Gunnison, Colorado is
absolutely beautiful. In a spare sort of way. The landscape is
mostly sage and a few scraggly junipers. But when the sun goes down, the
shadows flitting across the blue mountains change to a deep purple. I'm not
fond of Colorado's desert-like landscape, but rolling clouds that sweep across
the wide-open sky satisfy my need for green things.
I don't know if that makes
sense. After living in the desert or desert-like conditions most of my
life, I long for cool, quiet walks in arched trees. We lived in Hawaii
for about three years. You could grow almost anything in that soil.
The avocados were as big as footballs and tasted like butter. The pineapples
are so fresh and sweet. But my favorite are the coconuts. At the
flea market, vendors sell young coconuts snuggled in barrels of ice. They
poke a hole and put a straw inside so you can walk around and drink the
marvelous milk. Then, when that is all gone, they wack off the top with a
machete and hand you a spoon to scoop out the quivering mass of coconut
flesh. Still ice-cold, it is the best treat on a hot day.
In contrast to the lush
tropics --the southwest is a stark, raw beauty. Rugged and
untamed. By mid-July, the heat has sucked any moisture out of the
grass and it becomes dry and brown.
I digress.
Our views this summer have
made up for the heat. (I know that Texas, New Mexico and Arizona get hot --over
100 degrees in the shade-- as I lived there. And it doesn't account for
humidity. I'm just saying...hot is hot).
Close to Gunnison is the
beautiful Black Canyon. I had heard it described like a miniature Grand
Canyon. What a perfect combination of homeschooling credit and playing
tourist... We drove out to the Black Canyon on the hottest day of our
trip. Isn't that the best time?
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| Painted Wall |
They describe it like this:
"Prepare yourself for 2,000 foot tall, narrow canyon walls dropping almost
vertically to the Gunnison River. The Black Canyon is known for crumbling
rock, dizzying heights, and a lack of places to place protective equipment.
Rock climbing is a challenge limited to highly experienced, expert climbers
only.
Big enough to be
overwhelming, still intimate enough to feel the pulse of time, Black Canyon of
the Gunnison exposes you to some of the steepest cliffs, oldest rock, and craggiest
spires in North America. With two million years to work, the Gunnison River,
along with the forces of weathering, has sculpted this vertical wilderness of
rock, water, and sky."
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| Black Canyon |
We took advantage of the
Junior Ranger Program and filled out all the pages. It was a great way to
explore the canyon and learn at the same time. The kids didn't
agree. Much wailing and gnashing of teeth on their end. I used our
end-of-the-journey ice cream trip as leverage to make them finish the
program. After that, it went much smoother. Plus, the kids liked
learning about the gneiss (pronounced "nice") and the schist
(different kinds of rocks) They snickered and said it sounded like a bad
word.
After that long, hot,
exhausting, and beautiful drive, we decided to head into Gunnison itself and
buy dinner. Quite a splurge as we normally try to eat at home. We
ended up at the Gunnisack. A local restaurant with American cuisine.
We ordered wings and
burgers and admired the decor. Great food! But our favorite was the
dessert. The cookie is baked right in the dish and a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream
topped with whipped cream and chocolate sits on top. We divided it up
between the five of us and scarfed it down!
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| Funky Rock the kids climbed at a local park. |
We also headed to the big
park downtown. It had a huge climbing rock and several interesting
sculptures. The kids immediately went to the top and I sat down at a
table to finish my crocheting project for Kyla: a cat scoodie...
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