Colorado Impressions

After traveling to Colorado for the last several years at Thanksgiving to visit Anson's family, it was really a nice change of pace to head out during the warm fall.  No winter clothes needed this time, I left with one half-full suitcase and a carry-on of tomatoes and flying saucer squash from our garden. I went from cool beach weather to hot, dry mountain air (AKA Good Hair Weather) and had to shed my jacket as soon as the plane touched down. 

First stop was meeting with my friend Claire, who has blog called A Plate Full and lives in Denver. We originally met at Food Blog Camp in Mexico last January and it was fun to see her again and really sit down and talk. She brought us to a couple hip places on Larimer Square for some drinks and eats.

We got to TAG right between lunch and dinner, but we were able to get some interesting cocktails and great appetizers.

Crú: A Wine Bar had a nice selection of wines, available by the glass or in flights. This dry rose hit the spot on a hot day.

Day Two we headed out to Boulder where a farmer's market at was in full effect.

Amazing bell peppers.

Farm-fresh corn

We stopped for lunch at Walnut Brewery, "Boulder's Original Brew Pub," where I drooled over Anson's lunch, a burger with a Jim Beam Bourbon glaze and gorgonzola cheese. It was fittingly called the Bourbonzola Burger. The beer was great too, I had a light-colored Indian Peaks Pale Ale and Anson had the Big Horn Bitter. I argued with him that the server mixed up our beers when I saw the gold-colored beer set in front of me.  Turns out they make their pale ale a little lighter and their bitter is a caramel color.  Who knew?

We headed back up the mountain to where the real fun began.  And by "real fun" I mean "back-breaking work."

The impending winter meant there was lots of wood (3.5 cords) to be picked up, loaded, unloaded, stacked, covered, and chopped into kindling.  And then there was the untreated railroad ties made from oak that had to be split with a sledgehammer.  Fortunately, there was enough beer to keep the guys going and enough sharp tools to keep me engaged.

Anson, along with his brother, cousins, parents and I formed a well-oiled assembly line for unloading and stacking the wood.

The last log!

Anson Bunyan

And believe it or not, there are still plenty of trees left.