First stop in Colorado

Lets see if we can figure out what all these pictures are; it's been awhile since we visited these areas of Colorado. In our last posting we told you we are in a hole as far as Verizon is concerned so yesterday we took a ride to a little town up in the mountains and found a good hot spot so we were finally to able get the pictures uploaded. Sorry about the delay.

After setting up in Fruita Colorado at a very nice but over-priced State Park we checked out town and the local visitors center for information on the area and all of Colorado. We ended up spending 4 nights here but it was still over 100 every day so up to the mountains we went where it was a little cooler.

Just up the road from us is the Colorado National Monument (more red rocks). It was impressive, but after all we've seen in UT & AZ, not the best. There is a loop road, about 35 miles that goes up to the top, across and down the other side into Grand Junction.

We did stop at the visitors center, saw the movie about the Monument, checked out the campground, stopped at all the lookouts and walked some of the trails.

Not sure how far it is to the bottom but it's too far for us old timers to try and get there (and back!).

Looking North down to the town of Fruita, if you look closely, just on the other side of the river, you can see our rig at the State Park. Let us know when you find it.

Just another shot of Monument showing how close it really is to town. Kind of a hazy day so not

the best shots Dick has taken. Looking across the valley is the Grand Mesa National Forest, and yes, we have some pictures of that. Keep looking.

We started at about 4500' of elevation and kept climbing and climbing to over 11500', and what a view from the top. When we took this picture looking at China in the distance we still had not arrived at the top!

The temperature went from 100+ to the low 60s and everywhere you looked were mountain lakes. That funny strap on Dick's back is his camera strap. Notice that this is the first time in months that we have had to put on jackets. Glad we had them stowed in the truck for just this situation.

We still had shorts, but think that's about all we wear. Jackie and C C enjoying the view of more lakes.

On the hike to the viewpoint Dick had to stop and shoot some of the wildflowers. So very delicate with the purple lines in the petals.

Hard to see in this shot but the mountain meadows were full of various colors of wildflowers.

A little closer look.

Not sure how this picture got out of sequence but this is Jackie seeing how close she can get to the edge back at Colorado National Monument. (Notice, she's not very close--not nearly the daredevil Dick is.)

Rather than take the paved road back down from the National Forest we found an old one lane gravel switchback road that took us to the bottom that you can see off in the distance. Now we know why they call this "Lands End Road". We do this a lot, sure glad we have a 4WD truck with good brakes as this was about a 7000' decent. Then when we were almost down we came across a winery, so of course we had to stop and rest and check out the product. It was very good and we ended up buying a couple of bottles. (This is for Marie and Pat -- they'll understand.)

We are still at Blue Mesa RV Ranch in Gunnison so I guess this area will be our next post, so..


to be continued...