Fast Forward to Breckenridge

We're on our last day of a week's timeshare trade in Breckenridge, what we call a Civilization Break. Being in a town that is almost totally resort-oriented, pedestrian friendly, with a lovely golf complex, and full of excellent restaurants and shops is a 180 from our life in Lake City. It's fun for a visit, but the intense traffic, volume of people, pricey merchandise (with some exception), and lack of parking wear thin after a while.

We've been fortunate with the weather, and that's allowed us to take advantage of the great golf practice range almost daily. The price of actually playing is formidable, but we enjoy the exercise and challenge of the practice range as much as golfing anyway, especially when faced with a strange course. So we hit buckets and buckets of balls, go away exhausted and happy.

One shop housed a great find--$7.99 for a boxy blue , lightweight, loose fitting cotton beachwear-style jacket that promptly became Carole's favorite wardrobe piece. It's so great, perfect weight for Arizona winter weather, that another one in another color was on our agenda the next day. Do you think we could find that shop again amongst the many, many that all look alike, up and down Main Street?? Oh, no. Finally gave it up when our breath and legs wore out, looked again yesterday and finally found it! And they had one left, in an attractive rosy red color and our mission was accomplished.

Bubba Gump's Shrimp Factory has become our restaurant of choice, their clam chowder is a great lunch, and we've had shrimp 2 nights in a row, especially like their Shrimp Dippin' Pot. This meal includes @ a dozen shrimp in a kettle of spicy broth, a small loaf of French bread for dipping, jasmine rice, and cole slaw. It's a feast, highly recommended to anyone who encounters a Bubba Gump's restaurant.

We thoroughly enjoyed the drive from LC to Breck; the weather was fine, traffic light, and as always, scenery was gorgeous. We feel we could explore Colorado forever and not see it all, and even repetitious drives like this one look new and different, yet familiar at the same time.

On Monday evening we drove to Vail and the Gerald Ford Amphitheater where the Vail Valley Bravo Festival presented the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in a tribute to composer John Williams. We bought our traditional bottle of wine and settled into our great seats to enjoy the ambiance, the concert, and the people watching. It was a great evening; we arrived back at our condo in Breck. at exactly dark, @ 9 pm, glad we were able to get out of Vail in time to avoid any real night driving.

Some observations:

• A sign advertising a restaurant featuring "Himalayan Dining", Indian, Tibetan, Nepalese. No, we didn't try it, but do wonder if they have a regular clientele.
• A pair of chipmunks play on our patio every day; one climbed to the top of our patio door screen. Edmund tried to tempt them with a bowl of red wine but they totally ignored it; he hoped to see them dance.
• Many, many large dogs being walked up and down the major streets. Large dogs as a status symbol? So far, have seen only one pile of poop.
• We're all familiar with fundraiser car washes -- yesterday there was a dog wash on the plaza adjacent to our condo building.
• Nearby, a restaurant maintains an outdoor section where they hold daily "Yappy Hour." You see, dogs are welcome here. Yesterday at Yappy Hour it was filled with healthy looking people, most of whom had at least one large dog on a leash.
• Flowers, flowers, flowers everywhere! Love it. Today we paused at an overflowing flower bed to admire a Bleeding Heart in bloom, a plant I haven't seen since I lived in Missouri.
• Construction, construction, repainting, roofing, and roadwork everywhere. It's good to see that things aren't at a complete standstill despite economic recession.
• Haven't cooked anything beyond toast & coffee for a week, a nice break.
• Our condo (it's a Marriot facility) is VERY quiet, no noisy exterior exposure, no noisy neighbors.
• Did some banking and hit the local large Safeway for supplies to take back to LC.
• Enjoyed our return to the Breckenridge Brewery right across the street, their appetizer "Colorado Blue Balls" (balls of cream/blu cheese & ham bits rolled in crumbs & deep fried, served with ranch dressing, delicious!), and our favorite bartender, Greg, who remembers us from summer to summer (or does an excellent imitation). We like to think it's real.
• We arrived at the Brewery in our July 4 clothes (red, white, blue shirts) & more than one person commented how "festive" we looked. They should have seen us with our hats on! As we glanced around the restaurant & bar on the evening of July 4, it was a sea of black clothing, like everyone was in mourning! Go figure, we thought it appeared no one was celebrating Independence Day in the way we've come to expect. A July 4 outfit is a "must-have" in Lake City!

We're ready to return to Lake City tomorrow, loaded up with @20# of meat we bought at Safeway, repackaged and froze in our condo frig, ready for the slow, rather lazy life there that we enjoy so much, and we look forward to the peak mountain flower time on the Alpine Loop in mid-July. I promise there will be more flower pix in future posts.