Day 51 - A Real Surprise!

We were completely blow away today. When we pulled in yesterday Tim asked if there was anything to do in the area and the guy who settled us in casually said the we should check out the Colorado National Monument nearby. We had seen signs for it on our way here but thought since it wasn’t a National Park it wouldn’t be all that great. Our neighbor said that the Grand Mesa National Park was about 70 miles away. This would be an option but we looked at our itinerary for our Southwest Caravan next summer and that park was on the list of stops. So, we went ahead with the Monument.

What an incredible place! We ended up spending almost 4 hours there constantly stopping for the views. We traveled up to around 8,200 feet - about 2,000 feet above the Colorado River. It’s going to be very difficult to chose the pictures to post because there are so many.

After our tour of the Monument we headed to the town of Grand Junction for lunch. It was a nice town with lots of shops and restaurants although many were closed because it was Sunday. Nice. Split a hamburger at a brew restaurant. When we walked in, the Steelers were on.

Went to Mass at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church nearby and then headed back to get ready for our departure tomorrow. On to our last National Park!