FROM 1 MILE HIGH CITY TO ANOTHER

Howdy folks.

Last week we went from 1 mile high city to another. You see, we live on top of the world.

Our home here in beautiful Lake Arrowhead, California is positioned at just about 5,300 feet. I know because the GPS system in my car tells me it’s so. And in case you didn’t know, 1 mile is equal to about 5,280 feet.

It’s really special up here on our mountain top because much of the time we live above the clouds. When I was a kid I used to look up in the sky and wonder what it would be like to float inside a cloud. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Well, if you live in Lake Arrowhead you get lots of opportunities to experience living in a cloud, or on top of a cloud, or as I said, above the clouds too.

Well anyway, last week we left our mile high home above the clouds and drove down the hill through the clouds to the airport. By the way, right now our mountain roads are especially lovely because they are overflowing with beautiful yellow blooming Scotch Broom. On a side note I’ll point out that many folks hate this plant, which is identified as a “Noxious Weed” because it is invasive and helps to spread wildfire. Even so, it makes driving our mountain roads this time of year especially lovely.

Moving right along… we were going to the airport to catch a flight to another mile high city, Denver, Colorado.

We were doing this in order to allow our son Austin to tour the University of Colorado at Boulder on “Accepted Students Day”.  Being the mountain boy that he is, he wants to go to school on or near a mountain. And, it must be a mountain with easy access to his passion, skiing. The problem is, being the mountain boy that he is, he was torn between going to school in an urban city environment in order to see what living in a real city was like, or going to school in a smaller, more rural environment like where he has lived most his life. Decisions, decisions. Having already fallen in love with CU Denver, now it was time to compare and contrast it to CU Boulder, the 2 schools he had whittled his choices down to. So, off we went to Boulder, Colorado.

As I mentioned in my last post, we stayed in a cottage that is part of the Chautauqua National Historical Landmark.

It was late afternoon when we arrived so after settling in we headed right over to the Dining Hall. It’s operated by a company called Three Leaf Concepts, a local, family owned restaurant group and they do a very good job here at the Chautauqua Dining Hall. They also operate an organic farm that supplies the restaurant with fresh, seasonal fruits & vegetables.

We had a very pleasant dining experience in this very pleasant atmosphere.

It was late afternoon, a little early to eat, so we opted to sit at the bar and enjoy a glass of wine before sitting down to dinner.

I’m a lover of Pinot Grigio wine. The bartender Norm recommended this Pinot from Washington State that turned out to be quite good. I took a photo of the bottle in order to remind myself to look for it again. We also ordered these Roasted Brussel Sprouts in a honey, chile & lime sauce that were delicious.

After, admittedly, more than 1 glass of that delicious Pinot Grigio we moved to a table to eat dinner. The first thing they brought to us was this corn bread. As you can see it was dense but very moist and had a delicious crunchy top to it. WE ALL LOVED IT! It was so good that I asked for the recipe but regrettably they said it was TOP SECRET.

The corn bread was served with this really yummy dish of homemade Apple Butter. It reminded me of my childhood, which I think was the last time I ate Apple Butter. I need to put Apple Butter in my memory bank and make some with the apples from my apple tree. Remind me if I forget to do that, OK?.

I ordered a Kale Salad to start. It was made with Mandarin Oranges, Pomegranate Seeds, Fontina Cheese, Roasted Almonds and was dressed in an Apple Cider Vinaigrette. It was a really nice combination. The only thing I would have changed about the salad was the texture. The kale needed to be chopped up.

For dinner I ordered their Buttermilk Fried Chicken with Country Gravy on a bed of Spring Pea Mashed Potatoes with a Biscuit on the side. It was very low calorie. I would have liked to have shown you what Brad & Austin ordered for dinner but they think I’m obnoxious and they get embarrassed when I take pictures at the table, at least that’s what they say. The truth is they just want to dive in. 

After a really enjoyable dinner in a nice environment with good service and sweet bartender Norm, we went to bed fat and happy. The next morning we had business to attend to: Visiting the enormous CU Boulder Campus. You know all those calories I consumed the night before at dinner? Well, I burned them all off and more hiking around that campus all day.

Our visit to CU Boulder deserves a blog post all to itself so stay tuned for that. In the meantime you might also like:

My recipe for Brussel Sprouts and Fried Chicken, just in case my dinner above put you in the mood. I am going to have to try and knock-off their recipe for Corn Bread one day soon.

So there you have it: FROM 1 MILE HIGH CITY TO ANOTHER

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