Our truck started having issues the last two times that we had driven over to Larry and Bouraine’s house in Fraser. When I shut it off the radiator “gurgles”. I checked the fluid level and it’s fine. I will have to wait until a weekday in order to take it to a local mechanic. Since we didn’t want to drive to Fraser we hopped on the Lift bus and rode in. That way we could spend some time with the Smith’s without having to interrupt Larrys’ project.
A little less comfortable than riding in the Busse Bus.
Bouraine and Katrina set out to shop and so did I. My first stop was Big Trout Brewing:
I tried the beer flight and liked the Mexican lager the best. Next up was the Ditch 40, where I got a bourbon and a delicious appetizer. Bouraine and Katrina came to join me and then Larry showed up a little later.
After another round we walked over to Casa Mexico mexican restaurant for dinner. The food was pretty good and the margaritas were delicious. Larry and Bouraine were nice enough to drive us home so we didn’t have to wait around for the Lift bus.
I was able to take the truck into the local mechanic who didn’t find anything easy and told me to drive it around and if it started to gurgle to bring it in. Katrina and I drove around looking at condos/townhomes for sale as we thought that it might be good to have something here if Matt and Ariana do move to the Denver area next year. We learned that that the prices are extremely expensive here. Prices have doubled in the past three years. We did like one townhome at the base of Granby Ranch that was ski in / ski out to the small ski slopes nearby. Although the ski slopes are smaller than Winter Park, it seems quite nice for beginners and families:
We drove north to Grand Lake to explore the area. Before we got there I wanted to check out The Winding River Ranch because I have a distant relative that owns the place. A little background here: When I was six years old my family took a six week vacation in a slide-on camper. Our destination was Alaska to visit my brother, Al who was stationed at Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks. It was a fantastic trip and probable was the catalyst for our adventures now. Anyway, on the way we stopped at the Winding River Ranch to camp for a few days. Eileen Busse who ran the place is still alive today at 94, unfortunately she was in Arizona so we didn’t get a chance to meet with her. I really wanted to tell her about the wonderful memories from my childhood, even if it was short a time visit. Apparently she no longer runs the Resort part and had turned the Ranch into a wedding destination. Again, unfortunately the place burned in the wildfires a few years ago. Her grandson, Travis (whom we didn’t meet and only heard about through a worker that talked to us) is going to rebuild. Perhaps if we are up in this area again we will stop by.
On the drive to the Ranch we espied another moose:
Now we have seen more moose in Colorado than the entire time that we were in Alaska a number of years ago.
We did make it to the town of Grand Lake. What a quaint western town:
I mean what beautiful views! The sidewalks were wooden and everything that you would imagine a western town would be. We did see another moose in town:
We had lunch at Sagebrush BBQ & Grill
which was the converted jail from the 1880’s. We tried the Wild Game Sausage Platter, who wouldn’t?
Not bad. We wanted to be food adventurous, we did skip the Rocky Mountain Oysters. Do you blame us?
Since we had to move sites within River Run we spent the next day moving, cleaning, doing laundry, and smoking a chicken for dinner. It rains on and off and it’s still cold.
We met up with Larry and Bouraine Smith at the “Secret Saloon” again, a private establishment with local members. Larry is considered a local because he lived here in the 70’s. Check it out:
It was interesting to talk with one of the regular’s daughter, Linsey who played college volleyball and knew a friend of ours daughter, Morgan O’Brien, who played for the University of Illinois. It’s a small world! The Secret Saloon is a great place where friends meet up prior to going out to dinner in town. We went to Hernando’s Pizza Pub.
The next day Katrina and I visited the base of the Winter Park ski mountain. Afterwards we stopped at Carver’s for a burger, and what a burger it was:
Delicious! Neat place:
I thought the fake skiing id’s were hilarious.
Afterwards we stopped in a brewery to try their home brews:
Which beer to try? I don’t know because it’s a vicious cycle:
Katrina entered a pickleball tournament on June 18th, that was being held in Steamboat. She was able to find a partner for mixed doubles. We found a hotel that would accommodate dogs so all three of us loaded up and took a trip within our adventures. On the drive over we got a picture of “Rabbit Ears”
And an awesome view off the mountain of a lake below:
Here’s our hotel room:
Nice room with a view of the ski slopes of Steamboat. We traveled into downtown for dinner after doing a little shopping. We found Besame restaurant featuring tapas:
Wonderful food and drinks!
Katrina and Eric Flatland did well in the pickleball tournament. They lost their first game to the eventually second place team, then won their next three games only to lose one game shy of the bronze medal.
They did great for never playing together before. Afterwards we headed into downtown Steamboat for lunch since it was Father’s Day. We found a food truck court that over looked the Yamba River and ski jumps beyond.
Afterwards a stop at the Mountain Tap Brewery to try their brews.
We thought that they would allow us to have Bear with our beer but there was only a few tables where that was allowed. We didn’t get one of those so after a quick beer we moved on.
The town of Steamboat is a beautiful place:
On the drive back to Granby we saw a beautiful bald eagle by Rabbit Ears.
See him in the tree?
The next day we viewed houses, condos, and townhouses with a realtor to get a better understanding of costs and areas where we may want to buy something someday. Afterwards we stopped at Sharkey’s for a bite to eat.
After Katrina took Bear to the local dog park that features a pond where dogs could play we were getting ready to make dinner when Nan and Ron Mitzel stopped by to say “hi”. Apparently Nan read Katrina’s Facebook post and realized that we were both at the same location at the same time.
We knew the Mitzel’s from Myakka, our place in Florida.
To wrap up the final evening of the second 1/3 of our time in Granby Katrina and I made a wonderful T-bone steak dinner complete with cauliflower salad and blistered shishito peppers.
The night ended with s’mores around the campfire.
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