Retirement

Jack (our car) drove us 8.497 miles through the West of the US. After this long journey Jack should have his retirement in Colorado – that was the plan.

With almost 150.000 miles it would have been well deserved. However, does this energetic powerful car look like one that should retire? He wants to be on the road again!

That is what Will and Erin were thinking as well. When we arrived in Grand Junction Will’s mum told us that she would drive him up to Will and Erin (btw she prepared a fantastic dinner again). That is how quickly things can change. First he was a candidate for cash for clunkers and now he is going to do another 1.200 miles through the USA, as he is needed in the Seattle. It is nice to see that he can live now a nice life in the lovely city of Seattle. LONG LIVE JACK!

Birthday in Utah

Once again the weather was our fate. Well, we had wonderful weather at the end of our journey. However several hundred kilometers away the temperature dropped so that Irina and Andi had to escape because of snow from the Rocky Mountains. Even in their next destination Yellowstone National Park it was freezing so that they decided to come to Utah and the city of Moab. And who was there as well? Of course it was us!

2 days before Andi’s birthday they gave us a call that they had arrived in Moab. We met at the Peach Tree Café and drank delicious smoothies. The first night we had barbeque at the Colorado River and enjoyed our meeting under a wonderful sky with stars.

The next morning Andi and I went to Slick rock on a mountain bike tour (3 hours, 17 km, 350 altitude). Without Andi I would not have done it. It was fantastic! It was exhausting. However, every single treadle was worth it. An unbelievable beautiful landscape and a very unique mountain bike trail. If anywhere else in the world there is a place like that no one had the idea to create a mountain bike trail in between. That is America!

In the evening we enjoyed a sunset at Delicate Arch…

...and went for dinner and celebrated Andi’s birthday. On Andi’s birthday we had to say good-bye as our North America trip finally came to its end (104 days). However, enjoying the birthday was an absolute highlight at the end of our tour.

Big Circus

Circus? Isn’t that the huge colorful tent where you can smell the elephant poo even if you are far away? Moreover, isn’t that something for kids?

Well – it depends! Our two trips to Las Vegas we saw two shows from Cirque du Soleil. One was LOVE, the other one O. This is the biggest Circus in the world. And no, those shows are not in tents. They are in huge halls, fully equipped with technical stuff. This is important as the stage is changing all the time and brings the audience from one magic world into the other. There are no animals at all in this circus so it cannot smell.

With those 2 shows this year we have seen in total 3 Cirque du Soleil shows (those 2 which were mentioned and Mystere). Sounds like we are circus lovers? Well, that is true! We are excited and absolutely fascinated every time when we see a show. And even if we have seen some of their shows already we would return.

One of the specialties of the shows is that so many things happen at the same time so that you cannot really absorb every detail. Therefore, if you go again to the same show you will notice new specifics. However, that is the almost the only thing those shows have in common. And the clowns who assure that in-between you can relax from all the impressions you get. All shows tell a story with music, dance and acrobatic. Every single one of them is unique.

Mystere is the oldest Cirque du Soleil Show in Las Vegas and the acrobatic comes first place. Unbelievable what one can do with one’s body. As an observer you almost get muscle aches only by watching it.

Love is the newest show and with the music of the Beatles you are back in the 60^th and 70^th again. Without no doubt you start clap and sing when the countless dancers are performing on the stage.

O is the absolute highlight! As the name tells you it is all about water. The stage is changing permanently. Sometimes the water is only centimeters deep and the dancers are walking on water. Sometimes the water is as deep as a pool and the dancers jump from the roof of the hall. Swimming, dancing and all the acrobatic elements are a firework of unbelievable visually impressions which will last for hours after you have seen the show. More than once I was thinking to go to the circus in my next life (one without elephants) … Wonderful!

Btw one of the founders of Cirque du Soleil was in space! Yes, that is the guy with the red nose, who currently is in all newspapers and magazines.

Background to Cirque du Soleil (in English circus of the sun) is a circus director in Montreal, Canada. Cirque du Soleil was founded in 1984 by a street artist Guy Laliberte (that is the one flying into space) and Daniel Gauthier. This enterprise has 3800 people employed of which almost 1000 are artists. It is worth almost 1 billion dollars.

Monster RV

On our tour we met ‚the Mertls‘ in Las Vegas – that’s Nicole, Markus and their child Maximilian.

In total we traveled together for 7 days. The Mertls and their 29 feet RV and us with Jack (our car) and our tiny tent. What a strange couple.

At the end we (Michaela and myself) were really glad that they had this huge RV with us. When we arrived at Arches NP the night was so cold that we had to wear 2 layers of jackets, we could not cook or eat outside. That is why we spent the night inside the RV in one of their queen size beds.

The 7 days with family Mertl were very busy as expected. Within less than an hour they told us that another baby is on its way. Thus we opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate.

In the evening Markus and myself won big at the Black Jack table at the Mandalay Bay casino (together we won 180 dollars).

In Zion National Park ‘operation 6 stitches’ took place (see blog ‘a different Las Vegas’). At Capitol Reef National Park we had a fantastic dinner at Diabolo restaurant. Little Maximilian still believes that he ate snake there (well, it was beef). In Arches we said good-bye. We stayed in Moab till the end of our journey, while family Mertls were on their way to their favorite place the Coronado hotel in San Diego. They had a fantastic time there. We believe that little Maximilian asked for Jack from time to time which driver seat was a great playground and in which trunk he always discovered new things.