The meal at the recommended Juniper Restaurant was delicious, but even though the main course was half price, the rest of the menu more than made up for it. Drinks for instance, with a 15 yr old Macallam Whisky at $25 a shot. Now I’m not saying it isn’t a nice drop of scotch but it does seem a bit steep and there were bottles of wine for $1000+ for the real connoisseur. I’m glad to say that neither of us could tell a $1,000 bottle of wine from a $20 so we won’t be troubling the wine waiter there. We will probably go again and combine it with a film as the Cinema is just over the road.
We had the difficult problem of appropriate tipping at the end of the meal and it seems that tipping is a common problem. In the local daily paper there was an article on the proper etiquette. It suggests 15 – 20% of a meal tab, at least $1 per drink served in a bar and in the event of there being offers, ‘remember to calculate the tip on the original bill before the discount’! On the vexed question of what to do if you get a complimentary drink, the answer is: Some bartenders say $1 per free drink is OK. Others say it’s best to leave $2 to $3 per draft, or about half the price of the cocktail. If you have a tab and the bartender sends several complimentary drinks, estimate the total tab without the freebies and then leave at least 20 % of that figure. All of which seems to me to say that the Americans are completely uptight about being seen to do it right and probably because it reflects on their vital statistics – income and net worth.
Actually our first guests left a generous tip, made even more so by their absentmindedly leaving a bottle of Champagne, the next to be tested, in the fridge. We will have it on Christmas day and toast their unknowning generosity.
We went for a drive around to get the flavour of the countryside, as we do. Our runaround is a Ford with a 4 litre engine and automatic stick-shift change but very easy to drive and we trundled along at about 45 mph and viewed the unfolding mountains, passes, plains and dams. First impression of Colorado is – big. If pressed for greater detail I would venture – very big. The Rockies are huge with lots of distinct ranges of mountains within them, each with there own character and history. The rocks vary in colour enormously as they are basically limestones and sandstones with volcanic intrusions which have given rise to the pockets of gold, silver, lead and copper which have all been mined at some time or another. A rather more exotic mine we came across was after molybdomen. I need to Google what to do with any Molybdomen I should come across as it’s a while since A level Chemistry. We turned off the main road to a town called Red Cliff (main feature … try and guess) which probably had a population of around about 150. However it did have natural gas, which was pretty impressive considering its location. It also had a small road sneaking off out of it and up a valley so off course we had to investigate. It wound its way up and up heading for ‘Shrine Pass’. The snow got thicker and thicker on the road and we changed to 4 wheel drive. On and on we went until the only tracks ahead of us were from snowmobiles. Then we quit with a promise to come back and follow it all the way over to its 11,000 top and down the other side.
We rejoined the main road and headed off to Leadville (principle mining product?) which had two parallel streets and houses and stores, bar and banks, straight out of a cowboy movie but absolutely still in current use. Great spoil heaps and a Museum of Mining (closed) pointed to its past as a mining centre, but there seemed to be lots of people about and I just wondered what they all did for work.
There are reputedly Wagon Train trails to follow which require nerves of steel and a 4 x 4 (or a canvas-covered wagon, two horses and an enormous amount of perseverance/fear). It is when you consider what the pioneers must have had to contend with that you appreciate the drive and courage needed to force a way over or through these mountains. That’s so long as the Indians stayed away. The Indians are a bit of an embarrassment to the Americans and it shows in ways that you can see if you look. In the State Ski Museum of Colorado in Vail, there is lots of info about how the valley was developed in several stages as a ski resort with the help of key famous figures. These featured in various world Championships and Olympics and the walls are covered with paintings, potted histories and examples of the skis and gear used. Fascinating stuff for the ski buff. There is also a 2”x 2” photograph of a Ute Indian with a four-line paragraph and it says that there were Indians here in the valley and surrounding mountains but they left when the gold and silver were discovered.
What a wonderful understatement that is ‘they left…’ I can just see it. The Indians saying to each other, hey guys, there’s loads of gold and silver here, let’s not stick around here like we have, but let’s get out of here quick. No mention of being forcibly removed from hunting grounds held for hundred of generations so the incomers could get rich, nothing uncomfortable like that. When we asked in a museum for info on where we could find native Indian culture, the answer was that we would have to ask to the Forest Service because they would know. It’s almost a case of ‘Indians, what Indians?’. They are convenient when it comes to a little cultural inspiration though, check out the headdress chairs.
The countryside is outstanding with a desert dryness causing very little in plantlife apart form a hardy grass, some tufty shrub jobs that live in flat river / lake basins, and pine trees that seem to go right up to the sky. It’s a curious thing but in Europe the tree-line is at about 1,700m (about 5,500ft), here they are growing at 3,500m (11,500ft). In France the highest bit we got on to was Aiguille Rouge at 3,600m and that was the top of a pointy mountain with hardly enough room to put a viewing platform. Here we go up to the top of the lift and get off at 3,500m and we are surrounded by trees, there is a restaurant, an information booth, picnic area, warming room and a 25-piece Salvation Army brass band (actually I lied about the band but you get the picture).
A day exploring Vail, which is about 9 miles down the road, revealed just what a fabulous place that is to ski. The average annual snowfall of 348” ( 2007/08 had 463”) helps of course as does the vertical rise ( or fall depending if you’re on a lift or a piste) of 3,450ft. At least 193 named and groomed pistes of varying degrees of difficulty and you can see why some people swear it‘s the best in the world (you have to bear in mind when this sort of thing is said that the Americans have a World Series comprising of … er East America versus West America). It is pretty stunning though and we thoroughly enjoyed zooming down on groomed pistes with a fresh covering of about 4” of powder snow.
On the one lift we noticed a rather curiously dressed pine tree next to the chair lift. It was decorated with an enormous number (indicating a long-term phenomenon), of strings of beads of all colours and what can only be described as ladies frillies of varying degrees of substantiveness. It must have been chilly enough removing a string of beads while on the chairlift to throw into the tree, the thongs cause an imagination overload. A thong for Europe came to mind but of course this is USA so it would be a thong for the World.
While exploring the town of Vail we came across a wonderful ice carving which is due to be joined by others during a sculpture week, I fancy this will be immensely interesting. Then we came across three beautiful sculptures, a sleeping bear that looks as though is has been deflated, a group of children having a snowball fight, and a Herculaneum figure straight out of a Marvel comic. Magnificent all.
We had one of our evenings off and returned to the house of the marguerite. Sue once again went through the ‘no cheese please’ bit with the waiter who assured her that the tortillas wraps of fish didn’t have any cheese so would be OK. Sure enough when they came they didn’t have any cheese on, but to make up for it, the rice and pureed beans were smothered in melted cheese! Ah well - perhaps next time. We did have a jumbo marguerite costing $13.95 and worth every cent (I’m trying to adopt the local patois) and my meal was both excellent and relatively cheeseless. It was snowing as we set out walking to the restaurant and by the time we walked back there was a good 6” of fine powdery snow everywhere and it was as if a blanket had been laid across the roads. The traffic noise was negligible and we wandered back through the Nania-like streets which have fairy lights in enormous quantities wound through each tree. The fairy-light salesman had clearly been on, and won, an enormous bonus.
The snow-ploughs were out in force, tearing around the streets and ploughing within inches of the kerbs. It was very skilful and also plain to see why there are no cat’s-eyes in the roads. We are off to the cinema tonight for a late night showing, possibly of Avatar, as we have a day off tomorrow so can lie in.
Finally I would like to wish my reader the very best for the Festive Season and hope the New Year brings wonders anew.
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