My good friend Natasha came through with some AMAZING seats for the Broncos vs. Jets football game. Being a Bronco fan, it made for an awesome birthday gift, not to mention her and her friend Melinda dressing up in Broncos gear. It’s too bad the Bronco’s lost due to a horrible call by the referees in the waning minutes of the game. Nonetheless, we all had a great time!
Woke up this morning in Grand Junction, the place of my birth almost 33 years ago to the day. It’s the first time I’ve been back here with a fully developed brain, so it was nice to actually see the area. It’s a nice little town where people leave their bikes unlocked on the downtown sidewalk without hesitation. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at a local cafe before heading off to some No Name location. We then sliced through the Colorado Rockies on route to Denver to meet up with some friends who flew in for the birthday weekend. They surprised me with a hotel room decked out in streamers and an oh-so-appropriate birthday gift: a 2-gallon gas can for the RV!
Yesterday when I posted this photo of the “Welcome To Colorful Colorado” sign, it was with quite a bit of sarcasm since the entire photo consisted of browns, tans and taupes.
But after today’s scenic drive up the Million Dollar Highway — from Durango to Montrose — I would hereby like to retract my snarky sarcasm for reasons which you are about to witness. Boy did we pick the perfect time to come here!
Yet another representation of amazing human engineering prowess. Only this time it’s 1,400 years old! These Ancestral Pueblo folks built multi-story units into the side of cliffs that are over 7,000 feet above sea level, with nothing more than primitive tools. Proof that the human mind is capable of amazing things — especially in times of survival. That’s one more Unesco World Heritage notch on my belt.
I think it’s safe to say that I’ve now entered what many refer to as “Middle America.” These pictures certainly won’t be the most scenic of the trip (for those, please refer to yesterdays Grand Canyon photos), they will however give you a good idea of what’s out here in the middle. The highlight of the day had to be stepping onto The Four Corners — the point at which Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico all meet. This shattered my previous record of 3 states in 3 days, coming in at a whopping 4 states in 4 seconds! Despite the fact that this part of the country is pretty desolate* it still has some pretty cool topography that I wouldn’t mind calling MY back yard.
*and by desolate I mean you find yourself turning around to go backwards 20 miles because there’s probably no gas for another 60 miles and you’ve only got an eighth of a tank remaining!
If you choose to continue on and look at the next photograph, I must insist that you pay me $7.50 to look at it since it cost me $5.00 to take it. 🙂