Our next album cover

Staying in motels, driving the big open spaces of the American South-West, listening to Muse and Mumford and Sons and eating burgers and beer is having a strange effect on us.  We keep posing for the covers of our up-coming album(s):

At Canyon de Chelly, Arizona.

Or perhaps more moody?

Root beer and chicken wings in Durango, Colorado.

Canyon de Chelly again.

At Four Corners, where Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico meet, it took a while to decide who would stand in which state.

At Four Corners, where Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico meet

Road trip!

We are in the middle of a week long road trip around the American South-West.  On Sunday we visited the Sand Dunes National Park in Southern Colorado, an extraordinary 30 square miles of sand dunes, butted up against rocky, snowy 14,000 foot peaks.  Rivers have carried the sand down into the valley, and wind has blown it up against the mountains and into perfect dunes.  Never has dune running been so exhilerating!

Sand Dunes National Park, Southern Colorado

Climbing back up after a run is hard work

Sangre de Cristo Mountains behind

Local fauna

Black-tailed prairie dogs near our house

Don't leave the page! Although most animals featured here are rodents (sorry Clementine), they are very nice, and the chipmunks in the video at the bottom are officially cute.  The prairie dogs definitely have the sparsest following.  They live in big colonies and people like to get them gassed as they dig up your "yard" and infect your dog with diseases.  We like them as they are roly poly versions of the meerkats at Edinburgh zoo.  Click on the photos to get a better view!
You have to go up to the alpine tundra to see the marmots, and now they are fast asleep, which they remain for up to 7 months over the winter.

Yellow-bellied marmot in Rocky Mountain National Park

Stellar's jay, lovely flashes of blue

Golden-mantled ground squirrel in Rocky Mountain National Park - interest in our picnic

 The fox squirrels are very common around us and are large and handsome with long tails.

Fox squirrel near our house

We LOVE the chipmunks, and I think they love us, or at least our picnic: see below for some close up action with a least chipmunk: