Absolutely fabulous day!

I'm sitting outside the motorhome gazing at the mountains, thinking about putting on jeans since it's beginning to get cool.  Reviewing a spectacular day!  We weren't sure what to do on our last day in Colorado, and decided on a whim to go up and over Cottonwood Pass, cut over to Gunnison, and then return to Buena Vista.  We had no previous info on Cottonwood, but man did we luck out.  Route 306 goes right out of town to the pass.  We both believe if anyone asks you what the most beautiful pass in Colorado is, tell them Cottonwood Pass.  It is magnificent!  It is fairly narrow at the top so you can see for miles both east and west.  The view to the east:

And the view to the west:

The fact the weather was clear and bright didn't hurt!  We then descended to the west towards Taylor Reservoir down this winding road.

There weren't many vehicles so it was like we had it all to ourselves.  We wound our way lower and lower to about 9600' to gorgeous Taylor Reservoir.

This lake is only 37 miles from Gunnison up a nice paved road.  We could easily get our motorhome up here and we have marked it for future reference.  We will definitely come up here to stay in the future.  The road follows the river all the way into Gunnison.  We found a nice peaceful place for a picnic, even had entertainment in the form of a fly fisherman.

Gunnison is a very nice town, busy, with lots of shops, restaurants with a vibrant downtown area.  You could spend some time here walking around, but that would have to wait til another time as we still had about 80 miles or so to get back.  We left town on Route 50, but decided to veer back off onto the dirt, something we love, a shortcut actually up and over Black Sage pass.  This is a lower pass about 9475' in an area of huge ranches, rolling meadows that go as far as you can see.  Lots of horses and cattle.  Then we cut onto Rte 237 to go up and over the Old Monarch Pass, 11,375', not too bad as cliff hanging went as there were quite a few trees along the side of the road.  We came up the backside of Monarch Mountain ski resort.  We drove into a little pulloff right beside a babbling brook at about 10,750 to have our afternoon coffee. We intercepted Rte 285, went by the old Monarch mine

 and from there it was a quick trip back to the campground.  It was a stunning day!  Now to not think about the market.