Welcome to One Night In, a series about staying in the most unparalleled places available to rest your head.

When you’re a person of coastal persuasion, the interior of our great country can get confusing. That, and my fairly hippie New York City public school education means that while I have a great sense of direction, my understanding of what states are next to one another is…let’s just say not as good as it could be. So when I found myself headed to Grand Junction, Colorado, for a family event, my first response was to look up exactly where that might be.

Turns out, it’s four hours west of Denver, situated where the Colorado and Garrison Rivers meet, and is overlooked by the stunning Colorado National Monument, which makes the city a popular place for hikers, bikers, kayakers, etc. It’s also home to Colorado Mesa University, which has a robust hospitality management program. These details coalesced as relevant swiftly, as I realized that, like with most cities and towns you might be passing through, this wasn’t a place with a bevy of chicly designed accommodations. No shade to a Marriott Courtyard, but if I could, I wanted to stay somewhere that actually paid homage to its beautiful surroundings.

So I was pleased when I came across Hotel Maverick. Newly opened in the challenging early days of the pandemic, the 60-room hotel has joined the ranks of “teaching hotels” opened on and by college campuses, with the intent of serving two likely underserved populations—visiting families, and students studying hospitality. Students at Colorado Mesa and its sister community college can intern for six months working at the hotel or at its rooftop restaurant, Devil’s Kitchen. This detail intrigued me; college town hotels have had a slight rebrand in recent years, with brands like Graduate Hotels leaning into the potential for improved accommodations for families looking to make their visits to their offspring a little more comfortable. In lieu of a starkly and obviously design-forward option, the backstory of the Hotel Maverick drew me in, and, after reaching out to the team to see if I could set up a stay and getting a yes, I was excited to go back to school.

Friday

3 p.m.: We arrive in Grand Junction after a beautiful drive from Salt Lake City, which is about the same driving distance as flying into Denver would be. Stop offs could include iconic national parks such as Arches and Canyonlands, if you’re interested, but I’ve been to both, and we have stuff to do. We do, however, pause for lunch in Green River, where we eat at a food truck/former gas station, Tacos La Pasadita. I order the torta and a refreshing hibiscus ice tea. Highly recommend.

You won’t miss the Hotel Maverick; it’s the tallest building in town, and situated right on the edge of campus. Designed by the Denver-based Davis Partnership Architects, the aluminum panels wrapping the parallelogram were laser printed to look like wood, as real wood wouldn’t have been long-lasting enough as a building material in the snowy Colorado winters. We’re here at the end of September, and it's desert vibes all the way; extremely dry, with temperatures that fluctuate all day from sweltering to quite chilly depending on whether you’re in the sun or the shade. First we check in, and then head up to our top-floor room with a king bed, which features beautiful views of the surrounding mountains and quiet campus, including a mountain biking/skateboarding ramp. The insides of the rooms still have that new hotel feel, and a nu-mountain vibe—think the aforementioned rustic wood—decorated with old black-and-white photos of the college, which were very nostalgia-inducing, even if you don’t actually have nostalgia for this particular place. We stand out on the balcony and take in the view. (They also offer, cutely, a king bunk bed room for families.)

The awareness that students might be helping you made the whole thing particularly sweet; according to the Denver Post, the hospitality interns tend to be upperclassmen getting close to graduation, who work 20 hours a week shadowing full time staffers. Meanwhile, culinary students work at Devil’s Kitchen or the coffee shop in the hotel lobby. (“At the end of every rotation, students must write a paper about what they learned, their likes and dislikes, and any interesting experiences or scenarios they encountered,” the Post notes.)

6 p.m.: That night we head out to get dinner with family, and, upon our return, snag a drink at the Devil’s Kitchen bar, where we’re helped by a bartender who is also a psychology major (how fitting). It is definitely popping, full of large groups, many of them families—they recommend reservations—but one Old Fashioned and we are ready to slip into bed.

Saturday

9 a.m.: I start the day off by asking the concierge about a very important detail I’d read about on the hotel website: that all guests of the hotel can use the college recreation center, specifically, the pool. They helpfully walk me through the schedule and a map; though I figure my plans won’t allow for actually trying it out, hey, a swimmer can dream. Next we head to the packed Main Street Bagels, exactly the kind of hippie-lite place you get in a college town that just can’t be replicated elsewhere. One garlic bagel with herb schmear later and I am ready for the day.

2 p.m.: After spending time in Eagle Rim Park for another family gathering, we wander around downtown for an hour or so, popping into the many antique and bookstores. Then we avail ourselves of what Grand Junction has best to offer: a leisurely walk through James M. Robb - Colorado River State Park, which boasts views of the mountains, people fishing in the river, and, during our visit, a group of teens taking photos for Homecoming. (Note: this is a big park with a lot of entrances, so plan carefully if members of your party are arriving there separately. Don’t ask me how I know.)

5 p.m.: After a shower, we yet again head up to Devil’s Kitchen for a drink outside at sunset, when the majestic mountains are best seen. While the restaurant is filled with families of all sizes, you’re never far from the reminder that you’re adjacent to campus, be it the youthful cheeriness of your bartender or the advertisement in the elevator for a performance of Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy at the college theater.

There’s no shortage of fast casual collegesque spots in Grand Junction, but we are lucky enough to happen upon Tacoparty for dinner, where we knock back super fresh, yes, tacos, and delicious trout. (The menu cycles through seasonally, and their soft serve also comes in wildly inventive flavors. The team behind the restaurant is also behind the local, higher-end Bin 707 Foodbar.) Once we head back to the room, we find out that we could just check out via text—very on brand for a college hotel—which is what we did the next morning.

Sunday

7 a.m.: The last thing we had to do before leaving town was take a hike, so we head to the Mica Mine Trail, basking in the warm pinks of the rock formations that surround the valley that lead up to a, yes, former mica mine, blast marks still visible. We are all set for the next leg of our journey, pleasantly pleased with the experience of going back to college—as a welcomed guest adult, of course.

This essay is part of a three-story mini-series from executive editor Kate Dries’s fall road trip through the West. Next up: a luxury dude ranch in Wyoming.

Top photo courtesy of Hotel Maverick

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