Enjoying Gunnison and the 111th Gunnison Cattleman's Parade

July 16, 2011, Palisades RV Park, Gunnison, Co.
It's been beautiful here in Gunnison with the lows in the 40's and highs in the lower 80's. A couple days ago Joyce and I stopped at the visitor center and were overwhelmed by all the outdoor activity options, from fishing, hiking, Jeeping to rodeos and music festivals. In the park behind the visitor center are a number of sculptured tree stumps like the one below.
That evening we went to Paul and Mary's campsite at the nearby KOA and enjoyed another happy hour. We made plans to meet the next morning to watch the parade in Gunnison. Paul and Mary (Mary specifically) are the writers of: Bullwinkle's Travels another blog that we have enjoyed reading since we met them this past January in Kerrville Texas.

Today Paul and Mary rode over to our park on their bikes and Joyce and I joined them on ours. We rode into town and found a good spot to watch the 111th annual Gunnison Cattleman Days Parade.

One of the floats advertised the upcoming Pro-Series bike races that will race over some of the major mountain passes beginning in August.

Nicky D. and her friend from college and roommate, Nick both met us at the parade. We enjoyed the parade together. Nicky and Nick live in Crested Butte about 26 miles north of Gunnison.

Nicky D. and Nick

After the parade was over we strolled around downtown on Mainstreet. 

Joyce, Nicky D., Mary, Paul and Nick

We rode our bikes back home and then we all met at our campsite before taking off for downtown again and lunch at The Ol Miner's Steakhouse. We all enjoyed a tasty meal of various burgers. Afterwards we lounged around our rig as the cottonwood trees for reasons unknown suddenly erupted in unison with their cottonwood tree seeds. It looked like it was snowing for a while.

Hanging out in the cottonwood blizzard

Before long it was time to break it up! We made plans to get together tomorrow and check out the Colorado Wild Flowers in Crested Butte tomorrow.