A cacophony of memories and eggs

How do!
It's all somewhat quiet at home after the trip, and I'm still having the urge to pitch the tent every night and inflate thermarests (or full on camping matresses for Brina). Managed to get out yesterday with Brad around Bragg Creek on the mtbs and found some great trails - although was in agony on the trusty old Trek boneshaker having dashed around on pretty bikes like the one shown above the previous week! Came back from the ride yesterday to realise that the splattering of brown on the garage door that we noticed when we left was in fact a very small part of the bombardment of eggs and other assorted grocery shit that had been pelted at the front of our house the previous night!!!! Some little bastards (apologies for the French) had taken to using our house as target practice and thus we spent the best part of yesterday afternoon clambering around on the roof washing eggshells off the upper walls and windows - We've been away for three weeks so I can't think for the life of me who we've pissed off - but I would dearly like to have a cosy little 'chat' with them. The rest of today has been further domestic duty, gardening, cleaning (although bikes mainly), fixing stuff that I can't fix but pretend I can in a very half assed kind of way, and we have found a man willing to take on the onerous task of the basement so he'll be here tomorrow - I wash my hands of it....
Anyway, as you can see, brother was delighted to reach the Shangri-La that is Moab when on the trip. We'd rolled cautiously into the wonderful little town having realised 100 miles away that the back tires on the car were no longer rubber, just metal beading - this nonsense happened last year in the heat of Utah, Albertan tires just aren't made for the desert. Moab had the closest tire fitting shop and as we held our breath awaiting some dramatic blowout we had nothing but praise for "Chips Grand Tire" where Chip himself served us just before he shut up shop, and never before have I witnessed such a cheery, speedy, helpful, we're not trying to rip you off auto shop.
We landed a great campsite with nobody else around and all was good.... Prior to hitting this venue, our previous night had been spent in Mesa Verde about which I knew nowt. Now however, I see it was home to the ancient Pueblo folk who built nifty little houses on the cliff faces hundreds of years ago (700 years ago if I recall, but I kind of tuned out when the Ranger was going on... Now I know what the kids at school feel like when I'm whittering on about meanders and ox bow lakes).

This is one of the sites from above that we got to go and wander down to and have a good poke around - although touching the walls was a real no-no as they were only held together by mud - 700 year old mud that is, so they'd crumble like an Italian Army even if you just stared at them too long.
A little aside which I neglected to post to add to the amazing splendor of the Rockies throughout Colorado was one intriguingly named ski run in Telluride. Now, maybe I'm missing some obvious Americanism here and perhaps my knowledge of US history and society is very limited, but without wanting to offend anybody - can this really be the right name of a double black ski run in one of the best ski towns in the states?

Clearly Telluride is a rich white "man's" playground....

Telluride was an incredible spot and it was a treat to see where the big bro had raced in the Primal Quest a few years earlier, although he did mention some of the landmarks were a bit hazy in his mind having been racing without sleep for 5 days!

Hitting the Patagonia shop in Dillon on the way home was a pleasure, and clearly the girls were a touch enthusiastic about getting into the seriously cheap store...

And they left the store looking rather pleased with themselves.....

Although it wasn't just the chickeroos who were carried away in a retail frenzy of cheap Patagonia gear.. that night in the warm air of the campsite you wouldn't have believed that this feller below actually owns a gear shop;

Mark and Brina scored highest for being kitted up head to toe in Patagonia.
There is plenty more that will come out about the trip that is sure to come out in future postings - and I must get a photo album set up on here to dump a load of awesome piccies (modest!) that can be viewed online (calling Portland Ken for technical assistance...).

The trip was completed with a magic ride on the bikes from Radium to Banff, and what better way to end that and the trip with one of Earl's finest steaks in Banff.

Great times in the summer of 07.

Dodging the low flying eggs..
S&S.