Been off the grid for a couple of days.  On Friday traveled from Colorado Springs to Crawford CO to visit a friend.  Along the way we passed by Royal Gorge, but the bridge was closed because of the recent wildfires.

Just west of Poncha Springs, we passed the southern end of the Sawatch Mountains.

At Gunnison, we left Rt. 50 for CO 92 and began to climb up towards Fruitland Mesa. Along the way we got some glimpses of the Black Canyon.

After arriving at Rita's, we went to the Black Canyon Park proper for some more photos near sunset.

We also saw some wildlife on the way back.  The first were some elk in the park -

the second was Rita's Leopard tortoise Biko.

Today we made on more stop by the Black Canyon in the early morning before leaving for Moab.

We took SR 128 from I-70 into Moab, and it was a spectacular drive through the Triassic and Jurassic formations of the Colorado Plateau.

Will report back more from our travels around Moab tomorrow.