a birthday

I am writing this on the morning of Saturday, August 18.  I have decaf brewed and a piping hot mug of it beside me.  Conrad is still in bed.  It is now exactly three weeks since my 54th.  Long past due for a post, and a long post with a lot of photos to come.  Bear with me!

I woke up before everyone else on that Saturday morning.  In truth, I didn't sleep well that weekend - too much indulgence, maybe the altitude.  The nice thing, though, is that waking up early meant that I had time to myself to wander into downtown Breckenridge,

grab a decaf latte at Starbucks, and then see a little of the place. 

A few photos, some steps, and then it was back to the AirBnB to join the others.  Courtney and Robert were awake when I got back, Conrad needed more time.  That Conrad!

Once everyone was awake, we headed into town, parking near Starbucks so that everyone could grab a coffee.  Food and beverage in our bellies, we headed to the nearby free gondola so that we could head up to the mountain ski resort village and look around. 

That was a cool ride, fairly smooth for someone like me who doesn't like dangling off of a cable. 

Although we could have taken chair lifts higher (and done various activities on the bare slopes), we were already at 10,000 feet above sea level,

and we had a food and wine festival to get to.

The festival was different than I expected.  Not bad different, but different.  I kind of thought there would be chefs and tastings and demonstrations of cooking, but no, none of those.  There was the dinner (and a brunch on Sunday that we skipped) plus a "lounge" with food for the VIP guests (the lounge was the entirety of a restaurant on the plaza).  Otherwise, it was like a farmer's market with nothing cordoned off. 

The wristbands prevented those who hadn't paid for the festival from tasting.  We could wander among the stalls and find things like the hematite bracelet I bought for Conrad or the candles I purchased and still taste wines and more.

The wines were not from single wineries.  In some cases, there were conglomerates that owned wineries worldwide, and so you might have NZ, CA, and Italian wines all at the same stall.  There were also importers and even a wine and spirits store in nearby Frisco represented.  Oh, and spirits producers!  Robert and I especially appreciated that one.  So we arrived for the VIP time, ate some lunch, and got to tasting.  After one pass round, we took a break, then went out for more, though Conrad and Courtney stayed in the coolness of the lounge.  All in all, we were there three hours.  I poured out much of what I tasted, not because it was awful but because there was a lot to taste.  And we drank a lot of water!  There were some good wines

and spirits,

though, and it was nice to try them.  We couldn't purchase liquor at the event, but I found the Breckenridge Gin

at the store in Frisco on the way home and brought it back to California.

Naptime for all,

and then it was the walk into town

for dinner at a place that looked promising.  It featured a raw bar, and I thought that would be welcome after a day of wines and such.  And, indeed, the oysters at The Carlin were excellent

as were the biscuits. 

The rest of the food was fine,

but something clearly happened in the kitchen - we were seated nearby, and it was an open kitchen, so we could watch things going on - that fouled up our entrees and led to quite a delay.  And the inevitable happened - people know they messed up, and they avoid coming to check on us because they don't want to hear questions or complaints.  It was still a nice birthday dinner, but the cooking was unfortunately uneven as was the service.  I'd go back for a martini and oysters, but I might try elsewhere for entrees.  Ah well.

Sunday came, and my birthday was over.  I once again got out on foot without everyone, grabbing my Starbucks, taking a photo or two. 

The drive home

was longer than the drive to Breckenridge due to an accident shutting down the interstate.  A fine day for a drive, but a long drive.  There were very welcome tacos at Pica's for us at the end of that one.

And then it was Monday.  I was 54 and 2 days old, and we were flying home from Denver. 

A super weekend with Courtney and Robert, a terrific birthday.  Now then, what shall I do next year?

on to Breckenridge

The last Friday in July, we woke up a little hungover (sorry), and finally got ourselves out on the road.  A drive from near Boulder at 5430 feet above sea level to Breckenridge at 9600 feet.  Good friends, we climbed!  Not a bad drive in terms of time and distance, but my gosh, did it pour and even hail. 

Kudos to Robert for his steady driving. 

Conrad and I visited Breckenridge briefly in about 2003 or 2004.  Nice place.  Touristy and justifiably so.  After we got to our AirBnB (I remain unconvinced that AirBnB is the best way to stay in any locale, by the way - this one was fine enough),

we wandered into the downtown, about a ten minute walk. 

We needed a light lunch, but it was also good to orient ourselves to the area where the Saturday event would be.

For my birthday, I bought us all VIP tickets to the Breckenridge Food and Wine Festival.  I'll have more to say about the main day of the festival, my actual birthday, in another post, but one of the things the ticket got us into was a wine pairing dinner on the Friday night.  That was a good time.  A lot of people at the event,

but they stayed on top of things pretty well.  A thunderstorm rolled through, and that was cool for those of us from rain-starved California. 

I felt like the wine pairings were almost all pretty good - all Italian wines and even a tasty spritz to start

with a product that I want to find and use at home. 

The exception was the Amarone and the chocolate desert.  The food was alright. 

I overlooked the fact that most of it was barely warm because getting that much food out at the same time is quite a feat.  The scallop,

the first course, was best, but the food became a little messier and less well done as we progressed,

and the dessert was a little sad. 

But it was fine!  The room was loud, the wine pours were a little skimpy, and yet we had a good time.  Enough complaining, self!  We had a fine time.

That was the start of our two days in Breckenridge.  More to come!