across state lines

Our crew got back on the road on Tuesday, driving a couple hours and crossing the Utah/Colorado border.  H's folks were flying out of Grand Junction Wednesday morning and we thought that it might be more fun to go a day early, explore the area and stay overnight, rather than rushing through the two hour drive the morning of their flight.  Plus, Milton's first hotel stay!

 Lunch bunch

We drove to Fruita and stocked our cooler with sandwiches and beer, then continued on to the Grand Junction entrance of the Colorado National Monument.  Since dogs are not allowed on any of the monument's trails, we couldn't do any hiking.  But we could do the scenic drive under blue skies and the views did not disappoint.  

All smiles

After coming through the monument, we found ourselves once again in Fruita.  H's folks are down to drink beer so we went to the excellent Copper Club on Main Street.  We were going to sit on the patio to let Milton out of the truck for a bit but the bartender told us that he was actually allowed inside the bar (no kitchen).  As always, he was very calm and quiet and he stared at the bartender until she stopped by to give him a pat.

Fruita: where MTBing is king

Our hotel (Springhill Suites = dog-friendly) was right in the middle of downtown Grand Junction, which meant that we were able to walk to dinner.  We went to the Fiesty Pint, which has pretty good bar food and twenty-six beers on tap - including twelve self-serve handles, which I had never seen before.  We had veggie burgers, cauliflower tacos and really good hand-cut fries and our waitress was terrific.  On our way back to our room, Milton made friends with several people just by walking through the hotel lobby; a little while later, when we went back down to the lobby bar, he made more friends there.

We said our farewells at the sleepy Grand Junction airport the next morning and then, as H's folks winged their way east, we three went back to the Devil's Canyon trailhead in the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area.  We did the exact same hike we did in May but this time, we did it under cloudless skies and sunshine.  It was really pretty and a very nice hike (Hike stats:  6.98 miles; 2:32 moving time/2:53 total time; 1,100' elevation) and we did not take any pictures.  We also, amazingly, had it to ourselves again, despite the pleasant conditions, and only saw two people out there (and Milton made friends with them).  I imagine it's pretty busy on the weekends though.  Hike finished, we hustled back to Moab just in time for H to get on a conference call for work before ducking over to Woody's for a pitcher of Full Suspension.