Mountains and Rivers of Colorado

I told Daniel that every new state we come into, I say that it is the prettiest state so far. I never cease to be amazed at the beauty. I know I keep saying that, but it is so true.

We got up this morning and went to worship with the Mesa Avenue Church of Christ in Grand Junction. It was a very small congregation (smaller than the one in Albuquerque) but a very friendly bunch. We ate lunch at Arby's and spent that time to decide on what we were going to do the rest of the day. Up until late Saturday afternoon, we had only planned to drive from Grand Junction to Denver, with no specific places to go. However, Daniel's mom, Kay, called us and asked if we had thought about going a little south of Denver to Colorado Springs. She said that is where Pike's Peek and Garden of the Gods was located. So as we ate, this is what we decided to do. We also decided that we'd like to stay there a couple of days to rest up, since we've been driving a lot since we left San Diego.

Leaving Grand Junction, we followed the Colorado River for several miles as it winded its way through the mountains. I heard one of the ladies at church say that the river was at its highest. You can tell that in some of these pictures.


These mountains were so very different from the ones we saw yesterday in Utah. These mountains had much more green on them. So beautiful.We drove around mountains, between mountains and even through the mountains via tunnels.
We reached some pretty high elevations and passed through several alpine villages with snow slopes that still had some snow on them.
Finally, we reached Colorado Springs around 6:30 PM (local time). We booked us a room at the Hampton Inn and Suites. We are on the 4th floor with a lovely view of the mountains in the distance. We are within walking distance to several restaurants, the movie theater and Target. ;) I think we are going to like our stay here.