My First Visit to the Colorado National Monument

That photo above is one of the most breathtaking views I have ever seen. What a beauty! When I got the call to visit Grand Junction to assist this great group of folks at the Townsquare cluster of radio stations, I knew I wanted to head directly to the Colorado National Monument as soon as I could. If you can embellish my awe as a tourist for a moment, I think the residents of Grand Junction have one of the greatest national backdrops I have ever seen.

I can't imagine it ever gets old walking out your door and seeing the monument off in the distance. I'm sure most folks living in the area have been up to visit it countless times, but I thought I would share my experience as a person who came here from the hill country of Central Texas. I'm so totally impressed. One thing I learned right away is my phone service doesn't exist up near the top so I set up some videos on my facebook page once I got back down. Feel free to check them out below by pressing play. My phone is full of videos from my trip to the top. I'd love to see what videos you have of the monument as well. Feel free to upload them in the comments section or text us your favorite photos with our free mobile app.

I'm a big fan of studying history. Teddy Roosevelt in 1906 said, "We are not building this country for a day, we are building it for the ages." He signed the Antiquities Act into law to create national monuments from federal land to preserve scenery much like what we see outside our door every day here in Grand Junction. The original act preserved Devil's Tower in Wyoming, Mt. Olympus in Western Washington, and more than 800,000 acres of the Grand Canyon. Fast forward to 1911, and we have President Taft actually coming to the Grand Junction area to visit what would become our Colorado National Monument.

I've always wondered if he actually went up to the monument on horseback or not. This was a man who weighed upwards of 350 pounds. What horse was able to accomplish that amazing feat? Well, if it had not been for explorer James Otto, people may have continued to believe the monument was more or less inaccessible to humans. I'm so thankful they found out otherwise.

I can't wait to keep exploring the area, but this will easily go down as one of the coolest natural wonders I have ever seen. Wel live right next to some beautiful scenery, and at the same time a huge piece of Americana if ever there was one. I'll never forget my first visit and look forward to many more!

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