Spring in Colorado!

Friends and long time readers will note my love for Colorado, having spent many Summers out there in my youth, due to my Mother growing up there and still having a wonderful group of cousins who still live throughout the state.  So, this visit involved a lot of catching up and socializing with them, but also some sightseeing and renewing the acquaintance of little towns from my youth.  Many of them now include shops promoting local artists and craftsmen, making it all the more interesting. 
My wife and I landed in Denver and immediately drove over to the Western Slope to attend something I've longed to see since its inception, the Mike The Headless Chicken Festival, in my Mother's old hometown of Fruita.  It's small, but fun, (I need to contact the organizers with some ideas, this can be a much bigger event with a few more ideas and activities).  Areas and towns visited included:
Grand Junction
Grand Mesa    (Beautiful - and some of the smaller roads were still snowed in)

Hotchkiss
Montrose
Ridgway
Ouray
Lake City (had snow flurries here, in late May!)
Sapinero
Ft. Collins
Estes Park
Palisade (the center of the Colorado wine industry)

Hedonistic highlights included pizza at the famous Hot Tomato in Fruita.  Lunch at the legendary True Grit Cafe in Ridgway.  Bourbon tasting from the Strothman Distillery in Grand Junction, (Yum!).  Mead from the Meadery of the Rockies.  Zack's Barbecue in Hotchkiss; and beer at Coopersmiths in Ft. Collins.

My only problem with visiting Colorado is leaving.  It has always been a second home to me.  Thanks for a wonderful time, Cousins!