Mission Complete!!

Thursday morning we successfully got Dad’s truck back up and running after a visit to the mechanic in Brush, WI. Upon sitting at the garage waiting for the water pump to get fixed Dad chatted it up with a local man about the agricultural industry in the area. He was quick to tell us about the big feedlots that collect all those big black beefers we’d been seeing scattered along the countryside. The man told us that one such feedlot was just a few miles down the road. So after getting the truck back, we of course had to check it out. And I think big was an understatement…the lot was HUGE! All you could see was beefers forever, thousands of them getting finished off for slaughter. It was crazy. I’d never seen anything like it before.

After checking out the feedlot we were back on the road bound for Grand Junction. It was only a few miles down the road when I got my first glimpse of them….the ROCKIES! They were unreal, looked like something out of a storybook nestled all up in the clouds. But it wasn’t until we hit Denver that we could see the bottom of the massive “hills”, I’m so unused to saying the word “mountain”.



The Rockies in the Distance



After traveling through Denver we went a bit off course to visit the adorable town of Golden, CO and the home of the largest brewery in the world, The Coors Brewery. The town was right at the foothills of the Rockies, the perfect place for Adolph Coors to find the freshest water to make his beer with. Mom, Dad and I took the tour of Coors. I have been on other brewery tours, but this is the first one that I really remember. It was extremely interesting to watch how Coors in made from growing the hops, to mashing it, to packaging the cans…and of course tasting the final product. We got to try two new recipes that are not yet available back home: Native Colorado-which is the latest addition to the Coors family; and Batch 19- a recipe that was created before prohibition, but got stashed away when liquor and beer was outlawed, the recipe was just rediscovered only a few months ago. Both a little on the heavier-side for beer but yummy just the same.

Daddy & I taste testing :)



The story of Batch 19....it's a little heavier, but yummy-yummy!

Following our stop at the brewery we were off for the long trek through the Mountains. We drove over 170 miles straight through the Rockies. The mountains that I saw pass through the windows of the truck were unbelievable. And hitting them at sunset made it all the more magical. I thank God that we had nice weather on Thursday making the trip through the mountains not so treacherous, I could not imagine driving that curvy road in bad weather conditions. And after 3 hours of mountains we reached it…the valley that held GRAND JUNCTION!! The town that would be my home for at least the next 5 months.

We got settled into our hotel and then went exploring the town, we found the Mesa State College Campus and walked around a bit to check things out and find out where my orientation would be held the following day. Afterwards we returned to our hotel for the night. Friday we were up bright and early for my college orientation, I had a student session while Dad and Mom were in a parent session. We had lunch here on campus and bought my books, got my Mav-ID card, and found my dorm. Then we were off to find Powderhorn Ski Resort, the ski-hill where I would be having class 2 days a week!! It is about an hour drive UP the mountain to get to the hill, it is nestled far back in the valley of the surrounding mountains. My parents have never really seen a ski-hill up close so they were pretty excited to watch people skiing and snowboarding. While I was just itching to be one of those people riding down the hill!!! Haha After leaving Powderhorn we heading back for the Mesa Valley and Grand Junction. On our way we stopped in Pallisade (the town adjacent to Grand Jct) to do a little wine testing. Wineries are all over here. The lady who was doing our wine testing explained that some of the best fruit is grown locally right here in the valley, including grapes, peaches, pears, strawberries, etc. Upon making our selections we returned to Grand Junction to begin moving me into my dorm.

My dorm room, which is now my new home, is HUGE compared to my old room in River Falls and the views out my window irreplaceable!! Grand Junction and the Mesa Valley are surrounded on all four sides by mountains. Including the Grand Mesa-the largest flattop mountain in the world; and the Colorado State Monument…so gorgeous! Saturday Dad, Mom, and I visited the State Monument. I was the lucky one who got the privilege to drive along the windy drop off cliffs—scary is an understatement. But the view was totally worth the sketchy drive up the side of the mountain.

One of the tunnels we went through at the Monument

Looking down on of the Canyons



Another view of the Canyons

On of the coolest rock structures: Balancing Rock

After our visit to the Monument, we found the next best thing Grand Jct has to offer…an awesome shopping MALL!!! Haha of course Mom and I were right at home. J After we got our shopping fix, we were off to me my new roomie Anel. She is a doll, I see a great semester in our future!! After a quick intro with Anel and dinner, it was PACKER FOOTBALL TIME!!! So mom, dad & I headed back to the hotel to catch the game and to watch the Packers kick some Falcon booty. Whoop, whoop! Then this morning it was time to say the much dreaded tearful goodbye and send Mom and Dad back to Wisconsin.