My first weekend: The Colorado National Monument

Well, seeing as how this National Monument of a park is basically right in Grand Junction, I figure I'll start there for checking out the area. Obviously, it's beautiful. Kinda like a baby Grand Canyon that overlooks the town. You can hike, camp, and picnic there. But seeing as it's winter time, I'll just drive around it, enjoy the beauty & granduer, and take some pics to show all of you.

Of course with drop offs like that, they've got some fences to hold you back. Right? Well, there are some, but you'd think that it wouldn't be so easy to get around them...

There are also some really cool splines, towers, and mesas in this canyon.

And just as an explanation of how close this canyon is to Grand Junction, let's look at the next pic. Off in the distance is the mountain range known as the Bookcliffs. The Bookcliffs and Grand Mesa form one side of the Mesa Valley, while the National Monument forms the other. So in this next pic, the town you see between the canyon and the Bookcliffs is part of Grand Junction. Yes, it is that close. And just to prove these are all my shots....here's the zoom zoom.