Bozeman, Montana

On September 18, 2015September 18, 2015 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Montana2 Comments

We’ve been in Bozeman, Montana since Tuesday and are getting ready to fly home again tomorrow. It was a work trip where we traveled together, but we weren’t able to make it into Yellowstone this time. The weather was surprisingly cold, even by Montana standards for September, and it has been rainy until today and the higher elevations, above 7,500 feet, are covered in snow. Bozeman is a beautiful little town that sits in a valley surrounded by mountains on all sides. We’ve been fortunate to visit Bozeman many times over the past fifteen years and are always drawn to its quaint, historical, charm.

Many people fly into Bozeman for the many different locations that you can reach once you land here. During the ski season, Big Sky Ski Resort is a short drive away, although the locals ski Bridger Bowl. You can get to both the North and West entrances of Yellowstone from Bozeman, so it is really convenient for anyone interested in heading to the park. The area is probably best known for its fly fishing and people flock here from around the world to take advantage of what we understand to be some of the best fly fishing that can be found anyplace. Needless to say, opportunities for hiking, horseback riding, rafting, biking, or simply enjoying nature abound throughout the area.

One of our favorite restaurants in downtown Bozeman is the John Bozeman Bistro. They often have unique specials, but it is the atmosphere that we like the most. You can also enjoy a burger at Ted’s Montana Grill, which oddly enough was not the first of the locations in the restaurant chain, although Ted Turner does have a huge bison ranch in the area. One nice thing about Bozeman being a draw for tourists is that there are plenty of nice restaurants for people to enjoy. In addition to being a tourist location, Montana State University (MSU) is also located here, which keeps the town young and vibrant.

Reuben and French Onion Soup at the John Bozeman Bistro

Since the weather didn’t really cooperate, highs in the low 50’s and lows at night into the middle to lower 30’s, we didn’t have as many opportunities on this trip to get out and enjoy the outdoors. We’ll likely be back again, knowing how much we like the area, so we’ll be sure to make the most of our next trip.

Christmas in Vegas

On September 14, 2015September 14, 2015 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Las VegasLeave a comment

We have a couple of timeshares and last year we had a week that we had to use or we would lose it, so we decided to avoid the normal family drama of the holidays and go to Vegas. We had never really considered going to Las Vegas over the holidays, so we weren’t sure of what to expect. We had a full seven nights, which is really too many nights for Vegas, but we were staying at the Trump Tower, which doesn’t have a casino, so at least we had a place to go to get away from the noise. Our youngest daughter was joining us for three nights in the middle of our stay, so we had two nights before she joined us and two nights after she left. We would definitely need the nights towards the end to try and recover from spending three nights with a twenty-five year old, way to much eating and drinking for the two of us who had both turned fifty that year.

First thing about Christmas in Las Vegas is that the casinos don’t really do much to celebrate Christmas, so the strip is just like the strip at any other time of the year. New Year’s Eve was definitely their focus and there were bill boards and advertisements for all of the special concerts and parties that were coming to town. There were a few hotels that did some displays, such as the Bellagio, the Venetian, and Caesar’s Palace. Other than that, it was business as usual for the casinos.

We’ve been to Vegas several times, so we were pleased that there were far fewer crowds in town for the week, which was nice. Most of the people that were there seemed to travel from overseas and were likely going to be there for a couple of weeks. The days of the cheap buffets and steak dinners are definitely a thing of the past and now Las Vegas and the strip is home to restaurants touting celebrity chef names in every corner of the casinos. Dinner on the strip can cost you more than an evening of gambling, but the food is definitely excellent.

We always take in a show when we’re in Vegas and have done several of the Cirque Du Soleil shows, but we decided to go and see Penn and Teller. We wanted our daughter to see their show, which is a lot of fun, and the two of them take time after the show to talk and take pictures with everyone from the audience. Afterwards, by attending their show, you’re able to get into the Voodoo Lounge at the Rio, which is the nightclub that they own and is on the roof of the Rio. You get some amazing views of the strip as well as some tasty cocktails.

Pete and Our Daughter at the Voodoo Lounge

We actually flew home the day after Christmas, exhausted, but Christmas Day was probably the strangest day of the trip. Apparently there are extremely cheap flights from California to Las Vegas if you’re willing to fly on Christmas Day, and people were apparently very willing. Lines to check into hotels were a mile long and if you wanted to get a bite to eat at one of the restaurants, you had better be willing to wait. It was a sudden, and unwelcome, change to what had been a somewhat quiet week, at least in terms of Vegas. It is unlikely that we’ll ever do Christmas at Las Vegas again, but in the end we had a lot of fun and made some interesting memories.

Jax Fish House and Oyster Bar

On September 11, 2015September 11, 2015 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Colorado2 Comments

We’d been to Jax Fish House and Oyster Bar when we visited Fort Collins a while back, so when we found them in Boulder, we were quick to pay them another visit. They have the most incredible happy hour with oysters for a $1.50 each as well as a variety of other options. There are a total of five restaurants with locations in Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, and Glendale in Colorado and the fifth in Kansas City. The goal of Jax Fish House is to serve fresh seafood to land locked communities and they fly in their seafood fresh everyday. One of the things we really like about Jax is their commitment to sustainable seafood sources as well as sourcing their food from local farmers. We really appreciate the farm to table and, in this case, sea to table approach that provides the freshest ingredients that are in season at the time.

We started with a dozen oysters, of course, which were wonderful. Obviously we enjoyed some wine with our meal, but we believe in enjoying a wine of your preference versus worrying about a specific pairing, so red or white wine works well with seafood for us. After the oysters, we enjoyed a small plate with spicy tuna on crispy rice, which had wonderful flavor. Peel and eat shrimp was next on the agenda followed by another dozen oysters (yes, we were hungry). Finally, we had the special for the night, which was shrimp and grits with Tabasco butter with a scrumptious fried egg with a runny yoke.

After dinner, Chef Alex Krill came out to ensure that we were satisfied with our meal and we talked about their commitment to source food from local farmers. We also talked about his recent trip to Thailand and how we both appreciated getting inspiration from local flavors of the places we visit, the more exotic, the better. Every member of the staff on all of our visits were extremely friendly and proud of the restaurant in which they worked. We were back the next night for more oysters, but getting a seat at happy hour isn’t always an easy thing, but we were lucky enough to get a seat at the bar once again. We prefer eating at the bar as we typically share plates and enjoy the attentive service that we usually get when sitting at the bar. We also had some calamari as well as a second dozen oysters once again. If you’re in a location that has a Jax Fish House and Oyster Bar, we highly recommend that you pay them a visit, especially during happy hour.