Day Nine
Breckenridge to Meadow Gulch Trailhead and back via Frisco 45 miles
Woke up to SUNSHINE! Walked down to coffee with computer and iPad so we could work, read there for a little while.
While we were there, we got the sad news that Bob’s best friend and mentor passed. It had been a long time coming so there is some relief but we are sad. Two years ago this week we were here when our dear friend Michael Cleary died. RIP all of our loved ones, family and friends.
Bob has been dying for a crepe from the French bakery and since they don’t open til 8a we lingered more than usual over coffee. Bob is also trying to figure out a route home tomorrow. The crepes were perfection. Bob had a lemon custard with raspberries and powdered sugar. I had a classic ham and cheese and asked they please use half the normal amount of cheese. It couldn’t have been a better ratio of buckwheat crepe to ham to cheese if I had been looking over the guy’s shoulder. I wolfed it down while it was still hot and melty.
We decided to hell with the weather — big dark clouds all around and some sprinkles off and on — and went to take a hike that we passed going to and from Aspen. It is called the Meadow Gulch Trailhead and is a short but pretty steep ascent up to ruins of a cabin that was used when they mined up there. We had some sun but big rain clouds all around. The peaks got snow last night, as we predicted after pedaling in the freezing rain yesterday. Bob got some great photos.
We stopped in Frisco for lunch at the 5th Avenue Grille on Main Street. Wish it was in our neighborhood!! Really nice owner/manager and bartender. We sat at the bar and Bob got the last order of fish and chips. I ordered a beet salad and we both had a glass of Hob Nob Pinot Noir that we got to know at Le Mon Ami Gabi, the restaurant we love at Paris in Las Vegas. The fish and chips were stellar. I had a big bite and it was perfect. Bob said the fish and chips at the funny little restaurant in Bishop that we found totally by accident — we were turning around to check out another place we had passed, also a Friday in August, 4 or 5 years ago — came closest to being as good as these. The bartender said they sell out very quickly — we there just after noon. The beet salad hit the spot: very fresh red leaf and butter lettuce with still-crunchy beets, matchstick carrots, goat cheese and an orange vinaigrette that had a lovely spice of cumin or something. The dinner menu was good too and reasonable. Frisco is probably 10% cheaper than Breckenridge and about 10 miles away.
Walked around the town one last time before showering, last check of email before our offices shutdown for the weekend and headed out for our last night of Breck Happy Hours.
And we sort of blew it. Though it started out very happily at Modis. Happy Hour meant $3 off $12 cocktails — pages of them! — and also $3 off wines by the glass. They have a fantastic, eclectic wine list that we have enjoyed before. We were introduced to The Prisoner (and Orin Swift) at Modis several years ago. We decided to have a cocktail. Bob ordered a Moda Antiqua: tequila, grapefruit bitters, agave nectar, oranges and Luxardo cherry, muddled; served over ice. Another one to make at home! I had a pretty drink called The Day Walker: vodka, Domaine Canton (ginger) and watermelon juice served up with a cilantro sprig. Starts sweet and then the ginger kicks in, very refreshing. A word about bitters. Modis had at least a dozen different kinds/flavors. Herbal, floral, spicy.
From Modis we wanted to go to Briar Rose but it was SRO with several people who looked like they had already been standing for some time. We miscalculated the incoming Friday afternoon crowds on a three-day weekend. We headed up the hill to Hearthstone only to find that the entire upstairs bar/happy hour area had been bought out for a private party. Ugh. Really??
We went down the street to Southridge where we had been a few years ago and enjoyed the seafood apps. Bob got a Chivas ($1 off cocktails and wines but the glass) and I had a Estancia Unoaked Chardonnay. We didn’t feel like ordering anything — still bummed that it was almost 6p and we had busted on Happy Hour plan! We did have a fun conversation with a feisty little widow who was at the bar drinking a martini when we sat down next to her. She has a house in Palm Springs, Breckenridge and her main residence on Bainbridge Island. She drives herself between them with her Shitzu Max, listening to books on tape. We traded book titles.
We couldn’t decide what we wanted for dinner. Walked back along Main Street that was packed. Ended up at Taddeo’s which is near the Hyatt and is the Hyatt’s room service option. It used to be really good. But. We sat at the bar with sort of a dopey bartender whose answer or comment to everything was Right On. We split a caesar salad that was drowning in dressing but did have fresh anchovies. The bruschetta was decent chopped tomatoes, basil and garlic with a little balsamic but the toast was limped. I scrapped the tomatoes off and added them to a little of the salad. Bob ordered the chicken parmesan that looked good and came with some very tasty haricots verts. Bob said it was good not great. I ordered the tower of eggplant. The description was a stack of eggplant and mushrooms topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella. I asked them to hold the mozzarella except for a sprinkling which they did. However…. the eggplant was breaded and fried — I probably should have guessed; once I picked off all the breading the eggplant was good as were the mushrooms and the sauce but my plate looked like a wreck and it wasn’t worth the effort for a few bites. Sigh. A couple of glasses of decent Chianti were the highlight.
We walked back to the room sort of bummed to have messed up the logistics of our last night but we were more bummed to be leaving. Started packing for a long day of driving tomorrow.
Bob and Sharon's Travel Diary 