Montrose, Colorado--One of our New Favorite Towns

Montrose is the gateway city to the Black Canyon, so it was there that we found a church to attend while visiting the national park.  After being in very rural areas for the last month, we were pretty excited to see a Walmart.  After being without over-the-air television for a month, we were also pretty excited to see some television in the last two stops.  But the real reason that Montrose is becoming our new favorite city is the unexpected festivals we have found here.

After attending church, we found that the Montrose County Fair started this weekend.  So we headed to the fairgrounds for the afternoon.  We caught part of the rabbit show, where the rabbit showmanship competition was going on at the livestock barn.

At the arena, the equestrian events were taking place.  We saw some beautiful horses, whose young riders were gliding over the jumps.

We also saw that some horses couldn't be coaxed to make the jump, and would veer to the side at the last second.

But the highlight of the fair was the fiddler competition.  This was the winner of the junior competition, and you can see that her fingers are just a blur on the strings as she performs her three songs. 

 It was a good day at the fair.  Unlike the county fairs that we are used to in Oklahoma, the events will continue daily for nine days.

Another day, we were driving through Montrose on our way back from a very scenic drive.  We had decided to stop at Dairy Queen since they were donating $1 to special olympics for every blizzard purchased that day.  Mark eats ice cream every day, and it tastes even better if he can eat ice cream for a worthy cause.  But as we approached town, we noticed that Main Street was blocked off and there were cars parked every where.  So we parked with the rest of the crowd, and walked up the street to find they were getting ready for a motocross race.  They had blocked off two blocks of Main Street and positioned some mean-looking obstacles for the motorcycles to ride over and through.

Our timing was great, as we got to see the second of three races as soon as we arrived.

The bikers all start at the same time, so the first lap is really congested.

The race was eight laps around the course, and we were amazed at how high they ramped over some of the obstacles.

There was twenty minutes before the next race, so we used that time to position ourselves in the next block to see the obstacles in that part of the course.

We were right in front of  three angled logs that the motorcycles had to ride up, and then ramp over huge tires.

You have to look at two of these jumps because Mark took around 40 pictures of motorcycles going over this obstacle.  But he also took pictures of them going through the stacks of tires and the firewood.

This free race was an advertisement for the races at the fairgrounds on the weekend.  But we can't imagine it being any better or being able to see it as well.  This was great fun seeing the riders up close and experiencing something new like motocross racing.

We have really enjoyed the random events we have accidentally found in our trips through Montrose, and it is quickly becoming one of our favorite towns.