Typically my family makes the 90-minute drive to Grand Junction from our home near Aspen when we need to shop: clothes at Mesa Mall, bulk foods at Sam’s Club, home-improvement supplies at Home Depot.
It’s most often a day trip with the kids, and we’ll hustle through our shopping list, stopping only to keep chain restaurants like Red Lobster and Outback Steakhouse in business.
But after lamenting too often, “We really need to go wine tasting in Palisade” and listening to raves about downtown Grand Junction restaurants from local foodie friends, my husband and I made our most recent visit to the “big city” a grown-up weekend getaway.
We bunked at Candlewood Suites (candlewoodsuites.com) out near the Mesa Mall, since we did have some shopping to do nearby (old habits die hard). The budget-priced property fit the bill; I appreciated the included Wi-Fi and the room’s kitchenette.
Next time: We’ll overnight at one of the downtown Main Street chain hotels so we can walk to and from restaurants. Or we’ll consider Palisade’s Wine Country Inn (coloradowinecountryinn.com) within biking distance to the wineries.
The best way to “bike the wineries” in Palisade (a 20-minute drive from downtown Grand Junction) is via an electric cruiser bike rental from Rapid Creek Cycles (rapidcreekcycles.com). The extra boost from a throttle-activated pedal-assist motor helped propel us up the steep hill to East Orchard Mesa where, over the course of three hours we visited three wineries, a lavender farm and a fruit orchard.
Our favorite spot by far was Colterris Winery (colterris.com), where we were encouraged to sit at a patio table and take our time sampling three wines; we were so relaxed here — and so not ready to leave the serene scene — we bought full glasses of our favorites.
For our second day’s activity, we hiked the Palisade Rim Trail, whose trailhead is on U.S. 6 along the Colorado River at mile marker 23 (park at the boat launch on the west side of the highway). It’s a mixed-use trail for hikers and adventurous singletrack bikers, so keep your eye out for cyclists. The moderate 3.5-mile lower-loop trek (which took us about two hours start to finish on foot) passes petroglyphs that are marked by signs so you can’t miss them. Those ancient drawings — coupled with fabulous views of the river and vast green tracts of orchards and vineyards — make this trail a winner.
Next time: We’ll book a mellow Colorado River float trip with Rondo (who goes by only his first name and also owns Palisade River Trips & Paddleboards, palisaderivertrips), where we can pack our own cooler filled with local wines or beer from the Palisade Brewing Co. (palisadebrewingcompany.com).
For an adults-only night out, I loved our quiet, dimly lit dinner at downtown’s 626 on Rood (626onrood.com), with its flights of wine, and modern American menu featuring such items as locally grown heirloom tomato salad, butter-poached lobster tail and porter-braised wagyu beef roast.
A more upbeat, more casual spot around the corner is Bin 707 Foodbar (bin707foodbar.com), with butcher paper on the bistro tables and plenty of Bin Burgers being sent out of the busy open kitchen. Other best bets: pan-roasted duck breast, pea and mushroom risotto, the extensive cocktail menu with adult milkshakes, and the oh-so-rich, aptly named, addictive Momofuku Crack Pie, consisting of an oatmeal cookie, vanilla brown-butter custard and vanilla bean ice cream.
Next time: I like the idea of carb-loading at Il Bistro Italiano (ilbistroitaliano.com) before another day of hiking or biking in the Grand Junction area.
Freelance travel writer Kara Williams covers family travel, romantic escapes, wellness trips and girlfriend getaways at TheVacationGals.com.
