Fort Collins to Grand Junction

After making sure the residents of Black Hawk and Cripple Creek are, once again, financially stable we returned to Fort Collins for the evening.  After a nice meal and a few final chores we turned in to prepare for an early departure.  The next morning we hit the road after breakfast and after heading due South almost to Denver we turned right on I-70 and set our sights on the western horizon.  After a couple of hours we saw a sign indicating that we were approaching Georgetown, Colorado.  Those of you have been with us recently are familiar with "our" Georgetown - in South Carolina - so you can understand our curiosity about what the 'western' version looks like.  Well, as soon as we entered the small town we knew something unusual was happening.  We first saw signs indicating that a 5K road race would be taking place that day.  Well, since most of you know I've done a little running in  the past you can understand my interest in seeing what was going on. I can tell you ... this ain't your Grandma's 5K!!!  Yep - if you've been checking out the pictures you can see that all of the race participants have something accompanying them as they run ... a real ASS!!!  In the Georgetown (Colorado) 5K the runners have to find a partner to run the entire course with them.  They must have a real-live donkey with them throughout the race.  No switching, no leaving your donkey behind, you've gotta cross the finish line - dragging your ass!!!   As it turned out, in addition to the road race that was being held, Georgetown was having a community-wide festival and the entire town seems to have turned out to support the organizers.  We spent an enjoyable hour or so at the festival and really enjoyed seeing the craft booths, the games, the animal exhibits and the many displays showing the little town at its best.  We met some great people and left feeling spiritually refreshed that a small town can keep the American spirit so vibrantly alive.  It was a great visit!!  But - we had miles to cover so it wasn't long before we returned to the highway headed west.  But - there was so much we wanted to see along the way that we decided that we had to take a somewhat 'erratic' route as we proceeded.  We plotted a course that would take us to the beautiful skiing town of Breckenridge, back up and through Leadville and on to Vail, the mecca of skiing in the Western U.S.  Although Vail gets a lot attention in the skiing publications, to me it is a town with a feeling of 'exclusion.'  Frankly, I did not consider it 'welcoming' and I imagine they would probably agree.   Oh well, their loss, our gain!!  With a rapidly changing landscape surrounding us we continued on the road toward our destination for the evening - Grand Junction.  Although it is considered to be the 15th largest city in the state, Grand Junction is the largest on Colorado's "Western Slope" and its name has a rather unusual origin.  Turns out that in the early years of our country the Colorado River was known as the "Grand" river.  The little town that grew up at the junction of the Grand and Gunnison rivers came to be called "Grand Junction."  The topography that welcomes you to this truly unique city gives you an early indication that you are in for a treat.  We had already decided that we would spend the night in Grand Junction - but - I can tell you a secret.  If we had not already made that decision, our initial foray into this amazing place would have mandated that we stay here for the evening.  First of all ... Grand Junction is a perfectly beautiful town.  We found our hotel with no problem, got checked in, found our rooms to be excellent and headed out to take a look at our surroundings.  Let me digress for just a minute.  Shortly after President Obama took office he made a stop in Grand Junction.  I imagine there were some folks who said ... ".. why that little town in the Colorado hills???"  Well - let me tell you ... this is one of the most sophisticated, up-scale places we've been in a while.  It has virtually every public 'drawing card' you could imagine including almost year-round art and music festivals and - it hosts ... the "Junior College World Series" each year!!! It also is home to Colorado Mesa University, an outstanding four-year liberal arts college.  In fact - the university is the source of what we considered perhaps the most remarkable and positive feature of the area.  As soon as you arrive in the 'mid-town' area you notice a truly special feature.  On virtually every corner in the business district is a 'world-class' sculpture.  I won't spend a lot of time trying to explain how the whole thing got started - or - how the addition of new and wonderful sculptures each year occurs (that's something I'm going to ask you to check out on your own...) but I will tell you this...  If you ever find a place more committed to fine art I really want to know about it!!!  I'll let the pictures do the talking for me.  It was amazing!!!  Every year there is a sculpture competition at the University and the town is heavily involved in the promotion, sponsorship and evaluation of the contest.  The winners are given the opportunity to display their sculpture at significant venues around the town and each year some are selected for permanent display along city streets.  As I was preparing this post I went back over the many spectacular sculptures we saw in Grand Junction and it was almost impossible for me to pick out a limited number to add to our page.  Perhaps I'll come back a bit later and add a slide show of the sculptures we saw during our visit.  For now though, these will have to suffice.  We'll be back as we move into increasingly arid territory and begin to take a look at the Native American influence in this section of the country.  It is an influence from which we have all benefited - whether we are aware of it or not - and I think you will come to agree that it is one of our true treasures.  So .. come back as we explore it.  See ya.