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| Colorado National Monument |
We were on I-70 west by 8:45 AM and saw signs in Fruita for the Colorado National Monument. Thinking it was new, we decided to pay a visit. Unfortunately, there was a bike race up the plateau to the monument, so travel was slow up and down. Our Interagency Senior Annual National Park pass got us admission without additional fees. We briefly visited the visitor’s center, Mary stamped her passport, and we walked around looking at the views. The park isn’t new, but we had never visited it before. The CCC built the road from Grand Junction to Fruita in the 1930s. We saw high desert plants and whip tail lizards during our hour visit. We looked for the desert big horn sheep but didn’t see any. A volunteer at the Visitor Center reported seeing several near the road in the park earlier that morning, but they were gone by the time we passed that way. We weren’t at the park long because of all of the cyclists. We were told that cycling events are a regular occurrence at this park and that locals and visitors have limited access to the park because of the flood of bikers. Like Pikes Peak, we were glad that we visited once but are unlikely to return. We understand that they may be a movement to gain National Park status for Colorado National Monument, but nothing is known for certain at this time.
We traveled west on I-70 to Green River, Utah. Most of the short stretch of I-70 was newly paved between Fruita, Colorado, and Green River, Utah. We saw a golden eagle perched on a utility pole in the desert and signs cautioning drivers to beware of eagles on the road. The Utah welcome center was closed, but the custodian gave us a state map and tour booklet.
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| Kokopelli at Molen Reef Petroglyphs |
While driving through Green River, we stopped at Vetere’s main fruit stand in town. The melons from Vetere and other Green River farms are legendary for flavor and sweetness. With unlimited sunshine and controlled water through irrigation, Green River melons are the best we have ever tasted. We used to drive to Vetere’s fruit stand every summer in the 1980s and 90s when we were in Utah. On the vendor’s recommendation, we bought an Israeli cantaloupe and black rind watermelon. He told us that both are exceptionally sweet and delicious.
Cindy and Mark were earlier than they originally thought, so we decided to meet at Rochester Panel near Moore, UT. While in Green River, we picked up another Arby’s turkey and bacon sandwich to split for lunch.
The drive across the San Rafael Swell was awe inspiring as always. We found the Moore Cutoff, a shorter route to the Rochester Petroglyph Panel than going through Emery, Utah, so we were running early. We stopped at the Molen Reef Petroglyphs and dinosaur tracks site. Although we have visited this site many times when Sarah and Emily traveled with us, we love coming here and the Rochester Panel more each trip.
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| Rochester Panel |
We met Cindy and Mark at the Rochester Panel parking area. Metal art cutouts commemorating the Spanish Trail are there and at Green River exit of I-70.
As always, we had an enjoyable short hike to the petroglyphs and took a lot of snapshots of the rock art. The petroglyphs vary in age, and are estimated to be 2000 to 700 years old. Most were made by the Fremont culture living at about the same time as the ancestral pueblo cultures further south. It is believed that this panel represents the origin story of the Fremont people showing the entrance of people into this world. While at the petroglyph panels, we met a nice couple from Grand Junction. They enjoyed seeing and photographing the ancient rock art. Like many locals, this couple was very opposed to Colorado National Monument becoming a National Park because of the increased crowds that it would attract.
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| Preserved dinosaur tracks at the Molen Creek site |
Since Cindy and Mark hadn’t been to the Molen Creek Petroglyphs in several years, we took them back and walked around again finding some panels that we had missed before.
We followed Mark & Cindy to Price and found the Airbnb where we would be staying for a few days. The house was much larger than we realized with 5 bedrooms and two bathrooms. The living room was comfortable with plenty of seating. The kitchen was fully equipped and stocked with cookware, dishes and everything we would need to cook. We were in one of the bedrooms on the main floor while the Whittingtons took one of the three bedrooms in the basement.
Finding a place for dinner turned out to be an adventure. Our first three choices for dinner were closed. Greek Streak only open for lunch this week. The barbecue restaurant and the Italian restaurant were both closed. It seemed odd to us that restaurants would close on Saturday evening. We ended up at Club Mecca on Price’s West Main Street. Steve had fish and chips, Mary had country fried steak, Cindy and Mark split a salad and pizza. The food and service were both good.
Back at the Airbnb we watched the first episode of Dark Winds season 2, loosely based on Tony Hillerman’s People of Darkness.
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