2nd & 3rd June 2012 Lazy days, as we were both tired from the 2,500 mile road trip. 4th June Jubilee! But other than that, gym and meh 5th June ALAC. Was doing bits and pieces for a donor appreciation event on June 21st and then started researching venues for an event in November. I had a specific brief to work from and think I found the perfect place. 6th June Gym, went for a long walk around George A Wallace Park but started feeling pain in my feet about a mile in. I had to walk to King Soopers to buy milk and by the time I reached it, I could barely move. I had hug blisters on th soles of my feet that covered the heel, mid section of the foot and then separate ... read more

We checked out of our motel early and went to The Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center, which is an educational not for profit facility. Ithink Jon was disappointed that I spotted the signs for it butt he ended up getting some nice pictures of the wolves and I got another dose of bear. After the Discovery Center, we headed back to yellowstone for the last time. We headed South to see the Mid Geyser Basin, which we had missed on the first day. The Grand Prismatic Spring was pretty amazing. It is the largest spring in the US and is beautiful (google it!) We then repeated the walkfrom our first evening, from Old Faithful to The Morning Glory Pool, so we could get some better pictures in the sunshine. We then drove out of the East ... read more

We headed straight to the East side of the park today, stopping off for a quick hike to see the Upper Falls, near Canyon Village. After the Falls, we made a couple more stops (at Yellowstone River and then Hayden Valley), which is meant to be a favourite hang out of Grizzly's, but no such luck today. We then stopped at Sulphur Cauldron, which sits on the most active part of the park. The cauldron was bubbling aggressively and it was amazing to think that the volcano was most active at the point at which we were standing. Near the Sulphur Cauldron was the Mud Volcano, which was pretty much that. The hike was just under a mile long and there was a sign warning us that a bear was in the vicinity and to be ... read more

I was really excited to get to Yellowstone after yesterday. I already think it is not only the most beautiful park I've been in but it is a magical place. We headed up North today, past Gibbon Falls and via a hike to Artists Painpots (a collection of coloured bubbling mud pots). I heard a growl from the woods as we hiked, which scared me (and a family behind me), but I convinced myself it was a weird bird and kept on walking. After some photos, we continued on to another area, filled with geysers and natural springs. Some contained arsenic and other toxic gases and I was amazed at how much activity there was underground. There was another trek to an area called Porcelain Basin, which was a vast, colourful landscape of yet more geysers, ... read more

Memorial Day. We spent a long time in the car today. My observation while driving down Highway 89 was 'the clouds are really low today. Its like they cant be bothered to stay in the sky.' Our first stop from Evanston was Bear Lake, which is known by locals as the 'carribean of the Rockies' because of its beautiful turquoise colour. It is also meant to be home to the 'bear lake monster'. It is 109 sq miles and is big enough to accommodate several villages on its banks. (We particularly liked 'Fishaven', which was idyllic. Jon even marked it on the GPS as a possible retirement base.) After crossing from Wyoming, to Idaho and back into Wyoming, we eventually reached the mouth of Snake River and Jackson I(after 6.5 hours in the car). Jackson is ... read more

We were meant to get up at 7am to head to Arches National Park (Jon's favourite park in the States), but our alarm didnt go off, so by the time we got there at 9.30am, it was already packed. Jon wanted us to do the 'Delicate Arch' trail, which took an hour to reach by car. The scenery on the way to the trail was stunning, but scary. I couldnt stop thinking about how screwed you would be if you got lost in the terrain. It was rocky scrubland, surrounded by red sandstone pinnacles. There are lots of contrasting colours and textures and I can see why Jon loves it so much. The hike to Delicate Arch, took about an hour, up steep boulders and along a narrow ledge, with a large drop on one side. ... read more

Not a lot to say except we went to the Elvis Cinema (Uh-huh) to watch 'Silent House'. It was interesting as it was filmed in one take. I was impressed, but more impressed with the cinema, as it was $3 to watch the film and $2 for unlimited popcorn. Thanks Elvis. For some reason, I havent written up May 24th and 25th, so I guess they were boring. This blog makes such great reading. 26th May Today was vacation day! We had decided to go do a road trip to Yellowstone Park, via Mount Rushmore and a few other select sights. However, as per our luck, the weather was due to be horrific everywhere we planned to go...heavy rain, snow and wind, so at the last minute, we changed our route. We left Greenwood Village at ... read more

16th May Not too eventful. I went to the gym, swam, read, watched a movie. 17th May Went into ALAC again. I made 200 phone calls to past participants of the Country Club Classic event they held last year (blind beer tasting while dressed in golfing clobber) and tried to encourage them to sign up again this year. The English accent softened some of them into signing up. I dont like hassling people over the phone but after doing it and getting people's feedback. I can see the merit in it. I dont think it would work in the UK though. People are too bloody rude. I was also helopoing Joe prepare for a cocktail event for the charities high value donors. They were showing a documentary 'Revenge of the Electric Car' and then hosting a ... read more

I headed to the American Lung Association today for an informal interview with the Director of Development, Liz, and her second in command, Joe. The offices are lovely - they are modern and everyone has their own closed office. There are about 25 staff in this chapter and they are part of a much bigger organisation. They are clever as they fall into various categories, which helps with funding. They are a health chairty, an environmental charity and an advocacy charity, focusing on asthma, lung disease, the cessation of smoking in young people, cleaner air and the promotion of electric vehicles. At the end of the interview, we agreed that I would start work today, so I spent the day preparing bits and pieces for a cocktail reception that is being held tomorrow and making pretzel ... read more

7th May Boring. Met a 5 year old by the pool who pretended to be my freiend and then got me in trouble with her parents. She kept asking me if I wanted to go in the hot pool (which I didnt) until I said 'okay' and then she told her mum that I had asked her to go in and that I would be upset if she said no. The mum said no and Kayleigh argued with her for about 2 hours over it. 8th May I headed to MaxFund (a 'no-kill' animal shelter) based in the LoDo area of downtown. It is a dodgy part of downtown and I saw lots of homeless people and what lookedlike delinquent children on the side of the roads. No-one had told me that MaxFund was closed on ... read more