After getting caught in the snow in Denver, we knew it was time to get out of town and start heading to our winter position! There are so many things we can’t do right now because of COVID, but National Parks are open and since there are 5 major ones in Utah we decided to get to Arizona by way of Utah.

Our first stop was in Grand Junction, Colorado, about a five hour drive from Denver. This route took us west on Route 70 and through the Eisenhower Tunnel, one of the highest vehicular tunnels in the world! It goes through the Continental Divide at 11,158 feet! We have to admit we were a little nervous about pulling our rig up the incline to the tunnel, and even more nervous about getting down the other side.

Fortunately, the Beast (our Ford F350) did a great job pulling the trailer up the incline, and, thanks to the disk brakes on our trailer, we made it down with no issues.

The rest of the drive was beautiful and we made it to Grand Junction in time to settle in at the Grand Junction KOA where we would be staying for a few days. This isn’t a park we would want to stay at for any length of time, but for a few days it was fine, and the location is perfect for exploring the area.

Grand Junction is a cute town with a lot of shops and restaurants on Main Street. Fortunately, most of the restaurants had outside dining and the weather was beautiful while we were there.

One of the highlights was breakfast at the Dream Cafe. Mike got the Banana Bread French Toast which was to die for. And Candi got the best Eggs Benedict she’s ever had (it’s making her rethink her own recipe for Hollandaise Sauce!).

Another highlight in town was Bella and Balsamic Olive Oil and Vinegar shop. Their Garlic Infused Olive Oil is some the garliciest we’ve had (we love garlic!), and we also picked up a couple of really good Balsamic Vinegars.

Of course, the main reason we were here was to see the Colorado National Monument and Grand Mesa.

(click on the image for full screen)

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