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This afternoon we had a trip to the Garden of the Gods. As we left the sun was just setting…
Queen of the Supermarket
King Sooper
So, three days into our holiday and I’m now the proud possessor of an American cellphone and a supermarket loyalty card. Awesome! As are the assistants who a) are incredibly helpful, b) love my accent and c) don’t know where France is. Although as Stephanie pointed out, that was probably because of the short “a” in my northern accent!
I love foreign supermarkets. And in many ways King Sooper reminds me more of the ones in France than supermarkets in England. The first thing I noticed was the same brand of pasta that we stock up with on our trips across the channel. The second thing was the tins of Campbells condensed mushroom soup, which in England has been rebranded as Batchelors, but here looks so very familiar.
I’m also really enjoying finding out what all food I’ve read about in my extensive library of American detective fiction actually is. We found Saltines which were like salty cheese biscuits, only nicer. And then there was the cornbread which we found by the soup. From that I assumed from that that cornbread went with soup, but Linda said only really bean soup or Chilli. We thought it tasted more like a slightly grittier Madeira cake. It was jolly good, but I think I’d have it as pudding not a savoury course.
There I some things I don’t want to try!
The last thing on my list to try so far is Grits. I have no-idea what they are although I’ve read about them a lot. Green Chilli Grits were one of the breakfast options at the Holiday Inn, but I thought perhaps something which was labelled green chilli might be a mistake for breakfast.
There are also just a couple of things that I’ve never heard of before but I don’t really fancy trying…
How Much is That Doggie in the Window
It’s extremely difficult to buy ladies golf clothes in England which are larger than a size 12, and if you want something which looks good, then really there’s pretty much no chance.
Novelty Headcovers
Very kindly, Linda had contacted a couple of the local golf shops on our behalf to ask if they stocked ladies golf clothes in the bigger sizes we need. The nearest one to us, “Golfsmith”, is only a couple of miles down the road. And what a selection! The ladies section was almost as big as the Men’s department (unlike the big Discount Golf chain in England where they don’t even stock women’s clothes at all!).
I was amazed at the selection, from multi-coloured balls, a huge rack of different ladies gloves and some very nice tops and trousers, and the sort of belts that we see on the LPGA tour, but never, ever in the shops here. I also particularly enjoyed the large rack of novelty headcovers. Not my thing. But fun 🙂
I resisted the urge to buy up the shop (on the first visit at least!), but if all the golf shops in Colorado are like this I might need to buy the extra suitcase that we have in our luggage allowance!
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
Our Suite
We’re staying at the Homewood Suites in North Colorado. Our suite is great, we have bedroom with attached bathroom, and a separate living area with Kitchenette, sofa, a second TV and an armchair with footstool. Very comfy. Just across the road is Briargate Shopping Promenade which is just like an out of town shopping area with shops like Apple, and a load of others I’ve never heard of and quite a few restaurants.
So on Friday night we assessed the options at length before choosing our destination for the evening. Biaggi’s Italian restaurant looked like the place for us. It broke the mould in that chilli wasn’t the most predominant thing on the menu (neither of us had realised how much Mexican influence there is in this part of the States).
Next Day’s Lunch
After eating a mere half of my small main course of pasta, I could manage no more. The waitress asked if she should box it up for me. So that’s what happened. I think I’ve only ever had a doggy bag once in Britain, but as I looked around me, on approximately half the tables there were Baiggi’s bags. It may be the land of the plentiful portion, but I suspect in more than a few cases, the plentiful portion forms dinner then lunch the next day.
So the next day we spotted a couple of interesting sounding dishes on Biaggi’s take-out menu, so I was dispatched to top up our leftovers with an interesting appetizer and a fresh beet salad (with the goat’s cheese on the side). In fact everything came on the side, including extra bread, parmesan cheese, a little pot of peppered olive oil as well as the items we’d ordered. I also had to laugh (inwardly of course) when the server said in all seriousness, I’ve only put one set of plastic silverware in, is that OK? The “silverware” was, of course, black plastic cutlery.
The food was, as it has been all the time so far, delicious. If I lived here, I’d be Ten Ton Tessie in no time at all!
At Last
Before we left Denver, Stephanie was clearly very nervous about the meeting. But we talked about other things on the journey up there and by the time we arrived she had relaxed a bit.
Linda was delighted to see us. She seemed very nice – although clearly very ill. She said she’s lost more than 4 stone in the last year and it shows. She looks incredibly thin. She’s wired into oxygen the whole time. She explained that she wouldn’t need it if we weren’t so high up but the air at Colorado Springs altitude is very thin and lacking in oxygen. She also has a little Maltese dog called Bugsy who even I thought was quite sweet.
Sisters: Stephanie and Linda
We chatted for a couple of hours and enjoyed a delicious chicken salad which Linda had made.
Although in one sense it’s a joyous occasion, it’s also still quite a stressful one. After a couple of hours I felt Linda was, unsurprisingly, beginning to tire slightly, so I suggested it was time for us to go and check into our hotel.
It won’t be the last time we see her though. We’ve traveled this far, and will be seeing her again…
Breakfast in America
Breakfast at the Sporting Grill
For me the day started unusually but well. As we arrived in at breakfast at 6.30am, they were playing my CD collection. Country music, Brad Paisley to be precise.
The raft of TVs were showing different channels of American football, but the waitress kindly switched over the two nearest to us so we could both watch the first day of the Ryder Cup golf – and also added subtitles for the commentary.
We decided on something different for breakfast. So here is my choice. Smoked brisket tacos with scrambled egg, sour cream and Pico de Gallo (chilli salsa), hash browns, served, slightly bizarrely I felt for breakfast, with a green salad.
Stephanie had Mushrooms Benedict, and once again I was suprised at the translation between egg cooking methods in English and in American. Poached eggs were not poached in water but cooked in a ramekin – not as nice. And once again it was served with not only a green salad but also some sliced carrot!
And after watching the Europeans beating the USA in the first day’s golf (and cheering only inwardly or course), it was time to leave Denver for Colorado Springs and finally meet big sis.
Hot Stuff
I’d never had chillies in my breakfast before. I did think it was perhaps a good thing my body thought it was lunchtime! The breakfast menu was quite extensive, and a good chance to try some of the things that I’ve heard about on TV (or in country songs) but have absolutely no idea what they taste like.
Breakfast was called 3 little pigs. Ham, bacon and a sausage patty and scrambled egg (or what I would have called omelette) sandwiched in 3 small cheese and garlic biscuits (which turned out to be quite like cheese scones) and a pico sauce which is salsa of chopped tomato, chilli, onion, coriander and lime juice. I had the salsa on the side; very When Harry met Sally. There was also a small mountain of hash browns (potato rosti) and toast or “Breakfast Breads”. The salsa I loved. All my favourite ingredients, and almost nothing in there that Stephanie would eat. All followed by French toast with lashings of maple syrup. Yum.
The hot theme continued for the rest of the day. It was a scorcher. Well over 30 degrees, and driving a left hand drive car for the first time in America didn’t make us chill out much! The condition of the roads is even worse than West Berkshire’s country lanes and it would appear from watching the other drivers that it’s perfectly acceptable to ignore a red light if you’re turning right and there’s nothing coming. I was also pleased that someone had warned us that indicators are red not orange.
16th Street Mall
We left the hotel for Denver in our rental car in the direction which looked on the map like it would take us to the main road. However, 10 minutes later we found ourselves in Reunion. Way off the map and guessing that a couple of left turns might be nice, if ever we saw another road.
I was also confused by the frequent signs saying “no double turns”. Still haven’t figured that one out.
An hour later, once we’d got the Samsung tablet out and setup our makeshift GPS (being from Yorkshire there’s no way I was paying to rent a sat nav), we had passed a couple of trailer parks and were admiring the incredibly intricate and individual houses in outer Denver. And then, up close, the amazing modern tower blocks which we’d seen from afar against the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains.
Downtown
The waitress at breakfast had recommended the 16th Street Mall as being the place to go in Denver. So we found an underground carpark, (the only place to park in that heat) at one end and walked down the long pedestrianised street. It’s novel in that there is a free shuttle bus which runs constantly, and there must be about 20 busses as you’re never more than 1 block (50 yards) away from a bus. They’re on an endless loop. The drivers will get off to put the wheelchair ramp down if necessary, and like everywhere so far in America, the service is more helpful, pleasant and extra mile worthy than anywhere in England.
State Capitol Building
Across the road from the bottom of the Mall is the state Capitol building with its gold leaved roof. Up 2 flights of stairs is the step which marks 1 mile above sea level. Although it was very, very hot, I couldn’t let the opportunity pass, so I climbed the stairs and stood on the 1 mile stone while Stephane stood under a tree at the bottom and took photos with the zoom lens.
We took the shuttle back and were quite surprised at just how far we’d walked. By the car park was the Cheesecake Factory, as recommended by Caroline. It was indeed excellent. And just like the breakfast menu, almost all the savoury items contained chillies. I had the most gorgeous sweetcorn tamales (another thing I’ve never tried before) with more pico sauce and a hot salsa verde. We also shared some deep fried crispy avocado – which I’ve never even heard of let alone eaten, but it was very good.
And then we had to brave the traffic and see if we could find our way home.
We’re Leaving: On a Jet Plane
Well, we had hoped to be leaving. But after an extra hour in the terminal chatting to Len and Jill while they tested the engines on the plane, then another hour sitting on the plane while they cleared the backlog from earlier runway damage, we were beginning to wonder if we were ever going to take off. I was also beginning to worry that the valium would wear off before we even got in the air!
We were lucky that as we flew over Berkshire there wasn’t much cloud so we were able to see Windsor Castle and the Thames meandering towards Oxfordshire. Being slow on the uptake (and holding on to Stephanie’s hand until her circulation had ceased) I didn’t have a camera at the ready until we were almost past our home county.
Sunset over mid America
While Stephanie watched a film, I enjoyed my usual inflight entertainment of the moving map. Showing our precise(ish) location it updated the distance to go every half a minute or so.
The first half of the flight was quite smooth, although there was some fairly minor turbulence as we crossed the jet stream (although not too much worse than driving on Berkshire’s roads). Then again once we’d passed Missouri we had to seatbelt up again which was a shame as they only do tea and coffee if it’s smooth so we had to drink water with our clotted cream tea.
As we were so late, the sunset caught up with us just before we landed, this time we had the camera at the ready, and Stephanie managed to catch it at just the right moment.
It’s a shame I don’t enjoy flying, because actually there’s nothing much too it. The biggest worry was whether I’m going to catch the dreadful cough the lady next to me was suffering from.
So after our delayed arrival we finally made it to the hotel airport (15 minutes by shuttle bus) at 10pm local time, 5am UK time. Despite our almost overwhelming tiredness, we were too hungry not to have a snack, so we went down to the hotel sports bar and had an appetiser (each) of cheesy fries. They were excellent, and would have made a substantial main course, being covered as they were in a small mountain of cheese, sour cream and bacon. Delicious, but neither of us managed to make a dent in them. If this is standard, I’m not sure we’ll ever need to order more than 1 appetiser to share for an entire meal!
After nearly falling asleep face first into my chips it was time to hit the hay…
Another Suitcase in Another Hall
Almost packing the flight attendant way
It’s 11pm and the washing machine has just finished its fourth load of the day prior to our big adventure tomorrow. Each load had a solitary single item in it, as I managed to find all the clothes which I should already have washed at different times.
Inspired by an excellent video on YouTube which demonstrated how to pack enough clothes for me for about 2 months into a small carry-on suitcase, I decided to try packing the flight attendant way. I laid everything out on the bed, discarded a third of the stuff then rolled up everything else and popped it in the case. As you can see there’s still plenty of room to pack the third I discarded plus all my freshly laundered washing!
UPDATE: As Stephanie intimated somewhere else, I can’t be bothered to unpack and repack and tend to live out of my suitcase the whole time we’re away. The only problem with this method of packing is that although I got an outrageous amount of stuff in my suitcase, when I came to wear anything it looked like I’d thrown it in a heap on the floor and then it had been sat on by an elephant. I’m not that fussed. The creases will hang out as I wear it, but it’s a bit of a waste of ironing and not everyone wants to be seen with me looking like this.
Two Days To Go
Well we’re nearly there. After just over a year’s delay the tickets are booked. We have Visas, and I have booked half the required hotels.
The French Alps – The highest mountains I’ve seen so far…
I wonder if the Southern Rocky Mountains will look like this?
Today is packing day. And then tomorrow we can relax(ish) and try and chill before the flight…
