COME TO LIFE / Wine & Adventure Country COLORADO WINE & ADVENTURE COUNTRY: GRAND JUNCTION, PALISADE & FRUITA The area around Grand Junction is the heart of Colorado’s wine country, but delicious adult beverages are just one of the region’s great assets. COLORADO T WINTER FUN Family-friendly Powder-horn Mountain Resort is located on the Grand Mesa near Grand Junc-tion, where skiers, riders and snowtubers see something more like the Grand Canyon than the typical alpine view. The resort recently added an amazing new service: Ski Patrol Ski Along, your own personal guide to the mountain! SIDETRIPS 1 DAY 1 The largest flat-topped moun-tain in the world, Grand Mesa is a 10,000-foot-high plateau topped by forest and more than 300 lakes. Mountain-bike trails lace the area. Pick up a map at the entrance to town to discover all that’s within reach of Palisade . The Colorado River is accessible to kayaks, canoes, rafters and paddleboards. There’s also the Riverfront Trail ’s Monu-ment View section, which runs 28 miles along the river from Fruita to Grand Junction. The Palisade Fruit & Wine Byway is another way to see the area, routing through orchards, lavender gardens, vineyards, fruit stands and river views. Along the way, you’ll spy the Bookcliff Moun-tains , named for their shape and one of the only east–west ranges in the U.S. For dinner, Inari’s offers seasonal Amer-ican fare and many local wines. Peach Street Distillers , a manufacturer of locally made spirits, is a great place to taste some truly original spirits. Or have dinner at Grand Junction’s wildly popular Bin 707 Foodbar , where chef Josh Niernberg serves up a menu crafted from the Grand Val-ley’s best farmers, winemakers and brewers. 626 on Rood , Café Sol and Taco Party are a couple of other must-eats for local flavors. With its craggy hills and unparalleled collection of prehistoric artifacts, Dinosaur National Monument is worth the additional four-hour trek north along the Dinosaur Diamond Scenic & Historic Byway. There are thousands of fossil types in the monument, and it’s still an active research area. Be sure to visit the Gates of Lodore , spectacular red canyon walls that tower over the Green River, which is popular with rafters and campers. On the way, stop in Rangely . Once the site of a Ute trading post, see prehistoric rock art from the Ute and Fremont tribes in Canyon Pintado . The area is also home to Colorado’s only designated natural rock-crawling park, along with hundreds of miles of public lands to ride a side-by-side, mountain bike or hike. Kenney Reservoir is a hot bed for water-sports lovers and fishers. Maps and information are available at the Rangely Museum , just east of town. The museum itself is a unique stopover, with a collection of one-of-a-kind and classic automobiles and motorcycles. Bring your telescope — you can see spectacular night skies all year long. R SUMMER AT SKI RESORTS Powderhorn is now open during the summer with scenic lift rides, hiking trails, concerts and lift-assisted downhill mountain biking, including rentals, lessons and an expanding trail system. @skipowderhorn QUICK TIP 158 / Grand Junction is on the California Zephyr Amtrak line that runs from Chicago to San Francisco, and the depot is a short walk from downtown. The train runs west and east daily. 1-800-COLORADO CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT: POWDERHORN RESORT, @SKIPOWDERHORN; NORTH FRUITA DESERT, LISA SEAMAN; THE GREEN RIVER IN DINOSAUR NATIONAL MONUMENT, JEFF DIENER.
Colorado Official State Vacation Guide 2019: Page 158
