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10kms of running, 25kms of Cross Country mountain biking & Kayaking without pads
..... & a short assault course to finish.......
.....with arms & legs like lead, what's the best way to finish a 3 hour race?
a greased up wall to get over!!
3hrs 7mins : 42place out of 303 teams - elating & exhausting, not bad for our 1st race.
Our final day & the prospect of a long flight home. We decided to hop on a tandem bike for a few hours to ensure we could sleep. The lakeside drive cycle path runs for miles both north & south of the downtown area. We choose north & explored the area up towards Lincoln park - no band playing unfortunately!
Fun on the bike near the beach
A final night out on the town was spent uptown at the Green Mill watching Sheila Jordon play a live set with a resident 3 piece band.
Natural Jazz fans we're aren't but the experience was great fun.
The stunning weather continued showing off Yellowstone's turning fall colours. We hiked out from Old Faithful's tourist area through the Biscuit basin of steaming geysers & vents.
The heat of the fall hadn't dropped sufficiently to pull the bears & Elk down from the surrounding hillsides, as a result we only found ourselves looking a Bizon, Deer & Chip munks!
Some animals are more tame than others, whilst the chip munks hardly stayed still long enough to snap a shot this video shows are others are less bother by humans!
Panoramic video
....... Old faithful, doing it's hot steamy thing
....... Mammoth Springs upper basin cascade
Hat shopping gave us both a distinct American appearance!
With the park so big we did a fair amount of driving so found ourseleves stopping for breaks in the mid of nowhere. This was one peacful lunchtime spot for a picnic.
The "Tea" tons moutain range stretch up from Jackson Hole to Yellowstone NP. Set up like a picture postacard above lakes Jenny & Jackson, the picturesque back drop welcomes Yellowstone visiters arriving from the south.
The elements have savaged the highway up to Yellowstone, so there was a huge amount of work going on to to seal the surface again before winter sets in. We followed this "follow me" truck through about 5 miles of construction.
Arrving just before dusk we set our animal spotting hopes high, with in 10 minutes of enterring the park this grazing stag was by the side of the road. 
The Fall is setting in, turning the leaves from Green to Yellow to Red & Brown. We set off at 4pm heading north from Moab towards Salt Lake City, before heading north for Yellowstone park. We night stopped briefly in a dodgey (but thankfully clean) motel crossing the state border into Idaho just after dawn.
Idaho to Jackson, WH
More open space & big desert sky, Arches national park is simply vast. It doesn't matter in which direction you look there is a rock formation that you want to photograph.
Grand Arch is simply awe inspiring. How gravity is kept a bay I don't know but this arch towers 50m above the trees & spans ore than a football pitch.
We'd been given a tip that there were some little known American Indian rock paintings at the entrance of a local canyon called Moon Flower, so pre-pancakes & coffee, we journeyed out to find them, following some directions we'd had scribbled on a till receipt - left between Burger King & McDonalds, travel for 8 minutes, it's located between 2 cotton trees on the left hand side.....right, should be easy then !
The unprotected rock art had unfortunately been damaged by a few mindless individuals but it was still fascinating to see the images depicting ancient scenes.
1st stop Dead Horse Point - The Colorado river cuts through the soft sand stone canyons of Utah's remote countryside on route to Nevada's Grand Canynon. Cold by night & hot by day Dead Horse Point is unforgiving place. The steep to vertical cliffs create an imposing, impassable landscape, leading to the legend that cowboys used to drive wild horses towards the point, trapping them there before capturing the ones they wanted.
Today there's less savage activities, like hiking, biking & rafting. The unseasonably warm temperatures meant our coats & warm clothes remained unused & with no shade the baking sun cooked the hire car.
Mesa arch - not a sight for those, like me who hate heights.
Karina flew out via Salt Lake City to join the pain & fun. The blistering heat helped the dirt stick to the sun cream & added a barrier of protection agianst the Cactus spikes too. pic of Ressie flying down & then over "Cutes & ladders"
Unlike skiing; this is the easy way to get back up hill.
3 hours of thirst generating riding allowed us to easily justify a little R&R time sampling the local vineyards.
