Granby, Colorado, and a change of plans

We were supposed to camp tonight at the Stillwater Campground beside Lake Granby. The site was gorgeous and right on the lake; the only problem was that it was already raining and we could see sheets of rain moving in from the mountains. Even worse, the gusts of wind were turning the tent into a kite faster than we could stake it down. We decided to opt for less risky lodgings and headed back up the road to Granby, where we're now at the Trail Riders Motel (whose sign says, "If you're lucky enough to be in Grand County, you're lucky enough").

The drive today was beautiful, but took a couple of hours longer than we expected. This was mostly because of a hair-raising stretch of highway 40, which offered magnificent scenery as well as an seemingly endless series of short, sharp switchbacks both ascending and descending. 

We followed the Colorado River for almost the entire drive - the last time we saw it, it was just a small stream running through green fields. It seems like a different world than the one we left this morning in Utah, where the wide, muddy Colorado flowed slowly through a wide channel lined with sheer cliffs of red stone.