Black Canyon... of the Gunnison

Sadly, our hotel last night had no internet, so we couldn't update things until tonight. Yesterday, we ventured to Black Canyon of the Gunnison. We're not sure where the other Black Canyon is, or why this one is always modified by "of the Gunnison" other than, perhaps "of the Gunnison" is fun to tack on to the end.

In any case, this was an area with amazing scenery that some brave souls (not us) hiked down into -- hence signs such as this one, warning people not to give in to temptation and throw things into the black canyon (of the Gunnison), as those things might fall on said brave souls' heads.



Being cowardly souls, we stuck to paths off the main road (and short ones at that, as it was quite hot!!) to see different views of the black canyon (of the Gunnison), as well as flowers that abounded in the area. We also managed to get one snapshot of one of the fastest-moving birds we've ever seen. The area was filled with what we dubbed fighter-jet birds (or perhaps fighter-pilot birds - we can't quite remember the exact term, but it was clever). According to a park ranger, the birds darted about to chase insects. So apparently the area was also filled with fighter-jet or fighter-pilot bugs. For the sake of the birds, hopefully they were bugs that flew at slightly slower than the speeds of the fighter-jet or fighter-pilot birds.



Our animals enjoyed the scenery too, and even did some rock climbing.



After leaving Black Canyon (of the Gunnison), we headed toward Mesa Verde. On the way, we passed through a town with some fun random statues we happened to catch site of, and stopped to capture on a digital camera. We also passed over what we dubbed a big-ass scary mountain, with switch-backs that had suggested speeds of 10mph (limits which people, in a show of sanity, obeyed, or even went under). Michele was threatening (in her head only) to get out of the car and walk, but even that didn't seem safe. It may remain in infamy as the big-ass scary bad mean mountain (if you could even really call it a mountain - cause that seems very tame).