Colorado National Monument

Hi all,
Things should start slowing a bit with our post as we get closer to our summer gig at Custer State Park. We start on May 8, the days seem to be zooming by.
 While we were in Grand Junction Co, we took in Colorado National Monument- woohoo another stamp in Wendy's book.

 Located just west of Grand Junction Colorado National Monument encompasses 32 square miles of canyons and plateaus. It was the foresight of John Otto in 1907 and through his determined efforts became a national monument in 1911.
 He wanted to make the rugged area accessible to the public and worked to create a roadway(Rim Rock Road) up the 2000 foot plateau. Much of the work was done by CCC and was delayed during the war, It was finally complete in 1950.

 The 23 mile road has 23 pull offs for great canyon views. There are also numerous balanced rocks and rock sculptures upon which to marvel.

 We picked a good day for the drive, not to busy and believe we hit 22 of the pull offs. We also did a couple of short hikes to help round out the day.

 The park features a small primitive campground and is popular with bicyclist, though I couldn't imagine riding up the 6% grades. There were some tough looking hiking trails too.
  Saturday we hit a local Arborfest and took part in a chili contest sampling 12 different recipes. They had music and some craft booths also. And we didn't bring a camera.(
 Easter was just a nice cooked meal by Wendy and I shouldn't say we did laundry- see life of a fulltimer isn't all fun n games.
 We left today for Rifle Colorado, we will spend a few days checking out some state parks.