Chicken Divers Club

As winter approaches here in northwest Colorado, our camping days are numbered. We haven’t called it a season yet; not ready to store Lily-Pad yet.

September and the first week of October had us enjoying the outdoors pretty much every weekend. There was fishing, hiking, river floating, and even some wine tasting.

On one of our many trips we visited Browns Park (border of CO/WY/UT). The area is a vast, isolated valley, on the far end of Moffat County, Colorado. In the spring, when the Green River is running at its peak, rafting is very popular. Otherwise, it’s a peaceful corner of the world where you sometimes don’t see anyone for days!

Around the corner from our campground in the Browns Park area, along the Green River, was the Historical Jarvie Ranch. Since I had some time to kill while my husband floated the river, this was the opportunity to take a glimpse on how some of the earlier settlers lived. According to BLM website, in 1880, John Jarvie, a Scotsman, built a ranch along the Green River to offer store goods to those that lived or traveled in this wild territory. Jarvie chose this location due to a naturally occurring river crossing which was used by Indians, fur trappers, travelers, and local residents. At its height, the Jarvie ranch operation included a store, post office, river ferry, and cemetery.

General Store – Jarvie Ranch

Inside the General Store – Jarvie Ranch

The original home -living quarters

Rumor has it, in November of 1895, the outlaws that occasionally called Browns Park, Utah home decided to repay their neighbors for their kindness and generosity. Basically, they wanted to say thanks for not turning them in. Among those that wished to thank the Browns Park residents were Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Once in a while, we manage to include golfing in our camping adventures, and in some rare occasions, some wine tasting. Such was the case when we had the opportunity to visit Grand Junction, Palisade and Paonia, this past weekend. Weather wasn’t the best, but that didn’t deter us from our planned activities.

On this visit, we sampled wines at Two Rivers Winery in Grand Junction and Stone Cottage Cellars in Paonia. We had previously visited both wineries and enjoyed their wines. On this trip we brought our good friends and fellow winos for a tasting.

Friends enjoying wine tasting – Two Rivers Winery

The views from Stone Cottage Winery – Paonia, CO

 Mother Nature was in full display as we drove over the Grand Mesa from Palisade to Paonia. The aspens were at peak colors, especially as we drove up towards Powerhorn ski resort. A bit of snow already falling to remind us that winter is coming.