Driving, Shopping, Food between Hikes
Colorado Travelog #9
Fruita, CO - Sunday, 3 Jul 2022, 1pm
After we wrapped up our visit to Rifle Falls this morning it was time to hit the road again. We continued west 70-ish miles to Grand Junction, Colorado. We'll be staying the night here tonight... but not yet. Days are long this time of year, and we're looking to take full advantage.
So how did we take advantage of this long summer day first? We went shopping! There was a gem store in town Hawk wanted to visit. Then, because I don't particularly enjoy standing around gem stores while she does the actual shopping, she let me choose lunch. I picked pizza. Unfortunately the pizza place nearby wasn't that good. But it was still pizza. 3/5 stars, wouldn't go back unless I was famished.
After that we headed toward Colorado National Monument, a beautiful park where we plan to do a bunch of hiking and sightseeing today... but first, more shopping and more food!
"Shopping", in this case was buying gas. We stopped in the town of Fruita, just outside the park. Our rental, "Taco", hit just north of 23 mpg on the tank. I was surprised. As much as it struggled climbing the passes west of Denver ( going from "mile high" to more than 2 miles high) I thought it would post something around 18-19 mpg. EPA ratings are 19 City / 24 Hwy / 21 Combined, so getting 23 mpg through 412 miles of this highway but high elevation driving is impressive. Our Nissan Xterra SUV would only manage about 18.5 mpg in similar conditions.
Also in Fruita we spotted a Dairy Queen. After underwhelming pizza for lunch, and with temperatures in the 90s outside, it felt like a perfect time for ice cream. Hawk got a caramel sundae while I tried one of their new Blizzard flavors. Both were great. Now we've got to do some hiking to work off the calories....
Fruita, CO - Sunday, 3 Jul 2022, 1pm
After we wrapped up our visit to Rifle Falls this morning it was time to hit the road again. We continued west 70-ish miles to Grand Junction, Colorado. We'll be staying the night here tonight... but not yet. Days are long this time of year, and we're looking to take full advantage.
So how did we take advantage of this long summer day first? We went shopping! There was a gem store in town Hawk wanted to visit. Then, because I don't particularly enjoy standing around gem stores while she does the actual shopping, she let me choose lunch. I picked pizza. Unfortunately the pizza place nearby wasn't that good. But it was still pizza. 3/5 stars, wouldn't go back unless I was famished.
After that we headed toward Colorado National Monument, a beautiful park where we plan to do a bunch of hiking and sightseeing today... but first, more shopping and more food!
"Shopping", in this case was buying gas. We stopped in the town of Fruita, just outside the park. Our rental, "Taco", hit just north of 23 mpg on the tank. I was surprised. As much as it struggled climbing the passes west of Denver ( going from "mile high" to more than 2 miles high) I thought it would post something around 18-19 mpg. EPA ratings are 19 City / 24 Hwy / 21 Combined, so getting 23 mpg through 412 miles of this highway but high elevation driving is impressive. Our Nissan Xterra SUV would only manage about 18.5 mpg in similar conditions.
Also in Fruita we spotted a Dairy Queen. After underwhelming pizza for lunch, and with temperatures in the 90s outside, it felt like a perfect time for ice cream. Hawk got a caramel sundae while I tried one of their new Blizzard flavors. Both were great. Now we've got to do some hiking to work off the calories....