Day Five
Breckenridge 0 miles
We played total tourist today. Woke up early, got coffee and made breakfast in the room so we could handle emails, etc for a couple of hours. Bob made bacon (two for him, one for me) and we each make our own toast (two for him, one for me) and eggs (two fried for him, one egg omelette for me). So nice to have no schedule especially on a Monday!! Had CNBC on, fire place on, sliding door all the way open. We can leave the balcony door open all night (we are on the second floor) because zero bugs at 9600 feet.
About 11a we headed out in our rain gear and a light drizzle to patrol the town. We walked the length of Main Street and back checking out all the sales — all summer stuff is 30-50% off. Bought some stuff (sweatshirt, light jacket for Bob, yoga pants, t-shirt for me). We had to do our ritual late lunch on the deck at Kenosha’s about 2p. It was sunny and warm enough. Bob was softly saying “Eat light, Bob; eat light, Bob.” ha. They had a whole slew of new cocktails so we had to try a couple….. Bob had a Master Caster: Breck bourbon, Breck bitters, gingerale, fresh lime juice served over ice. I had the Sweet and Spicytini which had a warning in block letters: VERY HOT AND SPICY. I will take that challenge any day: habanero and mango-infused vodka, mango puree, splash of soda, shaken with ice and served up. It wasn’t THAT hot but would have been way too sweet without the heat. Bob ordered the 8 oz sirloin with sides of cornbread and a ceasar (eating Not Light would have meant a loaded baked potato side…). I had a kale and spinach salad with strawberries, blueberries, raw cashews and citrus vinaigrette. It made me happy. We split a glass of Broken Earth Winery Quandry blend — grenache, syrah, petit syrah and viognier – from Paso that we are going to hunt down.
Spent a couple of hours in the room catching up on email and then trekked down to Briar Rose for Happy Hour. One of my favorite WC Fields quotes (paraphrasing): Why should we limit happy to just an hour? This town extends happy for three, four, five hours. It was thundering loudly on the walk down and sporadic drops falling. There was only one other guy at the bar and a couple of tables of people. I tried a White Flame Martini, for a record three new cocktails in one day. Pepper vodka, habanero olive juice and a Turkish pepper stuffed olive. It. Was. Hot. Bob couldn’t handle a sip. I had a low smoldering warmth the whole time I was drinking it. We put our name down across the street at Giampietros (WHITE CLAM PIZZA night!!!) and had time for another cocktail — two-for-one! I wasn’t going to have another martini and saw the bartender making a St. Germaine that I had to try. Prosecco, elderflower water and a lemon twist. Another new favorite! So refreshing and light. The bartender (Lindsy) said, “You go from my wild child White Flame to totally girly-girl.” Don’t judge.
We got a nice table at Giampietros sitting side-by-side looking out the window at stormy clouds over the ski slope. Bob had a caprese salad and spaghetti with italian sausage. I had the arugula salad and the white clam pizza. It is only served on Monday nights and I had been looking forward to it since Saturday when I saw it on the menu. It was the biggest pizza ever. The photo does not do it justice but perhaps the photo of the 8 packages of two and three slice leftovers indicates the ginormity of it.
All the tables around us were cracking up cause it was huge and I was the only one eating it. I managed four pieces which is one more than I should have. It was just olive oil, garlic, some mozzarella and covered in clams and arugula. D E L I C I O U S.
I carried home the leftover pizza and Bob’s pasta in the rain.
Bob and Sharon's Travel Diary 