Extended Family

I have always said that I love living close enough to my family that I can be home at the drop of a hat but that they are just far enough away that I am a vacation destination. Grand Junction has become just that for some of my extended family. Luckily I get done with work early enough that I can be part of the fun.
Tammy, Ladd, Brittany and Derick (I hope I am spelling your name right) made a little weekend trip to GJ for the wine festival. I was lucky enough to squeeze myself into their plans. Thursday night we went to Ill Bistro a restaurant that had vegan, vegetarian, and normal people food. Tammy raved on and on about her pesto lasagna so we each had to have a bite. The same thing happened with the tiramisu. We chatted and told stories and ate until we were in a comatose state. In fact we were the last patrons out of the restaurant. At that point it was time for bed but not before we made plans to meet for brunch in the morning.
Brunch was very much like dinner. We ate and chatted and laughed through out it all. Then I dropped Carrie off and met everyone back at the hotel.
We had all geared up to take a hike on the Grand Mesa. On the way out of town Ladd mentions to no one impeticular that he should get gas but since the map says we are only about 15 minutes out there is no real rush. We have a nice relaxing 45 minuted drive (the 15 minutes was only from GJ to the turn off). Now Derick starts paying attention to the mte (miles till empty) and notices that it drops about 15 miles every 3 minutes. We all made jokes about having to push Ladd's big truck to a gas station. When we got to the top of the mountain it said we had about 30 miles left before empty. Ladd was sure we would be able to coast down no problem.
We got out and went for a little walk around Cobbett Lake. The colors of the trees were beautiful. Derick stopped to skip rocks. Tammy stopped to take pictures of said rocks. I just wanted to rest on the rocks. On the way back we met some very nice fisherpeople (there were men and women) who let us know that if we go down the other side of the mountain we would find a gas station no problem. We hopped in the truck and away we went. It sure was a great adventure and I am so glad no one had to push the truck.