We arrived at our host's house, Jason, in Grand Junction late in the evening on a Friday night to find he was in the middle of a Friday night drinks session with a group of his colleagues from the hospital. There was nothing for it, we pulled out our backup beer and wine and joined in the fun. We were very quickly convinced by Jason and his friends that we needed to stay an extra night and explore some of Grand Junction itself before moving on. The deal was sealed when one of his friends decided to take us out rock climbing in the morning in a spectacular area of sandstone cliff faces with one granite outcrop ripe for the climbing.

We spent the afternoon exploring the Colorado National Monument (a park not a structure as the word "monument" would suggest) which was a surprise gem, without any expectations of the place, we were pretty blown away by its' beauty.