Sometimes I sit in my room and think about some of the great places from back home that I wish were here in Grand Junction. Coming to school here from the Denver/Aurora area has its benefits as well as occasional downfalls.
Grand Junction is a very relaxing and beautiful town to live in and the quietness is something I cherish coming from a pretty loud area my whole life, however, Grand Junction also tends to be lacking in certain areas as far as stores and food establishments go.
The first place I went on main street when I moved back up to town was the record store. Despite being a very pleasant store with lots of cool records and other random items, I found it to be severely lacking in hip hop selection. Back home I had three or four record stores that consistently had albums I had been searching for and wanted to add to my collection.
In the same vein, Cervantes Masterpiece is a concert venue in Five Points in downtown Denver where I’ve been to some of the best concerts I’ve ever experienced. Lots of great artists who aren’t popular enough to play at places like Red Rocks or the Pepsi Center play at Cervantes and it makes for a more intimate and enjoyable concert setting.
As far as restaurants, I always find myself missing Jersey Mikes and another small sandwich shop near Morrison called Tommy’s Subs. I also firmly believe this town could benefit greatly from the presence of a Panda Express.
After talking with some friends I was reminded of some festivals that happen in Denver that are always an enjoyable time. Over the summer it was always a good move to go to the Taste of Colorado street festival in Denver to find some incredible food for very cheap. This past summer my friends and I also went to the Juneteenth Festival in Five Points to eat food, listen to the DJ’s playing, and look at the art, products and culture on display. There are a lot of incredibly interesting and enjoyable cultural and social events in Denver that I do miss while being up here.
There are petting zoos and farms here in Grand Junction which I’ve heard good things about. Over the summer I went to the Denver Zoo again for the first time in years and forgot how great of a way it is to spend a day out. On the topic of the zoo, we can’t forget about the aquarium or Elitch’s or Water World.
Grand Junction is a cool little town to live in. It’s peaceful and quiet, our campus is a nice place to be and there’s nearly never bad weather. However when coming up here from Denver, it is hard to not reminisce at times and feel a bit homesick and that’s probably important for everyone to remember. These have been widely Denver related establishments but no matter where you come from, it’s only normal to feel a bit homesick at times.
