A few pics from my trip to Grand Junction, CO

[Crankin]

This was one of the most fun trips I've taken. My former exchange student from Berlin (he lived with us ten years ago) graduated from Colorado Mesa University, in 3 years, after having a career as a pro cyclist, as well as starting a successful coaching business. Oh, and he was also the coach of the cycling team. He's going back to Berlin for a year or two to work on his business and he also has a contract to ride for a pro team. Then it's back here for grad school.

[OakLeaf]

What a beautiful setting! Hope you enjoyed the trip. Congrats to your "son."

[PamNY]

Wow, you got to see beautiful places. Congratulations to this young man, who sounds remarkable indeed.

Pam

[eofelis]

You were so close to me! I live just a few blocks from the college. I graduated from there in 2009. I am also originally from Massachusetts.

[indysteel]

Very pretty, Crankin. We flew through Grand Junction a couple of weeks ago for our Moab trip. We went to a really great cafe in downtown Grand Junction for lunch, although I can't remember the name. It looked like a cute area.

[Catrin]

Very nice pictures Crankin, and glad you had a good time! I've been in Grand Junction, but it's been so long that I couldn't even swear to the year. It was back in my young/wild days (as opposed to my old/wildish days) so it's been awhile :) You look great and it looks like the weather cooperated!

[Koronin]

Looks like you had a great time. Congrats to you "son". Sounds like a wonderful young man.

[solobiker]

Happy to hear you enjoyed your time out here!!:)

[Crankin]

Yes, he is a unique young man. Very similar to my DS #2, who is a Marine and the former cyclist. They both are "selfless," as opposed to selfish. I privately joke that he turned out better than my own two kids, but that's not really true.
Grand Junction reminded me of Tempe, about 30 years ago! Indy, we stayed downtown and ate in a couple of the cafes. One particular one, the Italian bistro, was lovely after a hard 5+ mile hike in the Monument. Of course, that whole bottle of wine we drank at lunch helped that warm feeling :eek:.
Eofelis, I wish I had known you were there!

[emily_in_nc]

Great pics! You and your surrogate "son" look good together. Beautiful scenery!

[SheFly]

Yup - nice pics. But the REALLY important question - which pro cycling team???
:D

SheFly

[goldfinch]

Nice! I especially love that last picture of you and your spouse standing on the rock ridge. Very pretty.

[Crankin]

SheFly, I guess I'm a bad mom, because I can't remember. It's not a "top" level team, but he was really burned by the doping scandal stuff a few years ago. He lived like a peon and rode for the Rite Aid out of Philadelphia in 2008 and when he went back, the team he was supposed to ride with in Europe had all of their financial sponsors back out. That's when he started his business, had a few months of counseling, and started taking some on line college courses. Somewhere along the way, one of the coaches he knew here in MA (an older man, you may know him) hooked him up with the cycling program at CMU. It was kind of amazing, since when he lived with us, he didn't even want to graduate from high school, despite the fact we knew he was super smart; he managed to get all As and Bs at Acton-Boxborough, despite having limited English when he got here.
Here is a link to his business: http://www.synergy-protraining.com/cycling_coach.html