The Southwest

Immediately following my UK adventure I had to go to Vegas, Flagstaff and Tucson for work. Now when I say immediately, I mean immediately. I got home on the evening of the 25th of February and left on the morning of the 26th. I got home later than I was meant to due to a delayed flight and woke up at 7 the next day to leave for Vegas! It might not have been so bad if I had been heading to another town. Vegas isn't exactly my idea of a nice getaway!

I stayed in the southwest for 2 weeks and drove from Vegas down to Tucson. During the weekend I went to Lake Mead National Preserve, Walnut Canyon National Monument, Mesa Verde and Canyon de Chelly. It was a lot of driving, but the beauty of the southwest was beckoning me...

This gnarly tree was in Walnut Canyon, just outside of Flagstaff. The site is similar to Montezuma Castle, which I visited a couple years back. They are both part of the system of villages of the Sinagua people.

The American southwest is like no other place I've ever been. That isn't to say that no place else in the world looks like this, but certainly no place I've ever been does! The strange colorful rock formations and random scattered ancient dwellings of people long forgotten make for such a dramatic landscape that I almost consider living in the region for a while to explore it properly.

A couple years ago I did a bit hiking through Arches, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks in southern Utah. Those places are so unique it's unsettling. They truly make you feel as though you're on a different planet!