Grand Junction, CO

The drive from Mesa Verde to Grand Junction, where my sister Linda and her family live, was beautiful. We took a scenic drive through the mountains of southwest Colorado- jagged, beautiful colors of stone.

Grand Junction was named for the joining of two great rivers, the Colorado and the Gunnison, which flows up from the south. It has created a fertile valley bordered on the west by the Colorado National Monument (a must-see if you are ever in the area), and on the east by the Grand Mesa, which is the largest flat topped mountain in the world. The valley grows many things including peaches (which were in season), vegetables, and grapes- lots of grapes, accounting for the 20+ wineries in the area.

We took advantage of the wineries and toured several. It was nice to find out that they use primarily Colorado grown grapes, unlike several wineries we toured in Arizona. We found several we liked and purchased a few bottles. We also toured downtown Grand Junction, which is very active, lots of shops, and some really nice sculptures on many corners. Its great, especially in the current economy, to see such an active, vital downtown area.

We visited here several years ago and toured both the Mesa and the Monument, so did not do that this time. Sorry we have no pictures of these two locations from this trip, but have included one shot from the Mesa from our previous trip. Both locations are beautiful, but the Monument is the more spectacular of the two. Overall, we had a nice, relaxing visit with Linda, Larry (her husband) and Jon (my nephew) and have promised to return in the near future. Now if we can only get them to visit South Carolina!!

We left Mon. morning for our return trip to New England to pick up our girl Ally. No more touring, just driving. However, we plan to share any highlights we see on our way.