The Angle

The Old Married Couple Meet the Kissing Couple

THE TRIP – Day 4

Grand Junction, Colorado – Richfield, Utah
Colorado National Monument National Park

223 miles

We had spent the night in Grand Junction and decided we would use the flex time the long first two days of driving had bought us to visit our first park, an unplanned stop at Colorado National Monument National Park. It was also our 39^th wedding anniversary that day, so we planned to celebrate by arriving at the park early, doing some easy hiking, eating a backpack lunch and having a short afternoon of driving. Because we are POACA* the first thing I did as we entered the park was get a National Parks Senior Pass, a ten dollar purchase that is good for life. Yep, the rest of the parks on this trip would be free as were any we might plan to visit in the future.

Colorado National Monument, named for the monument-like rock formations in its canyon, had a long scenic drive as well as a number of both long and short hiking trails. We opted out of most of the long drive to hike a number of the shorter trails. We were above the canyon, on the rim, with excellent views of the monument rock structures. They had all been given names, some being Independence Monument, The Pipe Organ, The Kissing Couple. The Kissing Couple did in fact look like a man and woman kissing, he with a hat, she in a long dress and a bustle. We also walked around the Saddlehorn, another rock formation, quite different geologically from the monuments. Our last hike took us to the end of a slot canyon, where we walked and walked as the canyon walls got closer and closer together. The day was warm, but not hot, the park not crowded, the hiking pleasant and relatively easy. An excellent start to our national parks adventure.

Kissing Couple


Old Married Couple (39th Wedding Anniversary Selfie)

Monuments

The Saddlehorn

The Saddlehorn (detail)

In the slot canyon

Looking up from within the slot canyon

In the early afternoon we left the park, and headed into Utah, still on I 70. The Colorado Rocky-feel in the landscape began to change to a more desert-like feel. The views along the road were non-stop spectacular, but never the same. It was as though God didn't want to bore anyone traveling through the area, so He would change the color, height, or structure of the hills every few miles. Again we found rest stops that were just excuses to pull off the road and look and take pictures and look some more. We stopped for the night in Richfield, Utah, found a Super 8 and a fun restaurant restaurant right next door, R & R's Frontier Village, and had a nice anniversary dinner.