Cruise the Rockies X - Grand Junction, CO

We got home from Utah on Monday and Bill had to start back to work on Wednesday. Emily & Shelby arrived Wednesday afternoon and, on Thursday, the three of us headed to Grand Junction, CO and Cruise the Rockies X. My mom, who also stayed at our house while we were in Utah, stayed and watched Jamie while I was gone. (Thanks Mom!) We got to Grand Junction in time to check into our room and visit with our PT Cruiser friends before heading out on our first cruise...a cruise to a winery in Palisade, which was not very far away. We hung out at the winery for a while but hooked up with Phil, Debbie, Virginia & Jessie and we decided to explore a little bit. We took off on a road that said it was a winery loop and I guess we did see a few more wineries but mostly we had fun looking at the peach orchards, unusual street names (really, who names a street B 1/2?) and "art" along a jig-jag road that eventually got us back to our hotel. The PT Cruisers pretty much took over the host hotel and they were very accommodating, we had full use of the courtyard which came in handy for dinner picnic/cook-outs, wine tasting (purchases from the winery) awards ceremony & general socializing.

On Friday, we lined up and the left the hotel at 9:00am and headed to Gateway, CO. I have not spent much time in this part of Colorado, only passing through on our way to and from Utah, so I was unfamiliar with any of the places or activities planned for the weekend. I spent most of the cruise to Gateway experimenting with my camera and finally started using manual focus to get the best shots. At one point, I was hanging out the window, trying to get pictures of the cars behind us. The car directly behind us, Steve Nelson, was such a goof! He kept weaving in and out and getting in my way. Rachel stuck her head out and I got a good shot of her! On the itinerary was a car museum in Gateway but as we drove through the tiny town, I was starting to wonder about what we were going to see. About a mile past "town" is this amazing resort called Gateway Canyons, built by John Hendricks (founder of Discovery Channel). The Gateway Auto Museum is John Hendricks' private collection of classic automobiles, including a one-of-a-kind 1954 Oldsmobile F-88 concept car. WOW!!
We ate lunch at a sandwich shop at the resort and, while many of the PT Cruiser's decided to go back the way we came, we joined up with a few others and took the scenic cruise through Ridgeway, Montrose and Delta and back to Grand Junction. We were there to CRUISE, afterall!! It was a long day in the car but we saw some amazing scenery, definitely worth the trip!
We got back in time (barely!) to grab hot dogs & pizza in the courtyard before Emily had to get the car ready for the car show. By the time she got back from washing her car, the parking lot was full and she got stuck in the back. It got dark soon after so I didn't get many photos of the cars in the car show.

Saturday was another fun day of driving and exploring as we drove to Colorado National Monument. It was so cool to see all of the PT's driving up the switchbacks. The canyons and rock formations in the Monument were so beautiful but hard to photograph without stopping and since we were all in a line, we couldn't stop. We all stopped at the Visitor's Center and then, again, some people decided to go back the way we came. We joined up with others and drove all the way through to the other side, near Fruita. We ate lunch in Fruita and went to the Dinosaur Museum there before turning around and heading back through the Monument. On the drive back through, we took the time to stop for photos...yeah!!! Saturday night we all met in the courtyard for the awards ceremony. Shelby put on her crazy contact lenses (one cat eye & one ghost eye) and it was fun to watch everyone's reaction. Oh, and I have to keep reminding myself that she's only 12!!! YIKES!!!
People started packing up their cars, signaling that the weekend was almost over.

We've never been able to do the Sunday cruise before because it usually goes in the opposite direction of where we need to go but, this year, we decided to make it work. We went to Grand Mesa and, I have to admit, I wasn't too thrilled about it but knew that Emily really wanted to spend as much time with the PT people as possible. I've heard a lot about Grand Mesa but could never get really excited...sounds like a big flat mesa with nothing to see, right? Well, I'm happy to say that I was horribly mistaken! It is a big flat mesa but also happens to be the largest flat topped mountain in the world. It is covered with forests of aspen and pine, there are over 300 lakes and hundreds of hiking trails. In the winter, there are cross-country ski trails and Powderhorn Ski Area is up there too. I definitely want to go back there and do some camping, hiking & fishing! The itinerary said that the Grand Mesa cruise would take us 2 hours...well, it really took us almost 4 hours! We probably could've gone back to Grand Junction and then back to Alamosa the way we came but, instead, we decided to head east and go over Independence Pass. We stopped in Glenwood Springs for lunch and said good-bye to the last of the PT Cruisers and started our journey home. I love Independence Pass, I think it is such a beautiful drive. I remember driving home after spending 3 weeks in breathtakingly beautiful western Canada, Washington & Oregon, only to top Independence Pass and realize that we live in the most beautiful place of all. Emily liked it too, except for the narrow roads & hair-pin turns. It was another long day of driving but, definitely worth it. I was glad to be home, though, and glad that I didn't have to drive to Amarillo the next day!

So, another Cruise the Rockies in the history books. I had such a great time this year! I enjoyed exploring and learning about new (to me) places and can't wait to take Bill & Jamie to the car museum, Colorado National Monument, the Dinosaur Museum and to Grand Mesa. Grand Junction has always been a town that we have to go through (and sometimes spend a night) on our way to Utah but after Cruise the Rockies, it is now also a destination. It was an amazing weekend spent with some truly incredible and fun people...I'm already looking forward to Cruise the Rockies XI in Gunnison!!

I, obviously, could not begin to post all of my photos here on this blog. If you're interested, you can find them on my Flickr page. Also, here is a link to the photos taken by another PT Cruiser, Steve Nelson.