Colorado Geocaching...

Even though Ron is walking with a cane and knee brace, we ventured out on our first geocaching adventure in Colorado. (For those of you who are saying "What in the heck is geocaching....go to the end of this post for an explanation.) We tried to find 4 of them but was only successful on the 2 earthcaches. The earthcaches took us to south rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Even though we have visited numerous, magnificent canyons over the past month, this smaller canyon holds its' own charm. The 2 overviews we visited to obtain the answer to the geocaching questions had the Gunnison River running through the middle....I'm always in awe of the size, depth and rush of the river. We will visit again in the next couple of weeks to take the entire 12 mile tour through the canyon.


Drive into Black Canyon of Gunnison...the clouds were threatening but we only
encountered a short drizzle.



The Gunnison River looks so small from this viewpoint even though the river bed descends an average of 95 feet per mile throughout the 48 miles of the canyon. At the steepest point the river descends 480 feet in one 2 mile stretch.


Another view of the Canyon.

We even saw some "wildlife".....


Cute, little chipmunks scampering all around.



Eagle circling overhead....probably looking for dinner - the cute, little chipmunks.

The other two caches were geocaches and we were not successful in finding either one. The most interesting of the two was a walking tour of downtown Montrose. The city has placed numerous placards on the sidewalks noting the history of the town and its buildings. There were 8 questions that you had to find the answers to on the placards. Once you found the answers you added the numbers and applied to a formula to find the missing links in the coordinates for the final find. We found all the answers but were not able to find the final cache....so we either missed on one of the answers or in our calculation. Finding the cache is fun but the best part of geocaching is the places it takes you and the sights you would not normally see..or take the time to see. It took us on a nice stroll of downtown. We won't give up....will try it again another day!

Hope all is well.

Joan & Ron


P.S. Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with handheld GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Caches like the tour of downtown Montrose are called a "mystery or puzzle" cache.

An EarthCache is a special place that people can visit to learn about a unique feature or aspect of our Earth. EarthCaches include a set of educational notes and the details about where to find the location (latitude and longitude). Visitors to EarthCaches can see how our planet has been shaped by geological processes, how we manage the resources and how scientists gather evidence to learn about the Earth.

To learn more about geocaching visit - www.geocaching.com

We finally made it to Montrose, Colorado

We have been in Montrose Colorado for 10 days now. I came down with a stomach flu while in Green River, UT which delayed our departure by 3 days. A day after we arrived in Montrose, Ron came down with the same symptoms. I think we are both ok now. Since Ron wasn't feeling well and Shani (our niece in law) was visiting friends for the weekend, Joe and I went to dinner. Not that we didn't miss Ron and Shani, but I can't remember the last time we were able to enjoy time together - just the two of us. We had a great time.

We have pretty much just laid back and relaxed so far. We visited Ouray, CO one day. A quaint mountain town, called The Switzerland of America, surrounded by snow capped mountains and a fun downtown area of boutiques, restaurants and art galleries.


Scenery during our drive outside of Montrose towards Ouray




Uncompahgre River on our way to Ouray. All of the rivers are running high and fast.



Cascade Falls in Ouray. This is the last of 7 falls.




We met Joe, Shani, Lucy and Daniel at "Main in Motion", Thursday night then went out for pizza and beer....fun!

For 10 Thursday evenings during the summer, they close Main street to cars and the shops stay open until 8 pm. They have several musical groups entertaining in the street along with food vendors, face painting, tattoo artist etc. It reminded us of when we lived in Washington, MO and the store owners stayed open late one night for what they called "moonlight madness".

These are the events that make small towns fun to live in and visit. The population of Montrose is around 41,000. It is a nice, clean town with a vibrant downtown and larger stores (Target, WalMart etc.) on the outskirts. Surrounded by snow capped mountains and forested area of the Uncompahgre National Forest.





Joe with Lucy & Daniel sporting their face painting after Main in Motion.


Lucy & Daniel enjoying Popsicles at our coach.

We were also able to watch one of Daniel's baseball practices. Although the practice seemed to run a little slow to keep his attention, as well as many of the other boys...he's a very good hitter. His season starts June 21, so we will be able to also see a couple of games.


Daniel and Joe warming up.


Daniel (sitting) in center field.... a little less than enthusiastic.


Lucy watching her brother play baseball.


Shy Daniel!

While we were in Panguitch UT we visited Zion National Park. Zion
is supposedly the most visited national park in the USA with over 3 million visitors a year.

Zion is fascinating because you drive through the lower park of the canyon and look up at towering walls of brilliantly colored sandstone. It's as if your viewing a living masterpiece of striking contrast and beauty. The parks original Indian name was Mukuntuweap.


Road through the park.









The first Mormon settlers arrived in 1858 and called their new home Zion Canyon.

Every turn unveils another spectacular and inspirational view. You have got to believe in a God! Zion is an ancient Hebrew word that stands for place of peace and refuge.

One early visitor to Zion Canyon was an artist named Frederick S. Dellenbaugh who spent part of the summer of 1903 painting in Zion Canyon. His paintings were exhibited at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.






Took a short hike on Riverwalk Trail.


The Virgin River winds through this area of the park.


Line of cars waiting to get through the tunnel. The tunnel is wide enough for 2 cars but not 2 RVs side by side, so all RVs require an escort through the tunnel and they stop all other traffic. Darn those pesky RVs. Can't imagine what this is like during peak season. We picked the best time to visit.




Ribboned walls of varying sandstone.



Hope all is well!

Joan and Ron

We have Internet service again!!

Internet service in Utah is very poor to say the least!! But considering the state has more canyons than people, I guess communication towers are not a top priority. We are now in Montrose, Colorado visiting my nephew Joe, his wife Shani and their beautiful kids Lucy and Daniel. I am going to try to catch up on the blog over the next couple of days.

Our first sightseeing tour when we reached Utah was Bryce Canyon National Park. As magnificent as the Grand Canyon was, I fell in love with Bryce Canyon. (Don't tell Ron...his favorite is still the GC) The Grand Canyon is so massive with over 1.2million acres that it takes your breath away. But the red rock formations of Bryce Canyon are unbelievable. It feels like your are so much closer from many of the overlooks.

We "only" took 118 pictures, here are a few....


This formation is titled "Amphitheatre".





One of many vistas of the Colorado Plateau.




A huge "hoodoo". For those of you who are like me and didn't know what that is....a hoodoo is a column of weathered and unusually shaped rocks


Multiple hoodoo's.





A natural bridge formed by wind, rain & erosion.





Hope you enjoyed the pictures and all is well!

Joan & Ron