I'd almost forgotten...

What a wonderful town Grand Junction is. I'm in town for two days interviewing for our Business Services Representative based in our new Grand Junction offices. The new offices are not far from our old offices on the northeast side of town. I stopped by on my way into town to make sure I could find them in the morning and it looks like a beautiful building. The drive from Denver is always longer than I recall but tonight I lucked out with not much traffic, the predicted mountain snow held off, the twin tunnels were done with construction for the evening, and I arrived in Grand Junction just as the sun was setting. If you have never been to the western slope you drive by the Grand Mesa to the south, and then through the town of Palisade where there are vineyards producing some great Colorado wines, before arriving in Grand Junction which is nestled up against the Colorado National Monument.

There was still snow on the top 500 feet in elevation on Grand Mesa but Grand Junction climatically appears to be a solid month ahead of Denver. The flowering trees are in full bloom, the grass is green, and there is a smell of fresh vegetation in the air that reminds me that summer is just around the corner. I even saw a gentleman mowing his yard. My lawn in Denver still has snow on it and even the spring crocus are only making a desultory effort to poke their heads out of the still chilly soil.

I'm staying at a hotel on historic Main Street and after checking in went for a walk to stretch my legs. At this time of night most of the shops were already closed and the restaurants and bars were hosting only light mid-week traffic. Main Street has a lot of boutique style shopping, a couple of great bike shops, some interesting restaurants serving up a wide variety of cuisines, and some really great art work. Walking the couple of blocks that make up downtown Grand Junction harkens back to small town America when vibrant downtowns were still important in the daily life of most Americans.

Though I refer to Grand Junction as a town, it really is a city and I know that just a couple of miles from where the historic downtown area is located there are the typical suburbs, malls, and big box stores and chain restaurants you can find in Anywhere, America but it was really nice to stroll along Main Street, soak up the ambiance of a quiet evening and just relax.

Tomorrow we'll be interviewing a group of local folks and after the two days we'll hopefully have found Pinnacol's newest employee.  We had a lot of interest in our position here and while we couldn't interview everyone who applied we are sincerely greatful for the interest shown in becoming a part of our company. I look forward to meeting all of the candidates and am secretly jealous of whoever ultimately is selected. Denver may be my home, but if I ever had the chance to relocate Grand Junction would be high on my wish list, especially on a warm spring night like this one.