Week 2.
Having reached Calico (an abandoned mining town) the previous evening we decided to tour the "Ghost Town" in the morning. The town was 50% as it was when still inhabited and 50% recreated using photos. There were shops , a working railway and even a shootout ..... however the best bit for Finnigan was .....
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.... a lizard which he was transfixed with; he wasn't sure what it was but felt sure he could eat it.
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Before we headed to Las Vegas the owner of the stables in Calico phoned ahead for us and arranged boarding for Hooligan. The facility was a horse (and many other animals) sanctuary , which was owned and run by a former wife of Tony Curtis. Hooligan was a little unsure about his new friends, goats, chickens and a donkey. We left Hooligan and headed towards the strip.
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That evening Nic and Ian put on their posh clothes (the only ones left that were clean) and walked down the strip , we visited all the major hotels. Probably the most impressive was the Venetian with its indoor canal (with motorised gondolas) and its artificial daylight that made it seem like day even at midnight. The following morning we went back down the strip but this time took Sniff and Finn (we were the only people with dogs ... funny that). Sniff enjoyed the Eiffel Tower and pirate ship. Finn (who we adopted from Mexico) enjoyed the hotel with the Mexico City theme .... it was actually the garbage area behind Circus Circus but we didn't have the heart to tell him.
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We left Las Vegas that afternoon having collected Hooligan. Nic wanted to bring Hooligans new friend but there wasn't room
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Our next destination was Utah where we planned to spend a lot of time. We stopped in St George for 2 nights. On our first day Hooligan wasn't eating and had a temperature of 104. Ian explained that was how most people felt after visiting Las Vegas, Nic called a vet, who gave Hooligan several injections. In the morning Hooligans temperature was down and he was eating again , we loaded up the trailer and headed to Zion National Park.
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On the first day we drove through the park to where Holigan was to stay. His new friends were a herd of Buffalo. We then headed back towards the park and rented a cabin. The cabin was pretty basic but after Ian had got the bar-b-q out and Nic had done some magic with some candles,a table cloth and her plant (that was with us from Santa Cruz) we had the place looking pretty decent ... apart from the beer in the wineglass.
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The following day we went into to park to hike. The weather was a little overcast and windy ....
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... however the views were stunning ...
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... the views were so stunning that we let Finnigan navigate while we looked out of the windows.
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Later that day we met some people from England. For those that have not met them, the following picture is of Ians Mum and her husband David. Val and David had flown into San Franisco the previous Thursday and were now(Tuesday 5th April) in Zion to meet us.
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The next morning Val and David headed to the North entrance of Zion , Ian went back to main part of the park to climb to the Angels landing and with Hooligan looking and feeling better Nic decided to go riding.
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The Angels Landing is a small rocky outcrop at the top of a 1500ft climb ...
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... the last part of the climb involved walking along a 5 ft wide rock which dropped off on each side 1000 ft down. Not a great place for your cell phone to ring ... "Thanks for the call Lady Helen" ... great ad for Verizon. While Ian was risking his life at 1500ft , Nic was living closer to the edge ... the edge of a Buffalo herd. She took Hooligan and the dogs for a ride and ended up riding into a herd of Buffalo ... apparently not a good thing to do in calving season.
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After Ians climb and Nics ride with Hooligan and the dogs we drove towards Bryce Canyon stopping 20 miles short in Hatch where we were to stay. We decided to book into the motel as the previous night we had camped and the temp went in the 20s (Farenheight ... less than zero Celsius for the Brits and Canadians) Hatch had views of the back of Bryce Canyon ... even if there was a big white horse in the way.
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Nic putting a brave face on the consequences of saying "I do" .... I remember saying love , honour and obey but there was nothing in there about taking his temperature. Actually Hooligans temperature was back around 98 and so we decided to delay our trip to Bryce and go for a ride towards the mountains in Hatch ...
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... when we started out it was cold (hence the wooly hat) but by midday it was vey hot, even though there was still snow on the ground as we approached the mountains ....
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... when we reached the foot of the mountain we were at least 5 miles from civilisation (a relative term in Utah) ...
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... we returned late afternoon ...
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... and had to put the dogs back on their leads as we approched the town.
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