Glenwod Springs via Amtrak

J and I finally took a trip that we had been talking about for a while. Instead of heading to Scottsdale for Spring Training this year we decided to book a shorter, less expensive Colorado stay-cation: we headed to Glenwood Springs on the Amtrak to enjoy vapor caves, hot springs, a historic hotel, great beer, and a great meal.


We departed Denver on the Amtrak and made our way through Winter Park and over to Glenwood Springs. We were a little late but not terribly. The Amtrak station is on the south side of the Colorado River. The hot springs, vapor caves, and our hotel were a super short walk to the north side. We checked in to our Hotel Colorado and immediately headed to the vapor caves at Yampah Spa. In the caves the temps can reach 112 degrees Fahrenheit. There is a whole ceremony to vapor caving it...you throw on a swim suit, wrap in a towel, and head down the cool hall to a small, unassuming staircase. By the time you've walked to the bottom you are already in 90+ degrees of steam and hot air. At the point you hang up your towel and chill in this area for a while, or one can venture farther back where the temperatures rise. There is a little relief in a cold water faucet where you can quickly rinse or fill a tub to take with you as you sit in a semi private cave. The general rule is that you leave at least every 15 minutes and go upstairs to drink some water. We made it over an hour, coming in and out.


After the vapor caves we were decently hungry, and we decided to start with a brew at the Glenwood Canyon Brew Pub back on the south side of the river. Good, solid beer. We headed one building down to The Pullman for dinner. I would have loved to try everything on this menu! We had an appetizer that was a Salmon Melt Crostini: smoked salmon on small, crusty bread bites with tomato and preserved lemon (we left the fontina off). After that the main course was eggplant cannelloni filled with mushroom risotto and coriander tomato sauce. Perfect!

We walked our way back to the hot springs to end our evening there. There was a therapy pool that was heated via the hot springs to about 104 degrees. The larger pool was in the 90s. We couldn't spend a whole lot of time in the therapy pool all at once. We would switch back and forth, moving as carefully but quickly as we could in the cold evening.




The next day we did morning at the Daily Bread. Gigantic portions, super reasonable prices, and wonderful food. Very accommodating. They had a rosemary sourdough bread, homemade jam, and substituted without question. J's coffee was never close to empty and everyone was so sweet.


After that we checked out, spent some time finding some snack for the train ride back, and then went and waited. Homeward bound!

Side story: The Australians. When you go to the dining car for lunch on the Amtrak you are paired off in groups of 4. So J and I sat across from an Australian couple. The best part of the conversation was when Vegemite was brought up and I asked if there was anything that was an American staple that Australians despised.  Turns out: root beer. So hypothetically, I asked, if I am traveling in Australia and ask for a root beer..."They'll know what you're on about," our friend responded. :P  Who knew?!

Here are some pictures below. Of course the pictures from the vapor cave and the hot springs were on J's waterproof GoPro so I will need to obtain a picture and maybe some footage!

Union Station, off we go!

Heading into the foothills (this is just west of Denver)

This train has an observation car which has windows above as well as larger views along the side. Here is J enjoying his way through a gorge!

At one point the train proceeds through Moffitt Tunnel. It spits out right in Winter Park! I didn't even have time to react and grab a picture until we were past a lot of the slopes.

Our snack...a French baguette with strawberry limoncello jam (with a bit of black pepper)...fabulous!

Making out way closer!

Glenwood Springs! I took this from the pedestrian overpass. That is our train.

The Glenwood Hot Springs!

Hotel Colorado. This is where we stayed...

...lots of Teddy Roosevelt history, and we all know how much J loves Teddy.

A sunroom-type hallway at the Hotel Colorado.

We first headed next door to the Glenwood Canyon Brewing Company where, apparently, the beer I ordered only came in keg-size. Needless to say we did not have any alcoholic beverages by the time we headed to The Pullman. The food there: fantastic.

I have to have at least two pics of Teddy and J.

On our way Denver-bound...heading through Glenwood Canyon.

Glenwood Canyon.

Another view from the observation car.

Glenwood.

Heading back over the high country.

Six Years! Denver Restaurant 2014! And Love.

Happy March, I know! But I am just now working on all the pictures I took in February. I am sure I took hundreds, but I narrowed them down to about 60, and I will only have published maybe 20 in these last two posts, so I think I'm doing okay!

February in Denver is always fun. Well, not really. Now it's just cold with no cozy holidays and more snow and more ice. But I guess there is Valentine's Day, though we aren't huge celebrators (though this year we did go out for Belgian fries and pizza with my mom, not to be particularly Valentine's-y, that was just the night we were all around and needing something to do and a place to eat. :P) I digress, J and I always celebrate at the end of February - commemorating when we met - and it happens to coincide beautifully with Denver Restaurant Week.

J and I have had a stretch of nine days off that we are currently working our way through. It looked something like this:

Day 1: Visit friends and their cute, new baby in Loveland.
Day 2: Denver Restaurant Week (just J and I) with reservations at Row 14 downtown and then a walk over to the Chapultepec to hear some jazz before heading home. The "Pec" as it is known is rich in history. Lots of greats have played there, and Ella Fitzgerald used to park her car outside and just listen. Really neat to have just been there, and listen.
Day 3: Dinner with our friends Caren, Kevin, and Caren's mom.
Day 4: Denver Restaurant Week Part 2 withe Kelsie and Josh (and lots of cheese) with reservations at La Fondue. The cheese course was my favorite...it was a white wine, Brie, Fontina, Montery Jack, garlic, fresh cream, basil, pistachio creation that was just freaking perfect.
Day 5: J and Josh watched the final Shocker's basketball win while Kelsie, my mom, and I went to Balistreri for lunch and enjoyed Italian food and lots and lots of great wine.
Day 6: Today! More on that later since we are getting in to March with that info and I'm still trying to catch up on February! :P

Happy Valentine's Day!

Downtown Denver. It's always a little glamorous walking around downtown in heels with all of the lights.

Row 14, celebratory drink(s)

Afterwards some fabulous, and definitely historic, jazz.

This was taken from our booth. Seriously a very intimate way to take in some jazz.

Happy six years! :D

At fondue...we are full of nutella, dark chocolate, and ridiculous sweets.

Here's to another fantastic year!

February Overnights of Extreme Awesomeness

In February I was on reserve, which means that J ended up with some decent trips with his seniority. One trip in particular was purposely bid. The overnights were DCA (Reagan National) and SAN (San Diego).

We both finally ended up on the trip (after much work trying to move my reserve block) but it all sorted itself out and off we went!

Our first overnight was relatively short (only 13 hours) but we had some work to pack in to it. We landed, made our way to the hotel, and immediately changed and made our way to the metro station. We had a date with Teddy Roosevelt at the Old Ebbitt Grill in D.C. At the Old Ebbitt the mounted animal trophies above the bar are none other than Teddy's. There is not a man my husband loves more. :P While there we met up with our great friends, Shannon and Jud. We need to make another trip out there to visit and hike Teddy Roosevelt Island Park.

DCA!

Right next door to the Old Ebbitt? The Treasury.

J...to Teddy!

The Ebbitt is known for its oysters so J had to try a half dozen (we split them with our friends).

Teddy's trophies can be seen above the bar.

From DCA it was a short flight to ATL and a long flight to SAN. We had a blast with the passengers though and the day went by quickly. It helped that we had an amazing crew. It was J, myself, and Oliver. I had never flown with Oliver before but had met his girlfriend, Steph (also a flight attendant) several times. It was great that he ended up our trip with us...I always enjoy a super low-key crew!

So back to the story. We land in SAN where we have 19 hours. Our plan was to hang out with our friends Kelsey and Alex, two amazing people. Seriously amazing. Their honeymoon was 200 days long and included Costa Rica, Belgium, Namibia, Vietnam, Thailand, animal rescue, and dengue fever. They were newly returned.

Our first course of action was to take a nap, which I am going to take some time to ramble on about because it is blissful. Windows open, breeze blowing in through gauzy drapes, the sounds of the traffic and the boats outside. Palm trees. Ah.

We were woken up before our alarm to a text from an old friend (and our MDW crashpad "dad") Blaine! We were supposed to be meeting Kelsey and Alex in 30 minutes but wanted to see Blaine too. We ran to a local bar and through one back, catching up at a million miles an hour, which is when we all just decided he should come along with us.

Soon after Kelsey and Alex arrived and we were whisked off to Pacific Beach, just north of where we stay near the Gaslamp and Little Italy. Tapas and sangria was for dinner and a beautiful sunset was dessert. It was lovely. Lots of sleep that night and then three legs back home in the morning.

We are now on the last few days of a nine day stretch off. There has been lots going on, and I will write another short post with some information on that soon. :)

Paella was ordered to supplement our tapas.

Beachy fun.

Surfers at sunset.

Namaste.

View from our room the next morning. :)

Winter Vegetable and Spelt Soup

As was the recipe posted just before this post, this recipe is from a Family Circle magazine. I ripped the page out and it doesn't say what month/year anywhere on it and when I tried to look it up on Family Circle's website I was asked to join it to view the information. So...I will give them as much credit as I can. I do not know the issue date of the magazine.
This is a hearty winter soup with quite a bit of surprising sweetness from the squash and carrots. This utilizes the ancient grain spelt. Spelt originated "in the Near East more than 8,000 years ago." It is a "relative of durum wheat," "chewy and nutty, making it perfect for soups and pilafs." Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 cup spelt
1 tbsp olive oil
3 links (3 oz each) sweet Italian sausage, casings removed (NOTE: We used veggie sausage, and not Tofurkey. I'll go back and look at the brand we bought and update the blog later. I am not a fan of fake meats in general as I don't like texturized soy protein, soy protein isolate, etc) This brand did not include those ingredients. I used the pack of four sausage links.
2 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash (cut into 1 inch pieces) (we utilized pre-cut squash from our grocery, life saver!)
1.5 cups peeled and sliced carrots cut into one inch pieces
1.5 cups peeled and sliced parsnips cut into one inch pieces
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (NOTE: we used vegetable broth!)
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions:

*Soak spelt in cold water OVERNIGHT. Drain and set aside.*

In a large lidded pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add sausage, breaking up with a wooden spoon. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, until browned. Stir in butternut squash, carrots, parsnips, onion, garlic, and thyme. Cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add broth, 1 cup water, and spelt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, covered, for 30 minutes or until spelt is tender. Stir in salt and pepper.

Cooking the veggies and "sausage" first.

Adding the broth before allowing it to simmer.

The finished product! We are making this again on Thursday. As I stated before, hearty, sweet, warming...perfect for all the snow we've been having!

Wild Mushroom Farro Risotto (Farrotto)

This recipe is from a Family Circle magazine, I ripped the page out and it doesn't say what month/year anywhere on it and when I tried to look it up on Family Circle's website I was asked to join it to view the information. So...I will give them as much credit as I can. I do not know the issue date of the magazine.

That being said: This recipe is totally for all the mushroom lovers out there! It was part of an article on ancient grains, this grain being Farro, a "variety of wheat popular in Italy" that "works well in casseroles and stews."

Ingredients:

1 cup farro
1 32 oz box organic mushroom broth
2 tbsp unsalted butter (NOTE: we just used olive oil and the directions will be edited to show this)
1 tbsp olive oil (See note above, we just used a lot more olive oil)
1 lb wild mushrooms, sliced
3 shallots diced (about 1/2 cup)
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup chopped parsley (plus more for garnish)
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 ox soft goat cheese, crumbled (optional - and we did not use it)

Directions:



*Soak farro in cold water for 30 minutes. Drain and set aside. In a lidded pot heat broth and 2 cups water.*   NOTE: I used only one cup of water and was going to add more towards the end if needed. It was not. Food cooks differently at altitude.

In a large saute pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. Add mushrooms. Cook 10 minutes, stirring a couple of times. Mix in remaining olive oil, the shallots, and thyme. Cook 3 minutes. Stir in drained farro and wine. Cook 3 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium. Pour in 1/2 cup of the heated broth; cook until mostly evaporated. Add remaining broth in 1/2 cup increments until farro is tender, 30-40 minutes. Stir in parsley, salt, and pepper. Top with goat cheese, if desired.

Ta da!

Cooking down the mushrooms, shallots, and thyme. This part smelled so good!

The finished farro.

One for the mushroom lovers; we ate it all!

January Overnights of Extreme Awesomeness

I don't even know where yo start.

This month J and I buddy-bid with our great friend and fellow flight attendant, Stefan. This allowed us to work all of our regularly scheduled trips together. Oh what fun!

We spent a lot of our Sundays watching the Broncos in the playoffs, and a lot of other days messing around. Here are some select pictures to tell the stories of the overnights.

BHM: In Birmingham J and I met up with a friend we'd made on a cruise years ago. We'd been wanting to catch up and meet his partner ever since and we could never make it happen. In January, we did!

TPA: I have a love to Tampa overnights. At the hotel where we currently stay we can walk to quite a few places including this beach park. Here a SWA plane flies just overhead. :)

TPA: I also found the tiniest shell in the world (J's thumb nail for a relative size)

TPA: Seashells. <3 br="">

TPA: J and his quest to dig the deepest hole on the beach. Just because. Why not?

TPA: J, myself, and Stefan

TPA: Time to watch the Broncos play. One bottle for ever quarter. That's good luck, right?

TPA: Spanish moss in the oak trees, takes me back.

Anywhere-bound: Sunset as we departed DEN.

The DIA train that takes you from the terminal to the concourses. Totally quiet.

IND: And early morning in Indianapolis. This was the only other window I could see from our room where someone else was awake. I always feel a pleasant sense of camaraderie with fellow human beings who are conscious at the hour of 3:30AM.

IND-RSW: Off to Fort Myers, but unfortunately not to stay. This may have been the coldest flight I've ever been on, but it was a quiet morning and still enjoyable.

TPA: Skipping back to our TPA overnight. A small plane flies in the sky.  I love looking at this picture along with the following...

TPA: A gull flies in the sky over the beach grass.

TPA: A lost ladybug makes it's way over the sand.

FLL: Another gorgeous picture from Florida, sunset in Fort Lauderdale.

40,000 FT: Me being a smart ass. A letter to our Seahawk-loving pilots.

And now on to the overnight that can't really be explained. Well it can. It would just be a paragraph full of stream-of-consciousness narrative and inexplicable amounts of good fortune and new friends.

The three of us had two OMA (Omaha) overnights on our boards. The first time we visited we spent it watching the Broncos game, eating at the hotel, and generally celebrating the fact that we were going to the Super Bowl.

The second time we were going to go out on the town, something I'd been trying to do since we drove from CO to IL in 2011 after I was based in Chicago. I ended up ill, with a fever, unable to leave the hotel. The wait was worth it though. Or was it?

With the winter weather, flights to Chicago started being canceled, including ours. We were in Philly the first night of the trip and Omaha the second. With our first flight (PHL-MDW) cancelled the solution was for us to take a later flight, through MDW to OMA, effectively reducing our nice 16 hour overnight to 11 hours. We called scheduling back and asked if we could go to OMA through St. Louis on a much earlier flight that still left us with enough rest. They granted our wish and we were back up to 15 hours in OMA!

What happened after we landed was best summed up in J's Facebook Post of Wordage: "

If days are rated from a 1-10, today has been an 11. Our day was cancelled and we deadheaded all the way from Philly to Omaha, where we went for Moscow mules, where the owners of the tavern let us in even though they were not open, where they comped us jukebox credits then recommended us to a local restaurant for dinner where we ran into said tavern owners who proceeded to buy our dinner, where DURING DINNER scheduling calls to say we didn't have to report until 4 hrs later than originally planned, and now here we sit having a cocktail that is infused with a cigar smoke before meeting our new tavern owner friends at the local drag queen show. — with Tamara Jackson."

Note: We also had tried out a local brewery before the tavern where all the fun went down. There are not many pictures from this day but there should have been. Let me start with the four that I have and we will take it from there.

Tobacco smoke infused cocktail. That is a stopper, keeping the smoke in the glass. No joke. That ball of ice in the glass. Totally solid and see-through...that thing will take five years to melt.

My blueberry and rye whiskey cocktail. Don't get me started on how much I love rye whiskey.

The Tavern (and one of the owners, Dave) This place is a blast and when you meet the owners, you'll know why! They have totally put themselves into the space. They pointed out so many details from the bar counter (a solid piece of wood which was once the bar top at a famous hotel where presidents stayed - I can't recall the name but Teddy Roosevelt had stayed there, which means he may have drank there, which means J was having a bro-moment just sitting at the bar).

Myself, Stefan and J with our Moscow Mules.

Okay, so here is my mini tour of the section of Omaha we visited:
Where we started: Upstream Brewing Company Good beers. We started here because we went to the tavern when we believed it was open and then found out they didn't open for another hour. So we had some time to kill.
Next up: The Tavern only they still weren't open! As we went to walk away Dave, one of the owners, opened the door and let us in an hour early. From there we met David, the other owner and over drinks and loud jukebox music we talked about tasty beverages, decorating an establishment, and buying pews. They gave us lots of good recommendations and we decided to take one of them, for M's Pub, and try it out for dinner.
That's when things got awesome: M's Pub was described to us by Dave and David as the place to go for Omaha fare. We are SO glad we did. We each ordered a Lavosh, which I believe is like an Armenian flat bread pizza with Havarti. But wait, back up just a moment, Guess who was also at M's? Dave and David! They had left The Tavern before we had in order to find some chairs for the bar. We all sat together and then ordered the Lavosh and something else that had to be tried. The Carrot Dog. This was a marinated and then grilled carrot, in a hot dog bun, with all the toppings. My biggest regret is not taking a picture of this thing because it was colossal. The waitress said it was the second largest Carrot Dog she had seen. The carrot (at the top) was the width of a soda can. I have been craving another bite ever since. This is also when scheduling called to inform us that, once again, our first flight we were to work the next morning would be cancelled. We now did not have to report for another four hours. That is when the drag queen show became our end goal for the evening. But we still had some time to kill...so our gracious (and generous - they paid for our meal) hosts suggested a few more spots to try.
The first: The Berry and Rye. This establishment reminded me of The Arvada Tavern, our favorite place in our neighborhood, where the cocktails are inventive, enjoyable, and unique. This is the place where we ordered the tobacco smoke infused cocktail. This is when I started thinking I was living the movie The World's End and I was going to use the loo and start fighting aliens. Hammered.
The second: Sake Bombers Lounge. Because at this point two servings of hot sake and sangria are a splendid idea.
The finale: The Max. This is where the Miss Max drag queen pageant was. We once again met up with Dave and David. I so wish we could have stayed longer! But duty calls, and we are dutiful flight attendants. We said our goodbyes to our new friends already wanting to come back.

The walk back to the hotel was rough. It was more of a run with -26 degree wind chill and 40 MPH gusts. The next morning when I looked in the mirror J and I both had some kind of rash on our faces, only mine ended at mid-forehead. What the heck? Allergic to the hotel's detergent? What in the world that didn't happen last week? Oh, that's right, total windburn. I had been wearing my hat.

The end to a great month of flying together with two of my favorite people. I can't wait to do it again. :)

Flying over the Rockies. Bumpy, but such a beautiful view. :)