Montrose, Colorado

Hello, from the library in Montrose! We are now in Montrose, Colorado after enjoying the Fourth of July in Gunnison. The 4th started with a nice little climb up Monarch Pass (elevation 11,312 feet) and ended with fire trucks and fireworks.

The climb up Monarch Pass was not nearly as tough as I anticipated - it was a good climb but rather gradual and when you ride with the Caboose the rides are always fun! Anish and Nick
stopped for a swim in a stream midway up the mountain and once we reached the top we stopped to check out the view, get a team photo by the Monarch Pass sign (see photo in Allison's blog) and do a little rock climbing.

I chose to climb the "little hill" across from the Monarch Pass visitors center with Zach and Alicia. We thought we could take a short cut and catch a trail that switched back but it ended up not switching back so we continued to climb the gravel and rocks until we reached a point where there was only gravel above and we could go no higher so we ended up climbing back down.

Once we reached the flat ground safety I headed toward Gunnison. Midway down the mountain it started to rain and the wind picked up making for a "fun" chilly ride down however 10 minutes later the sun was out and it was hot again... gotta love the weather!

Once I reached St. Peter's Parish Center where we were staying in Gunnison, Keith and I headed to the supermarket to buy groceries to make dinner. (Actually Keith made dinner and I treated the team to strawberry shortcake for our 4th of July dessert!) While we were eating dinner we smelt something burning and after checking to make sure it wasn't coming from the Kitchen we realized it was coming from the lighting fixture near the ceiling, prompting Jon to call 911 and have the fire department come check it out. After a 15 minute or so evacuation they told us everything was ok and just not to turn on the one set of lights until they could be replaced.

The night ended with fireworks in downtown Gunnison!

That's all for now,

Till next time,

Sandra

Also, Danielle if you read this - you and your family are in my thoughts.