I often visit the Grand Valley, in Colorado. While in the area I love to take a sunrise drive up to the Colorado National Monument. On this most recent trip I didn’t pack a camera since it wasn’t a travel writing gig. Instead I opted for photography with my Google Pixel cellphone camera. The results were quite good. So good that I decided to publish this story. What a better time to shot photos than sunrise? Just as the sun was rising I pulled over for this shot to get things going.
Sunrise with Independence Monument on the right.
I had picked a good day with decent light and 65 degree temperatures to greet me. As I passed the vistors center I kept a watchful eye out for the desert bighorn sheep that are often spotted close by. It didn’t take long as this good looking guy posed for a photo.
Desert bighorn.
I liked the way the rock wall in the background was illuminated in the typical rose and pink glow. Further on up the road I stopped for some of the numerous pullouts for short hikes. The Grand Valley has loads of trails and some of my favorites are in the Colorado National Monument.
Checking Out The Trees
The ancient pinion and juniper trees make good photo subjects. On most any trail in the park I often see very old trees just begging to be photographed.
Gnarly tree Colorado Nat Monument.
Not wanting to limit my tree photos to just one I found this tree hugging the ground growing in horizontal fashion.
Gnarly tree sideways.
The sun had already risen, but thanks to a layer of clouds with a gap, I got a second sunrise. This photo is of the coke ovens rocks. Back in the old days, Colorado had coke ovens to process coal into coke for steel production. Down in the town of Redstone they still have coke ovens from the nineteenth century. These rocks at the Colorado National monument must have looked like coke ovens, hence the name.
Colorado Nat. Monument coke ovens.
With the second sunrise making the rocks glow, I drove on until I spied this spot.
Colorado Nat. Monument glow.
What’s To Eat?
Time was running out so I drove down into GJ to take care of business. Over the last year with my parents out of their home and into a facility, I no longer find myself cooking while in town. This has opened up an exploration of the Grand Valley food culture. The Slice of Life Bakery in Palisade has good bread and delicious treats. My favorite are their cocunut shortbread cookies for a buck each. If you go, don’t miss a slice of cake or pie as they are great too.
Slice of Life Bakery Palisade.
For dinner, I keep going back to Bin 707 Foodbar. Not only is the food creative and delicious, service is fast and friendly. Their shrimp and grits and roast duck odon are my favorite meals. On this last trip I ate there three days in a row it was so good.
Bin 707 Foodbar.
Other foodie hot picks are Enstrom’s for their almond toffee, 626 on Rood for dinner, the Rockslide Brewery for beer and pub fare, and Il Bistro before it closes due to the owner rumored to calling it quits.
Grand Valley Wine Is Good
On this trip I expanded my research of the Grand Valley wines. Back in the late 90s I had attended the Grand Valley Wine Festival and thought most of their wines were awful. Nowadays they are producing some excellent wines, so good I actually bought five bottles to bring home,
Carlson Vineyards trio.
Carlson Vineyards has a new tasting room in downtown Grand Junction. If you are in town be sure and give them a try. This trio of wines are their effort to raise money for the Colorado outdoors. Over in Pallisade I stopped in at Colterris Vineyards. They too have excellent wines and a cab. sauv. that benefits the Colorado National Monument amplitheater renovations. I loved their red wines, especially the 100% petite verdot, and the Monumental Cabernet Sauvignon.
Colterris Vineyards Monumental cab. sauv.
When my time was up, I was a little sad I hadn’t made it up to the Grand Mesa, gone fishing, or hiking on the Book Cliffs. There is so much to do in Grand County all of my trips there seem to end too soon. What made this one different was taking all my photos with the Google Pixel, and visiting in July. I usually like to visit in the spring and fall when the weather is near perfect. But I’ll take what I can get as any trip to this part of hidden Colorado is a joy.
If You Go
Check out the Wine Country Inn in Palisade. I also like these three Airbnb rentals.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2019 Kurt Jacobson
Leave a Reply