Breckenridge

We left camp @ 9:30 am after our usual coffee on arising, then breakfast at Poker Alice. We gassed up in Gunnison, calculated that the price/gal. is 50 cents less than at The Sportsman in L.C. We haven't bought much gas there this summer.
We passed up our usual lunch stop at Buena Vista (Jan's Restaurant), knowing we'd hit right on schedule with the after church crowd, and motored on to Fairplay, where we ate at the Brown Burro on Highway 9. Very good. E had a buffalo burger; I had taco salad. Recommend it, despite the huge crowd it was a pleasant lunch stop. The help all appeared to be happy, and that says something.
We arrived in Breck @3 pm, were able to immediately check in to our well equipped, well furnished, studio accommodation (Marriott's Mountain Lodge). We had a good dinner at Eric's in the Basement, a place where we often ate during our skiing years. Prices these years later are higher, but still reasonable by today's standard.
We both felt tired and could hardly wait till what we like to consider our earliest allowed bedtime: 9 pm. Strangely, both of us had rather sleepless nights, "drifting", as we call it, not a sound sleep but going in and out of that twilight zone that isn't so restful. We know that altitude can cause sleep problems, but can 1000' more make a difference? Perhaps, since today we both have had loggy legs walking around town, and low energy. We're being kind to ourselves, really lazy today.
We've walked Main Street, did some nostalgia stuff talking about our good times, and the not so good (torn rotator cuff, E) times here. We had breakfast at a French cafe, outstanding! And a very late lunch of to-die-for New Eng. clam chowder at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Factory. We figure we'll gain 5 lb. this week, based on the first day's eating! Maybe we'll stay in for sliced turkey and cheese deli (walked to the market this morning, too) meat sandwiches this evening. We are still feeling lazy, and quite stuffed as well. And the weather's turned very cool and blustery outside, staying in is looking good.

Am adding this edit much later, on Sept. 21, as I realize we had more to say about our week in Breck. Let's see, I fell in love with wheat beer, something I tasted in Europe but sampled again throughout this week where there were sooooo many breweries and bar/restaurants. We spent many hours simply wandering the town, revisiting the many spots that became so familiar during our skiing days.

We made 2 trips to the magnetic Walmart Supercenter in Avon, west of Vail @ 10 mi. We stocked up on and froze @20 lb. of meat to take back to LC, plus all kinds of what seem like important incidentals when they're not available! We viewed the scene of E's "crash and burn" ski accident that tore his rotator cuff; the area sure looks different in the summer, even appears rather sweet and gentle now with no snow coverage.

We enjoyed the municipal golf club practice range, in a week's time, between the 2 of us, we hit umpty-ump buckets of bright yellow balls onto their lush, green practice area. The golf club is really a lovely place, 27 holes, and can be played rather reasonably (that's all relative, folks!) in the late afternoon. The clubhouse has a spacious patio overlooking a verdant view, with flowerbeds and flowerpots abloom everywhere you look. We enjoyed lunch and, in my case, some of that wheat beer (E opts for more traditional stuff) several times.

One of the week's highlights was our get-together with Signe Pedersen and her group of lifelong girlfriends, at the condo where they headquartered for a few days. We had a wonderful evening with the gals (we think of them now as the YaYa Sisterhood); following a riotous Happy Hour, they provided us a great dinner and more merriment as we all reminisced, told our "life stories", explored how everyone is connected, and discussed our future plans. Uppermost in the Plans category was Signe's impending wedding to Ray Anderson just after Labor Day. And, of course we talked with love about our dear departed Howard, it was so good to honor his memory with much laughter and joy instead of tears. Our memories of Howard now are centered around the many fun times, jokes and experiences we shared, rather than the months when we watched and waited for his inevitable death and shared Signe's grief.

Later in the week, on Thursday, we drove to Beaver Creek and met Flory and Joe Bourne for lunch, followed by a tour of the facilities where they own their timeshare, Post Montane. We enjoyed a leisurely visit with Joe and Flory; typically, when we see one another it's with a crowd of other people around, so on this occasion we were able to have more one-on-one conversation than usual....nice! The company, the food, the ambiance and the weather were all magnificent.

We had an uneventful trip back to LC, a trip that's becoming routine in a way, but is always beautifully different, nonetheless.