Winery and Museum

We had a little rain in the morning, but it cleared up later.

After breakfast, we headed for the Two Rivers Winery. The winery has a Bed and Breakfast and an events center for weddings, etc. They have a small field with grapes, and buy some of their grapes. We tasted their Tulip, Riesling, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon, and bought a bottle of Riesling, and a bottle of Cabernet.

We drove into Grand Junction and went to the Museum of the West, focused on the history of the Grand Valley area. Some of the exhibits were related to Alfred Packer, the famous cannibal, including a beautiful horsehair bridle that he made while he was in prison. There was an exhibit of handguns owned by the sheriffs of Mesa County. Interestingly, they were all revolvers except for two sheriffs in the early 1900s, and the two most recent sheriffs, who carried semi-automatic pistols. Richard went to the top of their observation tower, from which he saw the Grand Mesa, and an overview of the town.

Marianne spotted a blacksmithing book in the museum bookstore, and Richard bought two books, Beautiful Iron, written and signed by Francis Whitaker, and My Life as an Artist Blacksmith, by Francis Whitaker as told to Gary Mansheld, signed by Mansheld. Francis Whitaker is a famous local blacksmith, who lived and worked in Aspen and Carbondale Colorado, as well as Carmel California. Richard thought that these books were quite a find, although he never met Francis.

In the evening, Richard walked over to the lake at the campground to go fishing. He later went over to the river, but did not attract the interest of any of the fish.

We closed out the evening with a game of Skipbow, which Marianne won.