Mica Mine Trail, Grand Junction, CO (Saturday, June 22, 2019)

Our youngest daughter and her boyfriend came to Grand Junction to see us!  We wanted a dog friendly hike, so his dog Arrow could join us for the day, so we chose the Mica Mine Trail.  It's a beautiful, easy hike through the red rock formations near the Colorado National Monument.

Since it's called the Mica Mine Trail, the competition was on to see who could find the first piece of mica, and our daughter won.

The rock formations we were hiking through were very unique and beautiful.

At one point during our hike, the sky got very dark.

And soon afterward, it began to hail.  Not hard, but hard enough to hurt, so we had to seek cover under a bush.

By that point, we were just about at the abandoned mica mine.

The mica in the rock is very layered and flaky.

Steve and I had to rest while the kids continued to explore.

There are pieces laying everywhere around the mine.

You can peel off layers so thin that you can see through them.

After leaving the mine, we had a beautiful walk back to the car.

And then enjoyed some Rav-4 hood-top sushi for lunch.

Grand Mesa, Colorado (Thursday, June 20th, 2019)

This wasn't what we expected to see on the Grand Mesa when we left warm Grand Junction this morning, but we were so pleasantly surprised!  So now let me start at the beginning of the story.



As we made our ascent up onto the Grand Mesa, the views were spectacular and the temperatures began to drop.  It was about 88 degrees F in Grand Junction, and definitely getting much cooler as we climbed.

We started seeing snow off in the distance, but it was still pretty warm at this point.

And before we knew it, we were into the snow.  Since we used to live in Colorado, you would think we would expect this in June, but I think we have forgotten.  It has already hit 118 degrees F in Lake Havasu this summer, so this was a little unexpected for us.

We stopped at the visitors center just to see what they had to say about Grand Mesa.  They recommended that we go up the side road just a little bit further.  They said it is only open for about 2 more miles, but in the summer, you can drive all the way to Colbran.

At the visitor's center they told us that many of the roads are still closed for the year.  And looking at this next picture, we can see why.

One of the locals getting a little sunshine.

The rangers told us about the Alexander Lake Lodge about 2 miles up the side road, and said that we could get some lunch there if we wanted.  We love supporting the little out-of-the-way places, so we thought it sounded like a great idea.

When we walked in, it was very quiet.  A young lady at one of the tables asked if she could help us, and we asked it they were serving lunch.  She said "Let me check", and she disappeared.  She returned in a few minutes and said yes, they could serve us some lunch, so she grabbed some menus and led us into the restaurant, which was quaint and rustic. 



We had a nice table with a beautiful view.

I don't know why, but I always think that mountain lodges should  have exotic comfort food on their menus, but I need to remind myself that it isn't usually the case, no matter how much I want it to be.  Their menu was somewhat limited, but they had a hunters stew on the menu that sounded intriguing to us, so we both ordered the hunters stew.  She said that they didn't have any hunter's stew, they would be making it again on Sunday.  So we both changed our order to the chicken pot pie with a side salad.  Something nice and warm sounded good in these cooler temperatures.

Our pot pies came out, and looked wonderful.  So we dug in, and enjoyed one of the best Van De Camps frozed pot pies we have had in years.  So much for exotic mountain food, but we truly enjoyed the experience and the view.

When we left the lodge, we continued down the Grand Mesa road which would take us out on the south side near the town of Cedaredge and continue on through the town of Delta before taking us back to Grand Junction.  These towns are in a huge agricultural valley surrounded by beautiful snow capped mountain peaks.

Our final surprise as we were leaving the mesa to the south were these wild lupine growing by the road.  What a treat to see!

When we headed out this morning, we thought we were going to a high desert plateau.  When you look at it from Grand Junction, that is what it looks like.  We were so pleasantly surprised to enjoy this beautiful snowy forest instead.  

Auntie Day! (Thursday, June 20th, 2019)

Our oldest daughter got to play Auntie this week with her six month old niece.  What a treat, and you have to love the matching outfits!

Fishing at Gray Reef (Saturday, June 15th, 2019)

No matter where we are or what we're doing, the most important part of our lives is family, so we have to give periodic updates on what our kids are up to.

Our youngest was fishing with her boyfriend at Gray Reef last weekend near Casper, WY, and caught this beautiful rainbow trout.

On their way home on Sunday, they stopped by the family cabin to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa and some of the other family.  What a treat for all of them on Father's Day.  The kids fished again with Grandpa, and they did well, but Grandpa did great!

Golfing at Adobe Creek, Grand Junction, CO (Wednesday, June 19th, 2019)

Grand Junction, Colorado is traditionally an agricultural town, surrounded by beautiful cliffs, mesas, and the national monument.  But it also has access to so many other things to do as well.  It has three golf courses that we are aware of, and just down the road in palisade, there are wineries and orchards.  

It's a beautiful day, so we decided to try out one of the local golf courses called Adobe Creek.  It lays in the valley near the bottom of the National Monument, with beautiful tee boxes, fairways and greens.  It felt like a hometown golf course, with friendly staff and a laid back atmosphere.

 Adobe Creek has three 9 hole courses, so you get to choose which two will make up your 18 holes.  We played Monument and Mesa, so if we come back, we'll have to try Desert next time.  It was a beautiful course that we would love to play again. 

When we finished playing golf, we ran to the Grand Junction Harley Davidson dealership to pick us some tickets for later in the week.  Here is your sneak peak of what's to come.

As we sat outside our motor home after dinner, we enjoyed listening to the calls of some local peacocks.  We really love this little town!

Let The Adventure Begin (Tuesday, June 18th, 2019)

After waiting around for some motor home repairs, we are finally off on our next big adventure!  Today we drove through the beautiful state of Utah on I-70, heading east toward Colorado. It is a drive that I highly recommend!  Red cliffs, meandering rivers, ghost rocks of beautiful white sandstone, and even in June there are beautiful snow capped peaks. There are also lots of view areas where you can pull off to take in the sights.

Our destination today was the Junction West RV Park in Grand Junction, Colorado.  We're really pleased with this park, it has a nice grass area with picnic tables, a dog park, laundry facilities, and nice wide parking spaces.  And the staff are really nice and helpful!

And I almost forgot to mention, great sunsets!!

This is only day one, so we can't wait to see what the rest of our stay brings.