Yesterday Off out for a walk along St Louis Creek near Fraser, where all the Lodgepole Pine trees are either dead or dying thanks to a little beetle called the Pine Beetle. This little blighter is responsible for the death of nearly 90% of the Lodgepole pines in the rocky mountains. It makes the mountains look a little more brown than we imagined - apparently the spread is so rapid because the trees are growing so close to each other. A good forest fire would do the trick, but the human inhabitants aren't keen on the idea. It was a nice [View Full Entry]

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Car, Coach, Train, Plane... and we arrive at Denver International Airport. It's sunny and around 80F and we've just missed a mega hailstorm. Rob's there to meet us and we pile into his car and start the 2 hour drive to Winter Park/Fraser where we are staying with Rob and Helen for 5 nights (what have they let themselves in for?). Lowlight of the drive: Passing the Purina Dog Food factory which was polluting the atmosphere with a really delightful dog food stink. Yum. Highlight(s) of the drive: Following Clear Creek and seeing the gold mines, a waterfall, avalanche path [View Full Entry]

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Only a week to go... Mark has finished work now (grrrr) as I've (Annabel) still got two days to go and the kids still have 4 days left at school. Last minute preparations include Mark booking his diving with Great White Sharks (in South Africa)... but it's okay we've got LOTS of insurance! It was Ellie's birthday last Sunday so she is now 10 and she's been given loads of money to spend so we'll probably have to buy another suitcase to bring all her purchases home. [View Full Entry]

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Planning under way... As part of our plan for the big trip, we've set up this blog! Where are we going?Our travel itinerary starts in the UK on the 8th July 2008. We will be going through Colorado, Nevada, California, Fiji, Australia, South Africa, and then finally Kenya before landing back in the UK on the 8th of September.Why are we going?Well...Mark and Annabel are a pair of IT professionals who have been bitten by the rat race and want to get a bit more perspective. We've always had sand in our shoes, and have saved for a year and a [View Full Entry]

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