Not more national parks!

Next stop, Bryce Canyon. Some would say even more beautiful than the Grand Canyon but the two are so different you really can't compare. We arrived with time for a swim before hitting the sights for sunset. Ah, what luxury after a rather hot day of riding in the heat.

The stunning Bryce Canyon amphitheatre!

So we've watched the sunset over the beautiful pinnicles of coloured sand and we're dawdling back to the bike when we hear a rattle. It first sounds like a cricket chirping but then you remember all of the Westerns you've watched and alarm bells start ringing. A wee little rattle snake was letting us know that he was curled around the exposed root of a bush, about a half metre from where we were walking. Unfortunately we were too suprised to grab for the cameras. But seeing the wildlife was cool, once our nerves had settled down of course.
Shall we stay another night and take it easy? Yup, the campground we were staying in at Bryce was very nice and it'd be rude to not continue to enjoy the use of the pool when we we're camped right next to it. So that morning we did a mini hike to a stone that did look remarkably like the statue of Queen Victoria outside St Pauls Cathederal in London. We toured around a bit more in the park, still waving to the Potato Posse before returning to enjoy the pool - ah, this is the life.
Riding up through Escalante, we continue through yet another national park, Capital Reef. A few more photos and its on to Moab. After the heat of the day and long ride, we give up on being 'hardcore' and opt for the Lazy Lizard Hostal.
Moab has a lot to keep you entertained, including white water rafting, moutain biking, trail biking (and if you are so inclined, you can hire a jeep or ATV), Arches National Park, Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands National Park in close proximity and, more importantly, a micro brewery. What we didn't realize was that a). it would be way too hot to do anything other than go to the micro brewery and b). that a Harley Riders convention was in town. Oh well, you can't have it all.

Deadhorse Point, yet another beautiful canyon.

As I was just about to clock up another year on the old age calander, we sensibly opt for the micro brewery, not being detered by the amount of Harley Riders there. After finally National Parking ourselves out at Arches and Dead Horse Point, which are both stunning, I spent my birthday suitably working on my bike at Arrowheads Motorsports with Fred often lending advice and a hand. The KLR, as a birthday gift I'm sure, behaved herself beautifully by not having anything go wrong i.e. bolts sheering etc..., and then needing a bit of maintenance myself, Mike treated me to a 75 minute massage, bliss. By 8pm, when it had cooled off enough to move, we headed to the Micro Brewery for a delicious dinner and some decent beer. Not a bad day at all.