Wow, That's Amazing.....I'm Hungry!

We left the Pheonix with a sigh of relief and found a little desert campsite to spend the night before Francesca's 7th birthday. The flowers there, and elsewhere in Arizona, are in full bloom now.

After early morning present opening ceremonies, we drove to Sedona and found a campsite in Oak Creek Canyon, where there were still pockets of snow.  The highlight of the day was a specially imported Mexican pinata, which was duly bashed to pieces until the sweets fell out, and then ceremoniously burned on the campfire.

After a resupply stop in Flagstaff, we made our way up to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, where we have spent the last few days.  The weather has been marvellous and we have spent a lot of time gawping at the views.  Francesca was particularly taken by one Park Ranger's explanation of a typical visitor's reaction "Wow, that's amazing....I'm hungry" - which has now become a household catchphrase! 

We would have loved to take the girls down to the bottom, but the lodge on the river was full, and it was a little too far for one day. Instead, we settled for a shorter walk down the Kaibab Trail to Cedar Ridge. As we turned for home and wondered how to persuade the girls to climb back up, we met a mule train also heading for the rim.  Both girls took up the challenge to 'beat it to the top' but Liberty's little legs eventually gave up, whilst Francesca, never one to be beaten, gave Ellen a good run for her money to emerge at the top just before the pack train.

Since the girls wouldn't manage a trip down the Bright Angel Trail, and the bottom of the canyon is such an obvious destination, Tony, who was champing at the bit, hiked down and back alone the next day.

Adios, Mexico

The 400 mile drive from Zacatecas through Durango and then across the "Devil's Backbone" to Mazatlan made for a long day, but the views were spectacular. On Easter morning we woke once again to the sound of the ocean and to the girls cries of delight when they found that the Easter bunny had not forgotten them. In Mexico, apparently, he doesn't leave chocolate (too hot) but lollipops instead!!

As we headed North for the border, we made a last-minute decision to visit the Copper Canyon and detoured up to El Fuerte, a pleasant little town which also has a station on the famed Copper Canyon Railway. On Monday we took the train up to Creel in Chihuahua, a six hour journey through stunning mountain scenery, and an engineering marvel – the route turns a complete circle inside a canyon and we travelled up the side of one valley three times as it climbed ever higher. We spent the night in a hostel in Creel – much to Francesca’s delight as she HAD to sleep on the top bunk.

On Tuesday we jumped on a local bus for some of the journey back, which enabled us to spend some time in Divisadero enjoying the views and the Raramuri market food stalls.

One final night by the sea near Guaymas allowed us to spend our last pesos on coconut prawns and Mexican beer, before pushing on to Nogales for our nightmare, four and a half hour, border crossing, where we encountered the most objectionable US public official yet – he even shouted at us in Spanish! Now that we have been allowed in - just - we are sorting ourselves out in Phoenix (ie fixing the van) before a grand tour of the West. Phoenix is a great urban sprawl filled with retirees, but luckily we managed to spend the weekend at the lovely Picacho State Park, where we got the girls’ training started by marching them 4 miles up the Peak. It was a somewhat challenging climb requiring steel ropeways in places, but nonetheless half of Arizona seemed to be at the top - the view even included a ‘Dairy Queen’ – the childrens’ real objective for the day!

Hurrah for the Circus

We have spent the last week slowly moving North and visiting a string of colonial cities. Our favourite was Guanajuato, but more of that later...We had just one night in Queretaro, a surprisingly beautiful town full of sunny plazas and the usual array of ornate churches. We especially enjoyed lunchtime gorditas from a taco stand eaten in one of the many public squares.

We drove the 40 miles to San Miguel de Allende, a picture-perfect Mexican town which is now home to over 10,000 ex-pats, many of whom turned out for the enormous Palm Sunday parade to kick off Semana Santa - a huge holiday in Mexico. 

As we entered town, we spotted a travelling circus, something Francesca and Liberty have been fascinated with since they read Enid Blyton's 'Hurrah For the Circus', three times! We booked tickets for that night and were amazed to find it was a performance straight out of Enid Blyton's era - tigers jumping through rings of fire; llamas leaping over bulls; terrible clowns; kissing camels; dressed-up dogs; whip-cracking; and mediocre acrobats. The girls loved every minute, but the RSPCA would have had a field-day!

On the way out of San Miguel, we stopped at La Gruta thermal baths where, to the girls delight, there were 4 pools, including one which required swimming through a tunnel into a cave. That evening we arrived in Guanajuato, an old silver mining town set in a steep sided valley. We all loved the narrow, colourful streets which were buzzing with the holiday crowds and festivities.

Without a doubt the strangest thing we have done so far this trip, has been to visit Guanajuato's 'Museo Mommias'.  Weird, very weird...

On the morning we were due to leave, the girls were thrilled to find we had new neighbours with a 5 year-old son, offering the rare luxury of a playmate.  Having delayed our departure to let them all play (hide-and-seek is not an easy game in two camper vans!), we opened a beer and settled for an extra night and some more time in town.

It took most of Maundy Thursday to drive to Zacatecas, another colonial mining town where we've spent today watching more parades, eating more Mexican fare and touring a disused silver mine.  Tomorrow we head towards the coast again - through Durango and the mountains to Mazatlan - the town we arrived at by ferry, from the Baja, two months ago.