Black Canyon National Park

This morning we woke up and decided to drive to Gunnison. Dad & Mom have a National Parks pass and we thought it'd be fun to go to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We looked up the route on Streets and Trips and it told us the drive would be 80 miles. An hour and a half didn't seem like too bad of a drive! What we didn't realize at the time was that the National Park is another hour past Gunnison...and the 80 miles to Gunnison is mountain driving (it took us close to 4 hours to get there!!) We left Buena Vista at 9:45 am and followed Patty's recommendation of taking Cottonwood Pass to Gunnison. It was a BEAUTIFUL drive!

We stopped at Taylor Reservoir to stretch our legs and take a few pictures.

On the road again towards the National Park we saw a sign that made us laugh.

What made us laugh even harder was when we saw this:

We stopped for lunch along Taylor Creek and then drove thru Curecanti National Recreation Area before FINALLY reaching Black Canyon National Park.

It was worth the drive. We drove up to the Visitor's Center and then hiked around a few trails near the canyon's edge.

Mike and I saw this sign...but decided to keep going.
I saw a rock that I wanted Mike to climb up to with me so that we could get a good picture.
Mission accomplished :)
Tyler wondered why they didn't allow shoes on this part of the trail?

Mom, Dad, Brody, me, & Mike looking down at the canyon

After watching a short movie telling us about the early days of exploration at the Black Canyon (well...actually Dad, Mom, & Tyler watched the movie. Mike and I left with Brody when he got fussy) we began the drive back to Buena Vista. We stopped for dinner in Gunnison. We picked up Sonic and took it to the local park so that Brody could release some pent up energy! There was a 4 man see-saw at the park...so we had to try it out. It was not easy on my tailbone!

Eating in the park
Brody playing in a tunnel at the park.

Brody was kinda fussy on the way back to Buena Vista. He'd been in the car basically all day and was ready to get out of his car seat! Mom sat beside him and sang every song that she's ever learned (some of them several time) to keep him happy.
We arrived back at the motel around 9:30 pm. Brody was sooooo happy when we got him out of the car and let him crawl around inside the motel apartment!