Bye bye Moab, hello Durango! Life is sweeeet

Had a wicked night out in Moab, with the 2 Canadians we 'rescued' (see below post).  Actually, it was more Brent who did the rescuing & manouvering the bike over obstacles- the girl of the duo called Brent 'Super B' all night which was highly amusing (and has obviously caught on now haha).  Shouted us beers and a nice meal - can't go wrong with that!  They were a very fun and generous couple..we were pleased to come across them!!
Went canyoning on Sat morning with a small group - through Chamisa Canyon, just outside Moab.. a relatively beginner canyon with a few slides, abseils and scrambles, but still lots of fun!  Managed to avoid any flash floods, so that was a bonus. :-)
Visited Arches National Park afterwards which was just stunning & very unique.  Has a huge concentration of arches and funky rock formations which kept us entertained for a few hours (see pic at bottom).

OK...what next....I did a short mt bike ride in Moab on Sunday morning whilst Brent did some chores (I like that!!!) then started to drive south....not sure where we were headed....but knew it would involve cruising through  Monument Valley!!!  Yet another gorgeous national park in Utah (Utah is a really diverse and picturesque state...blessed with beautiful natural features).  See pic at top - just stopped to do the touristy thang, and then kept moving on with Albert.  Drove past about 6 huge storms - the lightening strikes were super-visible, and went all the way to the ground!  Was all pretty exciting stuff.  We kept stopping to take photos.  Drove through Navajo Nation, which is a massive area given to Navajo Native Americans, to own and partly govern themselves (71,000 sq km all up I believe).  Pretty impressive really, although no doubt there's more politics to this than we know about.  Realised that there were bugger-all campgrounds and motels in every town we passed through, so just kept driving and driving...until we got out of the 'Nation'..  about 10pm.  Turns out that the Navajo Indians take 50% of profits from all businesses owned by out of towners - which of course, puts a lot of people off.  Hence no accommodation.  Imagine NZ giving away a large chunk of land to Maoris?  Unlikely.

Visited the 'Aztec Ruins' National Monument this morning - a settlement built in 1100 - 1200 and an important centre for the Pueblo people of that time.  Kinda cool, and involved seeing another snake.  We were freaking out that it was a rattlesnake, but then the ranger told us it was a simple Garter Snake and they've named him 'Herman'.  Then we felt silly. LOL
So, we are in Durango, Colorado now - up at 2000 m elevation, so nice and cool (our idea of 'cool' is 30 degrees now...funny how everything's relative).  Got ourselves a little log cabin in amongst some mts, with a gurgling stream next door.  And mountain bikers for neighbours.  So, we're happy.  Going to check out their famous trails tomorrow!!!  Hoping to stay here a few days...