so you are just going to have to go and look for yourself. Let me tell you though that it is a truly beautiful place. The next time I end up there, I want to do a hike down one side of the canyon and back up the other side the next day - that seems to be the best way of enjoying the place away from most of the tourists!

After the Grand Canyon we headed westwards into Nevada, through Las Vegas and into Death Valley. Camped there for three nights for free. Yet another place to go back to! Here are some pictures from the Badwater salt flats (the lowest point in the western hemisphere), images of some of the rock formations and of old mining works. There are supposed to be about 5000-6000 disused mine shafts in the area, most of which were only used for a few years before being abandoned!