Monumental......

7:10 am - Monday - May 25th - Grand Junction, CO - 49° F, 33% humidity, wind 5 mph out of the north......no evidence of any wind at our location.....clear, blue, chilly skies today with a forecast high of 76° F.

Prior to arriving in Grand Junction we had never heard of 'Colorado National Monument'....it was not even on our so called 'bucket list', but after visiting it yesterday we were blown away.  Ironically, this park was established May 24, 1911....exactly 109 years to the day Sunday....is that serendipitous, or what?

Before we began our drive to the park entrance I drove the VW across the street to a local DIY car wash, and washed a month of dirt, and grime from her silver body.  Once that was done, we were in the car and heading just 6 miles northwest of our location to the eastern entrance.  There was actually a live person on duty in the kiosk who examined our Golden Age Pass from a distance, then gave us our entry slip, as he should, free of charge.  You can also enter this park near Fruita, CO (the main park entrance) to make the 26 mile drive along Rimrock Drive.  As is often the case, pictures taken on a phone camera do not really do justice to what your eyes are viewing, but I think I did a pretty good job of getting the best shots I could......you be the judge......

 A hanging canyon

 Some of the vista points take a bit of hiking to reach

 Fruita Canyon...Fruita, CO in the distance

.....we were reminded at several of the vista points that the entire 26 mile Rim Rock Drive was built entirely by hand......pick axes and shovels with the occasional assistance of dynamite.  Additionally 9 men lost their lives during construction.  The 26 mile drive took us about 2.5 hours as we hopped from one vista point to another, and we did not stop at every single one.

Our plan beginning the day was to have a late lunch at a place in Fruita called Hot Tomato Cafe (our friend Marnie used to work there back in the day, and raves about their pizza), but it turned out they are closed on Sunday's.....bummer!  While I drove the 16 miles on I-70 back to Grand Junction TLE was busy on her iPhone looking up another micro brewery.  She found Colorado Monumental Beer Works located just 3 miles from the Elks Lodge, and right on our way home.  We arrived there around 1 pm, ordered a flight of their brews, and then ordered some food from the food truck in the parking lot (Monumental does not serve food).....

......by the time I returned to our table the flight of brews had arrived......

.....and within a few minutes our two Pimento Pepper Jack Grilled Cheese sandwiches had arrived.......

.....once again we are in our happy spot.  We sat enjoying our brews and food in their alfresco dining area (they offered no indoor seating, which was fine with us) until after 2 pm before heading for home.

There was, actually, a live sporting event on TV Sunday afternoon.....a match play golf competition featuring Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.  Tiger and Peyton formed one team, while Phil and Tom the other.  The match began at 1 pm Mountain Time (4 pm Eastern Time), but I had set the DVR to record it so I would not miss anything.  TLE and I sat watching the show until after 6 pm.  Ultimately, Tiger and Peyton won the match 1 up.

We roll our wheels once again in a couple of hours ever northward trying to stay in that sweet climate spot.....temps in the 60's and 70's....it will get back in to the 80's and 90's here in Grand Junction beginning Tuesday, so our timing is right on the money.

Thanks for stopping by!

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