Our Scenic Drive to Gunnison

Last weekend, Caleb and I headed out to Gunnison again. A friend of Caleb's at work recommended we take a scenic route out over Cottonwood Pass. This added about 2 hours to our trip, but it was well worth it. During our drive we saw beautiful clear sky fall views as well as winter overcast stormy views driving higher through the mountains.  

Our view as we turned to go to Cottownwood Lake.

I love to research about places we are going before we go there. First, we had to find out if Cottonwood Pass was even open because it's closed most of the year from November-early June and sometimes will close in October if winter conditions are bad enough. We called and found out it was still open. Then I wanted to read some reviews about Cottonwood Pass to see if there was something we should stop and see or do while driving out this way in Colorado. I'm sure glad I looked because a few people in their online reviews recommended taking a left turn at the sign for Cottonwood Lake at the beginning of the mountain pass. They said this drive was worth going a few miles out of the way and seeing the Aspen forests and the lake with the mountain peaks in the background. We figured why not because we were already taking the long route to get to Gunnison so what would it hurt to add a little more to our driving time. 

Here are some pictures we took of the Aspens during our drive around Cottonwood Lake.

We loved spending Friday together in the car driving through God's beautiful mountain creation in Colorado. I told Caleb I loved it too because it was such great quality time with him. My favorite! We have some fun memories from this drive over, including Caleb putting the fear in me while driving on the snowy mountain pass pictured above. He didn't see the need to stay as far away from the edge as possible whereas I saw a very urgent need to stay as close to the safe side of the mountain. There were no guard rails. The road got worse as we drove further and closer to the top of the pass. I threatened that I was going to either start crying or wet my pants because I was even more scared than when we went skydiving. He said I needed to let out some tears to release my fear and tension. I guess he was right because after I cried a minute from pure fear of us possibly sliding off the road over the edge, my tears turned to laughter while I was trying to be mad at him for making me so nervous. Now for those who are reading this and worry if we weren't being safe (our mothers), let me comfort you that we were quite safe. Caleb reminded me of something while driving that made perfect sense. He said, "if your side of the car goes over the edge, then just think my side goes over too with me in it." He was reminding me he wouldn't put my life in real danger let alone his own life. I was just quite scared because there were no guard rails and guard rails are my dear friends on mountain passes. They are like my security blanket. I don't feel as safe without them especially when there's a massive white fog blocking your view from how far the drop off is beside you. Overall though, it was a fun scenic drive. I can say even the nerve-wracking part was fun after I relaxed and enjoyed the drive.

I'll write another post about our time with Krista & Daniel and our adventures in going to see more leaves changing colors and more mountain drives with them.