CO Road-trip 2012: Day 2

After breakfast we checked out of our hotel and headed out of Provo around 8:45a. We jumped onto I-15 and then US-6 (after missing the exit due to construction) to head southeast towards Price. Along US-6 we stopped at Ford Creek Falls. However, the waterfall was just trickling so I only took a couple of quick pics before we continued. We next hooked onto I-70 and headed east. There was some nice desert scenery in Utah but nothing too eventful so we were making good time. Just over the border into Colorado we stopped in Grand Junction for some lunch. We decided to try a restaurant we had never been to or heard of-Which Wich?. It was a pretty nice sandwich restaurant with lots of choices and a unique way of ordering.To order you select a brown bag from an initial variety of general choices and then mark on the bag what specifics you want and give it to the teller. The food was decent and it was a nice day to sit outside so we were able to let Penny out to stretch her legs. While we were eating I noticed a little kid with a Mankato State Mavericks (~30 minutes from my hometown) t-shirt on which really surprised me. I asked the mother if they were from Minnesota, but she said that they were not but that her husband went to the school. A few minutes later he came out and we had a little chat. Once again, small world. After lunch we gassed up and headed toward Grand Mesa.We hooked onto CO-65 and approached Grand Mesa from the north. We initially noticed some fall colors on the side of the mesa from a distance and would later realize that we had near-perfect timing for fall colors. As we made our way up the mesa, we stopped at various viewpoints and enjoyed the beauty of the area with lots of golden aspens lighting up the surroundings. We continued up and over the north side of Grand Mesa before descending the southern side and leaving the best fall colors behind. We stopped at the visitor's center near Cobbett Lake before driving on. There was some decent autumn scenery on the southern side, but not as great as the northern side. There was, however, a nice view of the San Juans to the south (see picture below).Along CO-65 is Eckert, a nice little town where we stopped for some ice cream at Drost's Chocolates. For B this was definitely a good call because she said it was one of the best ice cream cones she's ever had (peanut butter cup). The ice cream parlor was very interesting and historic with a ton of old cash registers spread around and wonderfully nice people. We passed through Delta before continuing south on US-50. Further south, we drove through Montrose and went into Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park (for the first but not the last time). We arrived around 4:30p but quickly realized that not many of the pictures would not turn out very well because the canyon was half lit and half shaded.We decided to leave and come back later. We checked into our hotel and then stopped to eat at a Panda Palace in Montrose. Afterwards, we drove back to BCGNP at sunset (see picture below). However, we were a little late and were only able to take a few pics at a couple of viewpoints. We enjoyed the end of the sunset from Sunset View and made a plan to come back a third time in the morning. Back at the hotel we relaxed before going to bed. For the day, we drove about 420 miles. We had an outstanding day ahead of us because Day 3's scenery would prove to be completely beyond our expectations (B didn't know what we were doing) and probably the best of our entire trip.