What I Did Last Weekend

Since, I don't get the summer off anymore, this is my equivalent to "What I did this summer". It has been years or should I say decades since my last long summer vacation.

So, here is what we did last weekend. We took Friday off and wondered up I-70 to Glenwood Springs. we stopped by the Mountain Valley Textiles & Gifts and watched some weaving. They have very reasonably price items and a few followed us home. Amazing none of the yarn want to come home with me.

We then continued on over the McClure Pass, zoomed by the coal mines, and stopped at a winery farm for a few minutes. Here we met Peaches, a friendly orange tabby. He is about year old and showed up last peach season and thus the name.
After that we continued to Montrose, arriving just in time for a early dinner at the Red Barn. The dinner was delicious and complete with the sound effects of the thunderstorm outside. The rain put a stop to the planned fishing expedition for the evening. Instead, we wondered up onto the mesa south of Montrose. This is an excellent way to get a two tone vehicle. If you do this you will need a car wash, rain doesn't remove much of the dirt. And the truth is, an express car wash doesn't get rid of all of it either.

On Saturday, we explored the South Rim of the Black Canyon of Gunnison. I got to use my new walking sticks. They really do help going up and down trails. And have the added benefit of getting some shoulder exercise. I think we skipped two overlooks because they were really close to others. We think we walked about 3.5 miles of trail between all of the paths. One of them being from an overlook to the visitor center where we watched to history of the Black Canyon.
Another attempt at fishing was make by going up on Grand Mesa after another early supper and storm on Saturday. Rudy did catch one fish in a lake. It was immediately returned to the lake. I doubt if it learned any lessons from the experience. We spent an extra half hour up there because we went past our turn for leaving. Probably would have spent less time if we had just backtrack instead of doing a loop.

Sunday, we returned home via Monarch Pass after going by the Blue Mesa Lake. All in all, a fun weekend with lots of nice scenery and wildlife. If, only it had been longer.

The pictures in this post were all taken at the Black Canyon. I just picked a couple including the Blue Grouse and the chipmunk. If the cats had anything to say, the chipmunk would have been invited home for a short visit.