Destination: Colorado

In August, my sister moved away to Grand Junction and I just didn't know what I was going to do with myself. She was my confidante, my friend, my "person", right here available to me whenever I needed her, and just a short car ride away too. Not being able to see her every day was going to be hard for me. I dealt with the sadness by ensuring myself that I could talk to her every day, or at least once a week. That didn't happen either. She was always so busy organizing her new home and working her new job that we rarely talked or skyped. We sent texts, but that just wasn't the same. I decided that I was going to go down and visit her, but our money situation right now did not allow for that and I knew it. She said they were going to come home for Thanksgiving, so that's what I started waiting for.

Then my mom called me one Thursday and said that she had a 3 day weekend coming up and wanted to take a "wild hair" and drive to Colorado, and she wanted to know if I could go with her. Would I?? I was so excited! So I asked Jared if I could go and take Bonnie and Jordyn with me and leave him and Uriah home for some bonding time and he said I could. I don't like to leave my children for long periods of time, but I felt like I just HAD to see my sister again. So on Friday we left at about 4 in the afternoon and (due to traffic crap in Utah) we got to her house at about 1:30 in the morning. It wasn't a terrible ride. My mom and I can laugh and joke and talk for hours and hours, so really, it was enjoyable. I thought I was going to be able to spend some one-on-one time with my sister, but my brother-in-law had some other plans in mind.

 

After we had breakfast at Dennys on Saturday, they drove us to the Colorado Grand National Monument. It was really cool to see this mini canyon in the middle of nowhere and see how time has created a beautiful landscape.

 

There is a winding road that just keeps taking you up and up...

...through tunnels...

and around scary curves until you get to the top, and then there is about 15 miles or so of road paved right on the edge of the cliff. You know, so you can drive and look out the window at the same time...

Heights have always made me nervous, but now that I have children, I hate them even more. The thought of Jordyn being out there so close to the edge made me sick. I kept a close eye on her and made sure she didn't run too fast or get too close or scream too loud or step too hard...I may have been a bit paranoid.

 It really was a beautiful view.

 I thought this looked like it could be the Starship Enterprise in rock.

 My brother-in-law likes to torture me, or anyone he knows, so when he walked to the edge with Jordyn on his shoulders, it was all I could do to not scream at him.

 I told her, "Hold on to his face and don't let go!"

 This is the "falling" rock. It used to be a part of the big cliff face but has been eroded into it's own, free standing piece. It looks like it fell off.

 Miss Bonnie enjoyed the monument from inside the car. I couldn't bear to have two children out there on the edge.

 These were called the "coke" ovens. I don't really know why. They sure looked funny though!

 

 This one is Independence Rock, and in July some people climb up there and put a flag on top of it.

 

We saw some big horned sheep on the way back down. On the other side of those bushes, there were about 10 more of them, but if we tried to stop to get a picture, cars behind you would honk because you were blocking the road.

 This one is called "balance" rock, for obvious reasons.

 

After the canyon ride I was ready to get my alone time with my sister, but they still had more plans for us...

 

 The Grand Mesa is the top of a hill/mountain that looks like a giant sand pile but has rock at the top. This particular mesa is covered in trees, and October is the best time to take a drive through it because the leaves are all changing color. It was beautiful up there. There was even a lake nestled in the middle that you could fish on, and there were camp grounds and a lodge where you could buy anything you would need for fishing and camping.

 The trees seemed to go on for miles and miles.

 This was the other side of the mesa. You can see that we were a little late to the leaf party, a lot of the trees had shed their leaves before we got there, but we still got to see some beautiful colors.

 

After our trek across the monument and mesa, we had dinner and then went back to my sister's house. We lounged about on Sunday and watched conference, and my sister took me to the mall for some short sister-sister time, and then we went back to their house to just relax before we had to make the long drive home.

I have not been very many places in my short life, but I am glad that now I can add Colorado to the list of places I have been, even if I was only about 30 miles in from the border.