After our very buggy evening we began Day 31, and were officially a month on the road. We were greeted that morning by the amazing rock formations of Eastern Utah that surround Swayses Beach- and decided to drive out of our little BLM spot to the beach location itself.
It didn’t take long for us to dive into the calm bend of the river, swimming around in it for about half an hour. We not only got to use it as our morning shower, but we had a great time playing around and swimming against the current as a nice morning exercise. 🏊♀️
They Sounded Hollow When We Knocked On Them.
Afterwards we were cruising back down the road. At a lunch break we pulled over for, we ended up right next to a colony of Prairie Dogs. They had a meerkat type dynamic (from my limited knowledge from television) which was interesting to watch; with one always standing upright on guard duty and calling out an alarm if danger was near. When that happened the others would dive down in the holes. It was pretty entertaining since we had never seen these creatures before.
Pushing on we continued watching the landscape change drastically around us once again as we entered Colorado. For a long time our path led us back into the Rocky Mountains, which we hadn’t driven through since Canada on the other end.
That evening we arrived in Gunnison- to Laura’s sister Taylor’s home. That night I met my niece and nephew Mic and Grace. When Taylor’s husband arrived home we got to meet Bill as well! We enjoyed a nice evening of touring their lovely home, letting the kids put their stickers on our bathroom wallpaper project, and reading the kids bed time stories. After the kids were in be we spent some time catching up with (me getting to know) what Taylor and Bill where up to while we shared our own thoughts and experiences.
The next morning of Day 32 we were up bright and early to go have breakfast with Bill’s parents. The breakfast diner was across the street from a super cute little park, which they had just finished a gorgeous town mural.
The kids played for a bit before we headed home to get ready for the big treat Taylor had planned for us.
On the way up Laura and I sat in our own lift chair.
Neither of us had been on a ski lift before- and nobody mentioned that there was a safety rail we had to pull down on our way up. Super freaked out of falling we couldn’t believe people would ride these lifts all the time without any safety belts or rails… 😲
Nonetheless the view was beautiful! We took it in stride, loving the moment while gripping to our seat in total fear. 😨
At the top, ready for our hike, we were informed that there was thunder storms 🌩️ too close and we were going to have to take the lift back down the hill. While we stood at the top we noticed how the safety rails worked, and after a good laugh we were happy to get to enjoy the view on the way down the mountain as well. ⛰️
Since the hike was out, we voted to take the kids to a nearby park. It turns out Colorado is big into climbing, so a lot of the local park attractions were centered around that. They had this crazy climbing rock for the kids there. How they avoid any lawsuits due to broken bones from kids falling is beyond me, but the climbing rock was a super good time. 🧗 It turns out Grace has a natural climbing ability within her that impressed us all. Mic’s great sense of humor kept us all smiling as we played.
Afterwards we drove over to another small park by a creek, where the kids and I opted to ford it barefoot. The water was freezing but we all had a mini adventure crossing the slippery rocks.
That evening, after everyone took a good mid-day nap, Taylor spoiled us with a tasty dinner. 😋 We voted to walk off the meal by going down to check out the kid’s school. It was a very neat place! Surrounded by a lush demonstration lake and garden, big ball fields, tons of stuff to play on, and of course more climbing rocks! We climbed, played tag, and ran ourselves out of breath over and over again 😮💨 until it was time to plod ourselves on home for the evening. Wiped out for the day, we read the kids bedtime stories and hit the hay for a good nights sleep. 😴
Geoff Murphy 7/6/2022