Historic Manitou Springs

On August 23, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Colorado7 Comments

As you head west out of Colorado Springs towards Pike’s Peak, you pass the popular tourist town of Manitou Springs. Despite the fact that it is where the cog railway is located and one of our favorite trails, Barr trail, that takes you to the top of Pike’s Peak, we haven’t given the quaint town a lot of thought until now. Perhaps the thought of leaving for several months has opened our eyes to more of what is around is us every day. This weekend we decided to head to Manitou Springs, wonder the streets, and window shop at some of the shops selling various collectables for the tourists.

The Pike’s Peak Marathon took place the day after our visit, which is where runners ascend Pike’s Peak using Barr trail to complete the 24 mile round trip. We hiked to the top of Pike’s Peak several years ago and it was one of the hardest things we have ever done, so we can only imagine running it, those athletes are in incredible shape. The town was extremely busy as it always is, but even more so with everyone in town for the annual event which draws runners from around the world.

We Were Exhausted When We Reached the Summit

There are plenty of restaurants and shops to choose from, especially if you want to take home some Colorado memorabilia. The buildings themselves are all historic buildings from the turn of the century and will definitely give you the feel of the old west. As we walked the streets, we passed by the Old Tyme Photography shop where we had our family photo taken about 10 years ago. There was plenty to be nostalgic about as we wandered through the town and went to the shops that we’ve visited many times in the past.

If you visit the Colorado Springs area, visiting Manitou Springs is definitely a worthwhile venture. There are also plenty of bed and breakfasts in town if you want to make it your home base while visiting. One of our favorite hotels and restaurants is the Cliff House, which was also the place that we stayed when we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. It is very much a tourist location, but it has enough festivals and events to keep the interest of locals all year round.

Plenty of Choices for Food in Denver

On August 17, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Recipes7 Comments

Whether on the 16th Street Mall or in the LODO (Lower Downtown) area, there are plenty of restaurants to choose from. We’ve said this before, but we are not big eaters. We do, however, like to try a variety of food so we tend to have small bites in several places spread out throughout the day. It was no different during our visit to Denver over the weekend. We ended up eating at five different restaurants before our weekend was over and each offered the opportunity to have something a little different.

When we arrived in Denver, it was time for lunch, so we walked down to Henry’s Tavern to grab a bite to eat. Because we like good service and we don’t always like to take up a table on a server when we know that we’re going to share a meal, we usually will sit at the bar for a meal, even if we’re not having any alcohol. Since we weren’t going to do any driving while in Denver, we opted for a glass of wine with our lunch. One of the interesting things about their bar was that there was a frozen strip around the bar where you can put your beer and it will stay ice cold no matter how hot it is outside. After perusing the menu, we weren’t sure what to have, so we asked the bartender for some advice. Based on her opinion, we ordered the bangers and mash, which was served with an incredibly rich onion gravy. It was delicious.

Later in the afternoon, we went to one of our favorite places called The Kitchen. We ordered some roasted beets and marinated olives, but overall were disappointed with the changes that had been implemented since our previous visit. They had raised their prices and reduced the creativity of their offerings. Unfortunately, they have most likely lost our business. After walking around for a little bit, we went to Jax Fish House. We had been to another one of their restaurants in Fort Collins, so we knew that we were in for a treat. Oysters, peel-and-eat shrimp, seafood tater tots with salmon, and seafood sausage made for quite the meal. Although all small plates, we were quite full by the time we were done.

Before leaving Denver the following day, we had time for one more restaurant and we chose one near our hotel called Stout Street Social. It was brunch time and they had some really interesting brunch choices, but we ended up selecting their cheddar biscuits and green chili. It featured a large, homemade cheddar biscuit, scrambled eggs, bacon, and green chili. Even though we were splitting it, there was still too much food for us to finish, but it was definitely a savory way to start our day.

All in all, we had a wonderful time during our quick break in Denver and part of the reason was the delicious food that we tried. We try to go to new places as well as visit some of our favorites from past trips as well. Obviously we’re looking forward to the food when we get overseas, but for now we’ll enjoy opportunities to try some new places until we leave.

Weekend in Denver

On August 15, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Colorado15 Comments

Things have been more than just a little hectic for the two of us over the past couple of weeks as we try to get prepared for being out of the country for several months. Working two full-time jobs and packing up our house has caused us to be pretty stressed, so we decided to give ourselves a break and head to Denver for the weekend. It was a pretty hot weekend, but the weather was perfect for being outside and walking through Denver’s historic district. It is hard to believe that after all of the years that we’ve lived here, we hadn’t taken the time to walk the historic district of downtown Denver. It was worth the wait, however, as we really enjoyed seeing all of the buildings and statues.

The capital is under some major renovations at the moment, but its gold dome still dominates the skyline, shimmering in the afternoon sun. We walked over to the Molly Brown House and Museum, which is a wonderful representation of the turn of the century Victorian homes. As most people know, she became famous after surviving the sinking of the Titanic giving her the nickname of “The Unsinkable Molly Brown”. We also walked around Civic Center Park with its columns, statues, and flower beds. In a couple of weeks we hope to return there to partake in the Taste of Colorado, which is happening in the park over Labor Day weekend.

“Broncho Buster” Statue (that is spelled correctly)

By the time we made it back to the 16th Street Mall, which is a pedestrian street with lots of restaurants and shop, it was late in the afternoon. There are hop-on hop-off busses that will take you from one end of the street to the other, but we decided to have one of the bike taxis take us to the far western end of the street as we were hot and tired at this point. They aren’t cheap, but it is a fun way to travel on the mall as they are like an American version of a rickshaw. We’re back at work today and the pressure is mounting once again, but at least for a few hours over the weekend we were able to forget about all of our stress and enjoy a beautiful summer day in Denver.