Destination America!: Week of Nationals

This was a week of National Parks and Monuments. We hit three parks.................Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Arches and Canyonlands and two Monuments...........Colorado and Dinosaur. Did I mention that we were in the high desert heat at about 100 degrees each day. HELLO! We did not realize that we would be leaving the mountains so soon and entering those kind of temps. We were not happy campers part of that week. The humidity is low, so you're not sticky, but it was so hot!!

We had left Glenwood Springs and had a short drive down the Interstate. It was amazing how much the climate changed in that 1 hour or so drive.

We stayed at James M Robb State Park (Island Acres Section) and were sandwiched between two mountains. The mountains were beautiful however the interstate was sandwiched between those same two mountains, so that was a little weird. It just became white noise and didn't bother us at all, but might have if we had been at a site closer to the road. The campground itself was nice, but had a strange crowd of people.

We spent some time in downtown Grand Junction the first day and strolled around.

Our campsite was just east of Grand Junction and near a town called Palisades, CO. They have a ton of vineyards and peach orchards. We went to a few of the vineyards to taste their wine and tried to catch some peach orchards, but peaches weren't going to be ripe until July.

We packed ourselves up on Monday and headed to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. It was about an hour and a half south from our campground and not a bad day trip.

Diego was supposed to be away on business that week so when we booked our site we didn't worry about checking the internet reception in that area. When his travel plans changed......."Houston we have a problem" :) It became like a regular work week where we all had to get up early and take our lunches and head to drop him at his office AKA: Starbucks. It made our week a little more hectic, but we managed.

This park was pretty cool and we attended a ranger program while there. Those are always so informative. We did a few hikes and enjoyed the shade.

The look says it all.........I'm HOT!!!

Junior Ranger ceremony

After a long day out in the heat, we let Diego go ahead without us the next day and we hung at the campsite. Rollerblading, art sets and bike rides.

After a day of chilling out we decide to make the 2 hour drive to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks in Utah.

Very nice park, but would recommend seeing it in cooler months. We drank and drank and drank. Staying hydrated is tough in these parts.

Diego is the guy up there in the green shirt.

Arches are formed over time and all will eventually fall.

Grabbed some food in nearby Moab and headed up to Canyonlands. This particular park is only partially accessible without 4WD.

One of the hikes we did was called Whale Rock. When you look up at the Rock it looks like a whale with a blow hole on top.

Us on top of the whale

Great view from the blow hole.

Grand Point View Overlook

We also went to Colorado National Monument just outside of Grand Junction on our final day in the area. It was a nice drive and some very impressive views.

It was a hot week but we all made it through. We were headed to Heber City, UT and decided to hitch up Saturday night and leave town early in the morning because we had a pass to get over and wanted to do it when temps weren't too high.

Top of the pass in pajamas :)

We headed west through Grand Junction and then north on Hwy 139 up to Dinosaur National Monument for a break in our travel day. What a cool place! The picture below shows how the building is built into the side of the mountain, so you can see the actual, real dinosaur bones in the rock. There are even a few you can touch.