Motorcycle Madness--Part 2

A little bit about the food experiences on our trip:

"Take the picture already!"

I told you before, one of Britt and my favorite things about these trips is discovering fabulous places to eat along the way. The truth is when we travel with our kids, we usually settle for the "safe" standard places to eat, like McDonald's (yeah, I admit it). But when it is just the two of us, we like to stop and ask the locals about the best place to eat in town. It's not always the most reliable advice, but usually we can find something interesting at least.

On Wednesday, we detoured a little bit off our route, so we could go to Telluride to eat lunch. Jesse recommended a Mexican place there where he had eaten before. It was good advice. Cocina de Luz was yummy. I had a tamale and cheese enchilada. They were both very good, but I preferred the tamale. And the Mexican Coke in a bottle with a glass full of ice was the perfect compliment to our meals.

That evening, we finally arrived in Steamboat just after 8:00 pm. I was feeling a little "carsick". Our crew had notified us (Jesse) that they would be eating dinner there, so we planned to meet them once we pulled into town. Good choice. I can't remember the name of the place, but the burgers came with a steak knife. They were huge, and the meat was juicy, and the toppings were fresh. Since I wasn't feeling well, I ordered a mushroom slider, which was quite good and really all I needed at that point. I had sweet potato fries that weren't the best I have ever had, but I actually liked them better than Britt's cheese fries.

I disappointed Britt a little by opting for the motel breakfast most days. I just wanted to save some money in our food budget where I could. But Britt is a breakfast person; he makes wonderful breakfasts at our house all the time. So, waffles, boiled eggs, and bagels didn't really cut it for him. One day, we ate breakfast out, at the Eggcredible Cafe (which incidentally I had a coupon for, back home. silly me). My breakfast was decent, a half order of Eggs Benedict California style. I enjoyed the avocados on my eggs, but the spinach was slimy, like it was cooked and like it was old. I just took it off and ate it without it. Britt ordered on the recommendation of the waitress. The stuffed burrito smothered in green chile sauce was huge and delicious. When Joe and Carol joined us halfway through breakfast, Britt offered half to Carol. She really enjoyed it also. Then Joe offered me some of his peach vanilla waffle. Oh my goodness! The waffle was almost cakelike, and the topping was like a cream cheese blintz filling with peach preserves. It was so good when Joe offered me more, I was thrilled to accept.

I already told you about Back Country Provisions for lunch in Steamboat. The place was highly recommended (we found out after we happened into there). I don't think I have ever had a sandwich with such fresh ingredients (and that includes sandwiches I have made myself). Britt was a little sad we had opted to split a sandwich. And the Ore House that night was kind of pricey but good. If I had a complaint it would be that the steaks were cooked a little more than what we had requested (all around the table). Still, the salad bar there was very good (if impossible to see the food because of the dim lighting) and the rolls brought out before dinner were good enough to almost miss dinner. But the highlight of that meal was the desserts. Mississippi Mud pie with a massive heaping of ice cream. Massive! The others enjoyed a brownie a la mode, also massive. Very, very good.

In Boulder, Britt and I determined we had to go to Beau Jo's, since we had seen it featured on Man vs. Food. Even though the rest of our crew decided to go to a nearby Chili's Restaurant. I didn't love the particular pizza that we ordered on the waiter's recommendation, but the stuffed mushroom appetizer was almost the highlight of our whole trip. And it was so fun to watch a cute couple one table over with their small children. It was like they were all on a fun family date. Usually I don't miss my kids all that much, but I really enjoyed how sweet these beautiful parents were with their young kids. Sometimes eating out with young children can be fairly stressful, but these guys all seemed like they were having their own private party. I loved it!

Lunch on Saturday is not worth mentioning (Carl's Junior). When we finally arrived in Gunnison late that evening, we were nervous we wouldn't find a place open late enough to accommodate us after we got checked in and pried ourselves out of our wet rain gear (wet on the inside). Luckily, the Palisade Restaurant was open. Very luckily. My french dip sandwich was really quite good, tons of sliced roast beef on a crusty baguette. Unfortunately, I could only manage to eat half. But fortunately, I also enjoyed a delicious bowl of fresh made tomato bisque. The perfect way to warm up after our cold ride.

Sunday, we spent about 30 minutes melting into Durango while trying to find somewhere to eat. Some of those places there aren't even open for lunch on the weekends. ??? We managed to find a Mexican place to eat there, nicely air conditioned, a good place to take a break. The food there was good also, not spectacular, but reasonably priced and pleasing to the palate. It was portioned almost exactly right for me also. Britt had a chicken quesadilla which for an appetizer was very filling. As a matter of fact, lunch was so good, we decided it was good enough to count for dinner, too. It was so nice to get home, safe and dry that evening, that once we rounded up our beloved children, we went straight to bed.

What are some fun places to eat you guys have discovered in your travels? What made you love it? There are still a couple places I would like to revisit just for the food, and they are thousands of miles away.

More about our ride when I next post. :)

Motorcycle Madness--Part 1

Since the other posts about our motorcycle trip included only pictures taken with my Droid phone, I thought I would share some of the pictures I took with my regular camera. Actually, it is Britt's regular camera. I love my own camera too much to subject it to the trauma of coming along on a motorcycle ride.

Actually, it is too big. It would take up too much space to pack, in my opinion. And although Lorraine Laws takes some amazing pictures from the back of her husband's motorcycle with her nice (large) camera, I don't think I would enjoy having my camera around my neck for the whole ride. Not to mention trying to look through the viewfinder with a big helmet in your way. I actually don't know how she does that. I think maybe her helmet is a little different than mine.

What I do, actually, is take tons of video with my Flip camera all along the way. It is easy to hold. Also, it is fun to actually see the scenery when I look back at the videos, just like it was when I rode through. But those videos actually make for extremely massive files when you are trying to upload to a blog. So, sorry, I probably won't post those here.


This collage includes pictures I took on the first day of our trip. That was Wednesday the 13th. That day it was just Britt and I traveling with his brother Jesse. The rest of our crew on the motorcycle ride included Britt's parents, Joe and Carol Barton, along with Carl and DeAnn Hunt and Bob and Relva Bowring. They started their ride on Friday, the 8th. They traveled into Yellowstone, over Bear Tooth Pass into Montana and through other parts of Wyoming before meeting us in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Joe's motorcycle actually had a tire blow on Saturday. He had to have the motorcycle towed into the next town. The dealer there didn't have a tire that would fit his bike, so they patched the leak and then Joe and Carol limped into Cody Wyoming on Sunday. On Monday, they were able to get a new tire and continue on the trip. They were able to catch up with the others who had journeyed on without them.

Wednesday was a long riding day for us. We saw a lot of varied scenery. We were very lucky to stay mostly dry. Only one moment we were sprinkled on while stopped at a gas station in Rifle. I got my rain gear on, but we ended up missing the storms. It was still nice to have, since we passed through several places where it had recently rained and the air was a bit chilly.

When we were a few miles out of Steamboat Springs, we came around a corner to discover a white car traveling illegally in our lane of traffic while it attempted to pass another car on a double yellow line. There was no time to react. Basically, we had to travel onto the shoulder to get around it. We would have gone off the road if we were in a car.

(oops! Carl was getting a little too expressive while talking to us as we were stopped at a gas station on our ride. He spilled his Pepsi all over the back of his bike. He is just rinsing it off with water here. I am sure he washed it really well when we got back to town)

The second day of our trip, the crew had planned to ride up into Laramie, Wyoming, a some 300+ mile ride round trip. Since they had encountered closed roads due to a landslide, and making the trip to Laramie would actually be a lot of backtracking for them, they decided to change the ride. We just traveled about 160 miles over a few mountain passes south of Steamboat. Then we spent the afternoon enjoying the town of Steamboat.

Enjoying the town of Steamboat for me meant taking a long nap in our lovely motel room. I think the previous day's long ride (11 hours, including stops) had taken something out of me. For Britt, it meant reading all the travel guides, determining the best places to eat in Steamboat and other things to try and do while we were there. Britt could tell you that the reason the town is called Steamboat Springs is some old trappers were hiking years ago and thought they heard what sounded like a steamboat, only to discover the hot springs were making that sound. After the railroad tracks were established in the area, they damaged the springs, so they no longer sound like that.

That evening, before we ate dinner at the Ore House (which was very good, by the way), Britt and I went on our own little ride up the mountain, toward Buffalo Pass. But we hadn't gone very far, when the paved road turned into a dirt road. We traveled up a ways and then carefully made our way back down. It was really nice to take a leisurely drive. The rest of our crew isn't happy unless they are going at least 70 mph.

We would definitely love to visit Steamboat again someday. With our family preferably.

Rocky Mountain National Park on Friday was awesome! We stopped a couple times. It was fun to watch the elk below us emerge from the trees and gradually make their way all the way up to the road. I didn't get any pictures of them by the road, but we saw them there when we continued on our way. Britt and I also took advantage of the opportunity to get some mementos and birthday gifts for our kids. When we came out of the gift shop, we discovered Carl and DeAnn and Bob and Relva had proceeded without us. I guess we didn't mean to hold anyone up. It was just nice to take a break.

Britt had hoped to meet with a friend he knows through the business coaching program he is involved with. He lives in Estes Park, and we passed right through there. But since Britt hadn't reached him by email, we weren't able to do meet him there. From there it was on to Boulder. Down to the heat. Wow, we felt like we were plastered to our motorcycles once we finally found our motel.

I hope you really don't mind these posts. You know, we had a fabulous time. And there are lots of ideas we have for the next time we head out on another motorcycle adventure. If you are interested in joining us, please let me know. You don't even need a motorcycle. We don't have one. We "rented" one from a friend of ours.

Day Four: Loving Colorful Colorado

Yesterday was an eventful day.

We left Boulder around 10. Headed up a canyon road, following a river. We stopped and hiked to some beautiful falls. Then on the road again. Lots of gorgeous mountain scenery. More lovely wildflowers.

We passed by more lakes and fishing streams. Then we drove through a town in the middle of the mountain, full of casinos. The town was called Blackhawk and it was hopping. Several cars coming there from both sides. Most of the casinos looked pretty new, like built in the last five years.

After that we headed up to Mount Evans, which was about 60 miles out of the way, but absolutely worth the detour.14,200+ feet high up. I heard someone say it is the highest paved road in America. Don't know if that's a fact, but pretty high for sure.

After Mt. Evans we ate in Idaho Springs. Yes, that's in Colorado.

On the road again. We were riding over Loveland Pass when we saw another biker go off the road. Our men helped him get his bike out and then we followed him to a nearby town.

On our way again, we opted for the quickest route, which included Monarch Pass where we got rained on. Trying to put raingear on in pouring rain is tricky, just so you know. We were so glad to pull into Gunnison at 8:30.

Offroad Adventures During Our Motorcycle Trip

I don't even know if this will work, but I have to try because some of our crew would like to see this video of Jesse hill climbing on a road bike.

No, it wasn't Jesse's bike. We were heading up Loveland Pass halfway through our day. We were on a downhill spot, coming to a curve when we saw a motorcycle rider, who was coming the opposite way, slide off the road. We quickly turned around to see if he was okay.

He had wrecked and landed down in a creek, with his bike on top of him. Another passer-by had stopped and got the bike off him. All our men worked together to get the motorcycle out of the ditch. Then Jesse got it started and they helped push him out.

It's a lot steeper than it looks.

We followed the man on his motorcycle into a nearby town, so he could rest and get medical help, if necessary. He was really lucky. He was wearing a helmet, a leather vest, chaps, and good boots. He may have wrenched his knee and may have bruised or broken ribs. But otherwise, he was alright. It could have been a lot worse.

And we were lucky to be able to help him.

So much more happened today, but I am not up for posting it tonight. LONG day. Maybe I will share more tomorrow.

Hump Day (or the middle of our trip)--Steamboat to Boulder via Rocky Mountain National Park

Beautiful, beautiful day today. The wildflowers south of Steamboat were absolutely gorgeous! This picture doesn't even come close to capturing the beauty that we saw, but we were on the go the whole time. When we stopped for construction, this is the pic I snapped.

Speaking of construction, I have never seen anything like that. I took video I will show you later. Pavement Recycling. Trucks tearing up the pavement followed by other trucks laying it down. Just driving by on our motorcycle we were overwhelmed by the heat and noise. I don't envy those construction workers.

I was excited to go through Rocky Mountain National Park. Visiting the national parks is also a favorite part of these trips for us. We stopped to look at a scenic overlook, and we were able to watch a herd of elk move out of the trees and up the hillside. Later we saw some large bull elk, but I didn't get very good pictures because we were on the go again.

We enjoyed taking some time at the Visitor Center near the top of the mountain. They had some unique items in the gift shop. It was kind of windy but nothing like the freezing wind and snow we encountered last year at Glacier National Park. As I said before, today was just a beautiful day, a really nice ride.

We left the park and then passed through Estes Park. I think I would like to spend more time there some day. It looks like an interesting place. Britt actually knows someone who lives there, and we hoped to visit him, but we weren't able to contact him.

The further down from the mountain we came the hotter we got. By the time we reached our motel in Boulder we had to unstick ourselves from the bike. While we were happy to be done with riding, we were hungry, ready to get something to eat.

In particular, we wanted to check out Beau Jo's Pizza. Britt especially wanted to try it since it it had been featured on Man vs. Food. Our waiter recommended the Dude Ranch. I have to admit to you, it wasn't my favorite. Loved the crust, but the ranch sauce and the chicken just didn't impress me. The stuffed mushrooms we had for an appetizer made the trip there worth it. Also, the hand-rolled crusts with honey were really the best part of the pizza for me. Britt actually dropped his first piece of pizza in his Pepsi. That was kind of funny. If the taste had been phenomenal, it would have been a tragedy.

On our way back to the motel, we got stuck at a light for almost 5 minutes. It started to rain when we stopped and then we seriously got pelted. We weren't drenched necessarily, but we couldn't help wondering if the light would ever change.

The motel is in a residential area, it's pretty old and doesn't include breakfast, but at least we are all in the same motel this time. And tomorrow is going to be another lovely ride.

By the way, that first picture was part of my breakfast, at a place called Chocolate Soup. A dark chocolate shell covering chocolate cake and raspberry mousse. It was YUMMY! And Britt even let me have some.

Sorry, Becky. I don't think it would have traveled well.

Day Two: Riding Mountain Passes Around Steamboat Springs

Today our plans included a ride up to Laramie, Wyoming. Plans change. Our crew looked around Steamboat and decided they wanted more time to just enjoy hanging out here. So instead we road some nice windy mountain roads down south of Steamboat.

We didn't stop much and we didn't take it easy. We were back in Steamboat by 1:30. Went to lunch at Backcountry Provisions. Britt and I shared a delicious turkey sandwich. We later found out it is the most recommended sandwich place in town. It was really good.

Then we did a little window shopping downtown. Went back to our motel for a nap. And took our own mini ride on a mountain road (dirt road), Buffalo Pass where we had a really nice view looking down on Steamboat.

Dinner at the Ore House. Britt made reservations last week. He knew it would be good. He ate there when he was here with his buddies in February for a big snowmobile trip. The trip where he came home with a couple broken ribs. But he had an epic good time before he hurt himself. How many days were you home then before you admitted to me that you were in extreme pain, Britt?

Dinner was sooo good. That really is one of our favorite parts of these trips. We like to find new places to eat good food. Sometimes we find amazing food that rocks our taste buds and makes us wish we could go back to that restaurant back in Crescent City, CA. Maybe we could start doing food reviews along the way on our road rides. If I wasn't texting these blog posts I would give you more info.

The Mexican food we had yesterday in Telluride was also crazy good, and the burgers we had last night here at a place called Big House Burgers were so big, we had to cut them with a steak knife to eat them.

After dinner, we came back to our motel, the Inn at Steamboat. I purchased a deal on LivingSocial Escapes that got us the room for 2 nights for the cost of 1. And it is a nice place. Kind of like a renovated condo building, just a little nicer than a basic hotel. We have enjoyed being here two days. The room is clean, nicely decorated, and the bed is ridiculously comfortable, not just because we are exhausted from riding the motorcycle. I like it here.

The ride will be longer tomorrow. I am hoping for more stops and more picture opportunities. It is time for me to get comfortable in this lovely bed. Goodnight.

Colorado Road Ride--Day One: Blanding to Steamboat Springs via Telluride, Rifle, etc.

Wow, it is so good to be in our motel room in Steamboat Springs tonight! So nice to not be on a motorcycle right now. Don't get me wrong. I love being with my husband and seeing all these beautiful sights. But being on the road for 11 hours (including stops) is definitely long enough for me. We left Blanding at 9:00 am and pulled into Steamboat Springs at 8:15 pm. Yeah, it is good to be here.

Sights we saw today:

A lot of trees.
Rocks
Mountains
Waterfalls
Rivers, lakes and creeks
Fishermen
Sailboats
Historic homes
Factories
A car in our lane that almost killed us (that was actually a time it was GOOD we were on a motorcycle and not in a car, because we were able to veer around them)
Lots of corn and other crops
Clouds
Wet roads

Animals we saw (mostly I saw):
vulture
lots of crows
lots of magpies
lots of cows
horses
a herd of elk
some deer (various places)
a beaver
a red fox
a muskrat
prairie dogs

I did not take very many pictures. We were mostly on the go the whole day. Tomorrow should be a little more mellow.

I have to say I am really grateful that we missed the rain today. On three separate occasions, we came through places where it had obviously just rained, but it was over once we came through. We know we missed a big hailstorm because someone at a gas station told us they had passed through one in the direction we were going. We were also told we missed a monsoon by 30 minutes when we pulled into Steamboat. So, those of you who were praying for our safety THANK YOU.

I guess we will see if the picture posts, too. Maybe I will update you tomorrow.

Life on the Open Road

This is going to be me tomorrow. We are headed to Steamboat Springs and other destinations in Colorado and Wyoming for a group motorcycle ride. Jealous? Maybe not, but you should try it sometime. There is nothing like the freedom of riding on the back of a motorcycle, and it is a whole new view of your world.

Maybe I will keep you updated as we go. Maybe not. We will see.