Tory exits Missouri in unusually high summer temperatures.

Well I think this will be my last Tory in Missouri blog. I have no idea who has read it, but I have enjoyed writing it and thinking about what we have seen.

My first photo here was this view across from our kitchen window, so I took it again. Too early in the morning, not enough light.

What a year. Firstly, I would just like to say how lucky I think we have been to have this opportunity to live abroad. Not many people get the chance and we have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It has jolted us out of our normal routine and given us a chance to meet new people, do new things and go to places I thought I would never see.
There have been quiet times, when I could have done with some of the noise and bustle of London and times when Fulton seemed very small and remote, which of course it is. I think I will miss the openess and space and London is going to seem very crowded.
I will miss new friends, but am looking forward to going back to old ones and of course family, although a year off from family is very relaxing!!!! I'm sure they feel the same!

Could I live in America? Yes, very easily. There is one really big drawback as far as I would be concerned- Healthcare. Would I choose to live in America? I think on balance probably no. I like the nearness of Britain to Europe and other countries. Certainly here in Missouri, the outside world does seem irrelevant and remote. There is plenty of information in newspapers and on the television about the world at large, but a lot of people here do not seem interested. If you lived your whole life here in Missouri, you would rarely see foreigners. In fact, you don't see many people from out of state. I have never lived in such an homogenous place. I find that strange coming from London.
This is such a large country you could spend your whole life just exploring it. I would love to see more.

What do I like about this place?. I like the space, the lack of traffic, the good manners, the genuine friendliness and helpfulness.
 I like the houses and their kitchens and laundries in particular. There is the space here, but their equipment is big and well designed.
Some of the food here is excellent. The beef is far better than ours, tender and tasty. The lamb, although not much in evidence, is much gamier, which I like. They do a lot of yummy veg. we hardly ever see- turnip tops, collared greens, yellow courgettes, all sorts of weird and beautiful pumpkins

What have I missed? good old British cynicism and a good argument. People round here are almost too nice.
I am looking forward to going back to some decent cheese and French wine. We've enjoyed drinking Californian wine, but it's not cheap and I'm looking forward to the greater variety back home. You can get quite a wide range here, but at a price. The beer is brilliant and Roland, Skomer and Ben have done their best to try them all. Roland now has a beer belly!

I've missed my garden and gardening. I've done a bit here, but don't have the tools and it seems a bit pointless when I know it will soon revert to jungle! I have enjoyed learning about the local flora and fauna. I never knew there were so many varieties of oak,

This is my climbing rose, which I pruned last year and looked great till the sun burnt it to a crisp!

My Hollyhocks, just starting to bloom.

This little bird has just laid her second batch of eggs in my hanging fern! A good choice.

What don't I like here? I don't like the relentless fast food, the fact that obesity has become almost the norm.. The tendency to put cheese in everything. well what they call cheese! All salads have cheese sneaked in and their idea of a dressing is just vinegar or something sweet or cheesy. Most meat dishes have cheese with them. I am looking forward to going back to some decent cheese, to be eaten as cheese!
I don't like the fact that practically all food has either corn syrup or soya or both in it. Unbelievable.
The bread is universally rubbish. Soft, sweet, squashy crap.
Meals and sandwiches and the like are very heavy on the protein content. Practically nil on the carbohydrate and vegetable content. I've never seen such fat sandwiches and it's all layers of meat and cheese. I always remove and leave at least half of it.
Helpings are ridiculously large and a lot is left or taken home in nasty little polystyrene boxes.
Drinks are always huge- except glasses of wine!

The weather- a bit too extreme, not enough in-between weather. This week the Missouri river is threatening to burst it's banks and flood parts of the capital, Jefferson City. Water seems much more threatening here.
In our last week, the temperature is in the 90's F and very humid. Too hot to be outside. The cicada's are deafening. This is a bumper year for them apparently. I've never heard such loud ones. The are whizzing around and hitting you as you walk. It reminds me of when we arrived, last august.

Things I find interesting-
 The real patriotism of most Americans, in a way which would be considered rather over the top in Britain. There is great respect for the military and servicemen and they are much more in evidence everywhere.
Religion and it's importance in everyday and public life here. It still fascinates me.

Politics here I'm still trying to get to grips with. Money has far too much influence and the interest groups that provide it. No sooner is the President elected and he or she has to start campaigning again. It seems daft.

I think there is a much stronger work ethic here. People work long hours and don't get much holiday. Part of it is there are no or very few handouts, but I think it's more than that. It's the Puritan, Protestant work ethic. I think holidays are essential for your sanity and they don't get enough here.

I think this is a great country if you've got quite a bit of 'get up and go' about you, maybe not so good for those who are lacking in drive or ability or both. Not a good place to be ill or unemployed.  It's more a survival of the fittest mentality. I haven't quite made up my mind about that.

We are having our last meal out tonight and it will certainly have to be steak. A last few glasses of Californian wine and back to London. A year is a long time and I do find myself naturalising so to speak.
Goodbye Fulton and Missouri.
Goodbye little house.

Goodbye Wren Church and Churchill museum.

I will miss writing my blog. I think I will have to start 'Tory in Tufnell Park' or maybe 'Mother of Bride aghhhhhh' Blog.    Beware!!!

Blog in wrong order. Before the big trip- statues, cabins and tornadoes.

A rich benefactor of the museum has decided it needs another statue of Churchill. It doesn't, but if you are giving money it seems you decide what it is spent on and most people like the big public evidence of giving.
Churchill's grand daughter, Edwina, is going to be present for the unveiling and it is generally a grand do.
I don't like the statue. I don't think it looks quite right and it blocks the view of the church.

There is already a statue next to the church, two seems excessive and inside you are tripping up over large Churchill statues all over the place. Also the stone masons have boobed and spelled descended without the 's' in the quote about an iron curtain, so they have had to place a high plant in front and hope no one notices till it can be replaced.
Also it makes him look miserable and actually if you look at photos of him, he was often laughing or had a twinkle in his eye.

This is Roland talking to Edwina.

I managed to keep my birthday quiet. I didn't want to get a whole lot of presents I'd have to take back. But I was given a farewell lunch by the president's wife with all the friends from the museum. So I now have two large presents to take back!!! so just as well I kept quiet.

We have managed to sneak in a few trips. This was to a friend that lives in a real, old log cabin in the woods. The weather was appalling. We have had so much rain in the last couple of weeks.

It was just too wet to wander around.
In the last couple of days the temperature has been rising, the humidity increasing and the weather turned stormy, not just wet. We were having dinner yesterday when the tornado sirens went off and like most people we put our heads outside the door and went back to eating our dinner. It was the middle of a pretty violent storm. The television and radio had constant updates.
The conditions are right, but they have no idea if a tornado will materialise. Then 'breaking news' came up, a term which here seems to be used rather too often, but this time it was real. The storm that passed through here had just before been through Joplin, south west of here and an enormous tornado hit the centre of the town. The death toll is over 100 and rising. Scary stuff. We seem to be having a very bad tornado year.
In fact this year in America 522 people have been killed by tornadoes, making it the deadliest tornado year since records began. Tornado season is winding down now and it's hurricane season!! Luckily, that hits another part of the country. Not so lucky for them. The weather is certainly more deadly here than back home.

From the sublime to the ridiculous. The Grand Canyon to Las Vegas.

This is our last trip in America and it is to the Grand Canyon, which I have always wanted to see. Roland saw it in his youth!, but we are also seeing Bryce Canyon, Glen Canyon, Monument Valley, Zion Park and Las Vegas.
We leave Missouri in tornado weather. The sky is very threatening. We fly to Phoenix, Arizona via Memphis. We leave the soggy, flooded, green east and fly over the deserts of New Mexico to Arizona. What a contrast.

The description of Phoenix in the guide books is most unflattering, but what we see of it looks rather nice. Spotlessly clean, beautifully landscaped with desert planting and flyovers and the like decorated with Indian patterns carved into the concrete.
We drive out past cacti. The sky is blue and the earth is red.

Our tour guide, Mary is Californian and 'blonde', with a suitcase twice the size of any one else's, with wardrobe to match. She is older than she appears on first meeting. You just have to get a bit closer!  Her commentary is fairly limited in content, but it seems to go down well with our mixed group. All the towns seem to be 'cute' and 'little' and everything is 'just beautiful', which actually, it is! There are a far too many stops to buy jewellery and Mary always seems to buy something.
We stop at Montezuma's castle, an early settlement of the Sinagua Indians. It flourished about 11,00-13,00 then seemed to disappear. This is what is left.

They aren't quite sure how they got up there. Probably ladders.
We then drive through some very attractive scenery, stopping at Sedona, a 'cute little town' and rather trendy. The setting is pretty spectacular.

 We climb further via Oak Creek Canyon, then to the top of the Colorado plateau via Flagstaff. The scenery is rather dull and flat and it is difficult to imagine what is to come. The first people to come this way must have been truly astonished.
Mary is waxing lyrical about the treat in store and sure enough we come to the rim of the Grand Canyon and there it is, in all it's glory and it is amazing. It doesn't matter how many photos you have seen, nothing really can describe or show just how beautiful and surprising this is.

I think you could justifiably use the word breathtaking. It is just enormous!!!!

That is the Colorado River down the bottom. A mile down!! The Canyon is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide in parts and a mile deep. The visibility is good and we can see huge distances. The canyon is geologically speaking young. It is a combination of volcanic activity, tectonic plates colliding and water erosion. The different layers of rocks are very obvious and range from sandstone, both red and yellow, to limestone and black vishnu rocks. Like a big mille-feuilles.
We are all stunned and drive the short distance around the rim to our log cabin hotel, set amongst pine trees just minutes from the rim.
This is my first encounter with one of the big state parks and I am extremely impressed. American state parks were the first in the world and I think set a very good example. The buildings are low and fit the environment. Recycling bins are everywhere for any sort of rubbish. There are loos and drinking fountains everywhere. There is no litter. There are Park Rangers everywhere. There are no barriers or high walls. You can literally just walk off the edge, so nothing impedes the view. There are free shuttle buses round the rim, where no other traffic is allowed, and there is a good view the entire length. There are lots of viewing points and walks in between. It is disabled friendly. You can wheel people round the rim on hard paths. Lighting is very minimal, so the night sky is very starry. Very, very impressed.

We have the whole day to do exactly as we please, so after a ridiculously large breakfast, eat in an enormous hotel, the original one, a bit like a big game hunting lodge, with a view over the canyon, we decide to venture down!!!!
Roland actually walked all the way down and out again 40 years ago with friend Richard. They were younger and leaner in those days!! We decide the first post, 1 1/2 miles down will do nicely and we can say we did it. The temperature is rising and the path is steep, but the views are incredible.

  Of course just like everyone else I took far too many photos, but you just can't help yourself. None of them really do it justice.

I hadn't realised just how much greenery there was in the canyon. All the way down. Lots of pine and juniper trees, clinging on to impossible places. There are also lots of wild flowers and birds.

It seemed a very long mile and a half, but we made it to the loos! yes, loos and drinking taps. Essential for the climb back up. We are also pretty high up. The south rim of the grand Canyon is 7,000 feet above sea level, the north rim is 8,000 ft above. It took us just under three hours to go down and come up, which sounds pretty pathetic, but it made us feel very virtuous and ready for anything else.





We go up and down the south rim, using buses and walking and where ever you go, the view is stunning and you take too many photos. This place gets 5 million visitors a year, but it is so huge, the people seem to get absorbed and they don't spoil it.
All our meals are in rooms overlooking the canyon. Difficult to imagine a more incredible setting.

The colours change all the time and the formations look like Aztec temples, then Buddhist ones. You could sit for hours just taking it all in.
This place has lived up to all expectations. We would love to stay longer.






Sadly, we have to move on to other sights. It is difficult to imagine that anything will live up to this. Wrong again. There are other wonders up here.

We head up higher to Glen Canyon and Lake Powell, an artificial lake formed by the Glen Canyon Dam, which was started in 1956. The building of it was controversial and gave rise to today's environmental movement. I am not a great fan of artificial lakes, but this one is pretty stunning and our hotel looks out over the water.

We have a boat trip up Antelope Canyon, now drowned.

Beautiful rock formations all the way. It looks like a big strawberry cream mousse.

This is a big holiday destination as well as a huge source of water. There are boats, fishing and water sports. The area also has a some of the most outstanding prehistoric remains found anywhere.

Next day, we use this as a base to enter Indian country. We are going to Monument Valley, beloved by film makers. This is in the Navajo Indian Reservation, at 16 million acres it is the biggest reservation in America. You will recognise this place, you see the background in so many films. We see it in maybe less than ideal conditions. A sandstorm. It is hot, windy, dusty and the visibility is coming and going. We go in open jeeps over rough ground!! but it is pretty incredible.

Wow! I think it looks beautiful. Very atmospheric.

We have to dress like bandits to keep the sand out! Very silly.

This one is John Wayne's Boot! He spent quite a lot of time out here.

This poor chap had to sit out on the horse in the dust and sand for the benefit of tourists. It is rather effective and you can see why John Ford made some of his most famous films here, 7 westerns including the first- Stagecoach in 1939.

When we get back to our hotel we are all red from head to foot.








We leave the shores of Lake Powell and climb to our highest point so far. 8, 300 foot at the rim of Bryce Canyon. We think it is the highest we have ever been on land.

 Can we be amazed further I wonder. As it happens- yes we can!!!

Bryce Canyon is at the top of what is called the Grand Staircase. This is a series of bluffs and canyons coming down off the Colorado Plateau, like a series of huge stairs. There is Bryce Canyon, then Pink Cliffs, Gray Cliffs, Zion Canyon, White Cliffs, Vermillion Cliffs, Chocolate Cliffs then finally the Grand Canyon.
Again, we approach it from the rim and it is quite different. A pink canyon, like some huge set out of a sci fi film. Quite weird and wonderful.

We have our little picnic with a view.

The pink monoliths are called hoodoo's and there are fin formations too. Again we venture in and this time down to the bottom.

It looks as though somebody painted it the colours are so vibrant.

Mary our guide it turns out is super fit and walks down to the bottom and up again at a cracking pace. I take my time, particularly on the way up. It is quite chilly up on the rim, but in the canyon it is hot. It was snowing here yesterday, so we have timed our visit well. 

We are then driven to a viewing point, which gives some idea of the size of this place.

Quite different to the Grand Canyon and very unusual. It looks like something from Star Wars.

Thought we ought to have one photos to show we went on holiday together!

I had never heard of this place, obviously my ignorance knows no bounds! 

Thinking we had seen it all by now we proceed to Zion Park, which both Mary and our driver, Richie, think is the best of all. 

I don't think one could compare any of the things we have seen. They are all, as far as I am concerned, wonderful and the most stunning scenery I have ever seen anywhere in the world.

Zion Park is another canyon, but unlike the other two we have seen, we enter this one at the bottom. This makes it more user friendly so to speak. The views are looking up rather than down. 

Note the climber! Rather him than me, I'd sooner die.

The walks are up or along river gorges and this is the Virgin River. Notoriously violent and fast. Prone to flash floods and carrying enormous amounts of debris in it. This area is also prone to landslides.

It's certainly going at a cracking pace. I don't think I've ever seen such a fast moving river. I don't think you would survive falling in.

Roland is not standing in the river, the photo is deceptive!

We are staying in lovely little wooden cabins, with open fires and no television!!!! a first in America. The planting is all natural. Lots of native wild flowers.

We have the day to walk where we want, so of course, we have to go up! There are water falls all over the place and micro climates going from the damp to the desert in a small distance. So the vegetation and wildlife is very varied.

Cacti with other flowers. 

Maidenhair Fern in the damp bits.

A very delicate Columbine.

Don't know this one.

Palmer's Penstemon 

Lovely purply pink grasses

                                                               

There are also squirrels, Hummingbirds, Elks, Desert Tortoises, Treefrogs, Condors and Mountain Lions. Can't claim to have seen the Lions, but I convinced myself I saw a Condor.

The walks up go past waterfalls and pools.

Again, the paths are narrow with no barriers. Brilliant. There is also a free shuttle bus along the canyon floor to the beginning of all the walks. It is all so well thought out. Also, as with the other  State Parks, when we come in we are given 2 leaflets with all the information, maps etc we need to get around.

The colours change with the time of day.

We could have spent a lot more time here doing the walks. The hotel also has a quite decent restaurant. All good things come to an end. This trip is sadly, now over. I feel privileged to have seen it all and feel invigorated. It has been a truly wonderful week. The most spectacular scenery I think possible. Also in between these sites, the scenery was incredible. Lots of other gorges, canyons, mountains and cliffs. It certainly has been worth the visit and I would encourage anyone to go if at all possible.

We are deposited in Las Vegas to go home, but we are staying on for one day.

The drive to Vegas is through a spectacular limestone gorge and down to the desert plateau below.

We can see Las vegas ahead. We move from the majestic to the ridiculous as far as I am concerned.

I was amused by these:

This one has Allah on it!

We enter the grot that is Las Vegas and I instantly loathe the place. It is my idea of hell on earth. Man made awfulness. 

It is a seedy, grown up Disney World, full of millions of people. 50 million people visit Nevada every year and Las Vegas is the draw. The only thing you can really do here is gamble and shop. There is entertainment and food, but everything is expensive and nothing is free. No shuttle buses here. There is relentless pop music blaring out from everywhere, all night and day. It's even through all the gardens and at bus stops. Yuk, yuk, yuk!!!!!!

The hotels are enormous and are themed. It is difficult to find your way out of them and a sort of panic sets in as you go through yet another glitzy mall looking for a way out. All the lobbies are filled with acres of poker machines and tables and a lot of the eateries look out on these. It is all in the dark, with artificial lighting and lots of pinging of machines. A lot of people sitting at machines just constantly pulling handles or pressing knobs. The most depressing sight possible. Yuk again.

This is the Venezia, one of the better ones.

A patriotic display in the Palazzo foyer. There was a so called private function going on here outside Tiffany's, with bare chested young men and scantily clad young ladies as waiters. Yuk. The waitresses everywhere have minimal clothing. Tits and bums hanging out.

Even the vast floral displays, of which there were quite a few, managed to look tasteless. What a vile place. There are families with young kids here. Why? It's an over priced venue for gambling and judging by the number of prostitutes doing other things. Roland thought I was being unnecessarily negative, but I have never hated a place so much in all my life. Luckily, we only have 2 nights and one day.

Our hotel is the Luxor. It has seen better days! Better outside than in.

We have several swimming pool, but they are not really for swimming. The deepest they get is 3 1/2 ft. They are for cooling off in. There are a lot of old men with young women. No one seems too concerned about skin cancer.

This is the famous Caesar's Palace, complete with Colosseum and Trevi Fountain. This whole place actually looks better in photos than in reality. 

Tasteless playground of the unimaginative as far as I am concerned. 

What a contrast to what we have been seeing over the last week. What a sad reflection on modern society. I think in one week we have seen the best and the worst that America has to offer.

A few inspiring photos to finish. Can't finish with the grot.

That's better!

Back to Missouri, which interestingly was greeted with a certain amount of mirth by Americans on the trip and disbelief that we could live here for a year. Obviously regarded as an awkward backwater. The temperature is 95 F and very humid. A week to pack up and leave. One last blog I think.