Connecting again!

Well, here we are in Grand Junction, CO.  We had a great visit in Mesa Verde, CO. and then journeyed on to The Black Canyon of the Gunniston. I returned from CT. with a bad chest cold from my Grandchildren.  I seem to be vulnerable to "Day Care viruses "at this age in my life.  I tried to boost up my immune system before going, but guess I didn't take the "Emergen C" soon enough!

       Mesa Verde, (green table in Spanish) was fascinating.  The weather was hot and sunny--we had to climb a 32 foot ladder to get up to the Cliff dwellings, which were built by ancient peoples who lived on the Mesa, growing vegetables on the mesa themselves.  For some inexplicable reason, they decided to move from the mesas to cliff dwellings, and these amazing habitats were evidence of quite an advanced society.  I had to literally, crawl through tunnels to get to the dwellings!

        Black Canyon of the Gunniston is a lesser known park, with the main attraction, a very deep canyon carved out by the Gunniston River, which humans could not penetrate.  It is called "Black' because of the depth, and the darkness that the canyon walls seem to hold.  We did a hike into the canyon, which was very arduous.  Under normal circumstances, it would have been fine, but my chest cold made it very hard for me on the ascent.  I really should have waited to do this hike.  However, it was beautiful in the base of the canyon, as this picture of Allen near the Gunnison, illustrates. There was even a chain to help get one down!

      Next, we journey to Grand Teton, and Yellowstone.  The Colorado Monument seems like a place we want to detour, so think we will spend some time here before we journey onward, allowing me to get over my cold fully.  On the way to Grand Junction, we saw a sign that said, State Penitentary--please refrain from picking up hitch-hikers!  How appropriate!