Grand Junction, Colorado

We drove from the eastern side of Colorado, to the western side:

The Rocky Mountains are amazing! I think if I were an early settler, I would just stop here instead of trying to go over those mountains! Our next stop is Grand Junction, which has a lot more attractions than we knew! On our first day we visited the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, and it was amazing!

The Gunnison River has carved a deep canyon:

We were on the south side of the canyon, which is not as steep as the north side. The canyon is so deep and so steep in some areas! One of the landmarks is Painted Wall:

It is formed by molten rock filling in cracks and joints in existing rock:

It is amazing to see! Permits are needed to go into the canyon, and it is very dangerous, as you can imagine! NOPE- not gonna do it! We highly recommend visiting this National Park if you get a chance!

Grand Junction is an interesting town- they have funny street signs:

We saw a lot that were 1/2’s and even a couple 3/4’s! They had beautiful murals downtown:

The details were amazing!

We also visited the Colorado National Monument:

Now, I don’t know what you would expect, but we thought it would showcase the different environments of Colorado (mountains, plains, etc.) Nope- it looked a lot like Utah:

The scenic drive winds around a canyon showing arches, hoodoos, and rock formations:

And here is Independence Tower, which people clime every Independence Day:

It was beautiful, just unexpected! Like the trees in Rocky Mountain National Park, the wind affects the trees here too:

We went back to Black Canyon of the Gunnison for a ranger talk and to to see the stars:

We really enjoyed our stay in Grand Junction, and were surprised that there is so much to do here- we will need to come back!