Spring Break!
Spring Break- Day 1 (Saturday)
After eating a rather eclectic breakfast (we were trying to get rid of the last of the leftovers in the ice box before we left for a week), Dev and I packed the truck and headed for Montrose.
Along with our clothes and other trip necessities, I always try to pack some kind of food and water. I know this sounds stupid, but if we were to get stuck in an avalanche or snow slide, at least we would live a little longer if we could eat some almonds or granola and share a bottle of water. At least it would put off cannibalism a bit longer…
We had 3 routes at our disposal, and Dev chose the Silver Thread Byway (Hwy 149) through Lake City. We passed through Monte Vista, Del Norte, South Fork, Creede and Lake City on our way to Blue Mesa Lake and Hwy 50.
One of the cool things about traveling around in the mountains here is the amount of wildlife you get to see. On this trip we saw a mountain sheep, bounding up the side of a little cliff…
By the time we got to Lake City, we decided to stop and eat some lunch.
As with most little mountain towns, Lake City doesn’t have much going on in the winter. Unfortunately this means there are not many restaurants or shops open, even on Saturday. Dev spotted a little diner on the side of the road, and we pulled off to take our chances.
I am a true believer in the idea that some of the best food around comes from little divey holes in the wall. However, having made some monumentally bad restaurant choices during past trips, I was dreading what might await us inside the Tic Toc Diner.
I am happy to say that the Tic Toc Diner ended up being one of the best places we’ve ever eaten on the road. The menu was varied and the portions were huge. There weren’t many people in the restaurant, but they were locals. The people sitting behind us worked for the local paper. We were entertained the whole time by their conversations about local events and people. I don’t remember our waitress’ name, but she was delightful. She had just a touch of Flo from “Alice” going on. She knew everyone in the place.
Dev ordered the “Albuquerque Turkey” sandwich and I ordered a gyro. We both had Tater Tots. These were very good Tater Tots. Fried- the way a Tater Tot should be.
We will definitely be going back this summer on one of our many anticipated camping adventures!
After lunch we loaded back up in the truck and headed on down the road.
Blue Mesa Lake was completely frozen over, with several little “villages” of ice fishermen in shelters dotting the surface of the ice. We saw deer everywhere, feeding along the side of the road.
We got to Dev’s parents’ house around 3:30pm and settled for an evening of catching up and eating. It’s always good to come home for a while….
Spring Break Day 2
We got up Sunday morning and had a breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage and toast. After we ate, we sat at the kitchen table a long time, solving the world’s problems over coffee.
Outside, the 5 or 6 cats Dev’s parents have been feeding through the winter were lined up waiting for the buffet.
Cute, aren’t they? I would love to take one of the Maine Coons home with me, but I don’t think we’re ready for pet ownership just yet.
After breakfast we ventured out to do a little shopping. First stop was JC Penney, but I didn’t find any trouble there. Target was another story….
I love Target- probably because I hate Walmart. Target just seems cleaner and nicer to me. I had a list of things to look for, so I didn’t waste anytime getting down to business. I always like to buy dried fruit there, because they usually have a good selection and it is reasonably priced. This time around I bought blueberries and cherries. I also like to buy roasted nuts there, because I like the plastic jars they come in…so I bought some whole cashews and some almonds. There was a sale on the condiment aisle, so I got some traditional Tabasco for a buck, and two mustards- raspberry wasabi and brewmasters.
I was looking for a loose tea thermos for school, and found a really cool Bodum coffee press thermos. You just put the loose tea or coarse ground coffee in the bottom, fill with boiling water, wait 4 minutes, then put on the top and press the plunger down. There is a little sippie cup top that opens after the plunger goes down. Pretty neat- needless to say it came home with me as well.
Next stop was the newly remodeled City Market store. I know, it doesn’t sound very exciting, but this store has a better gourmet cheese case than the Fresh Market in my home town. Not to mention the sushi counter…..
I walked out of there with a tray of salmon and tuna nigiri for lunch and small pieces of Cotswald (a cheddar with chives), Red Leicester Cheddar, and a goat cheese with garlic and herbs. Those are my kinda groceries!
After lunch, we all went to the video store and picked out a movie for later. “American Gangster” proved to be a really good movie. It took a while for them to put the pieces together and really get the movie going, but other than that it was very good. Much less violent and graphic than I imagined it would be. Don’t get me wrong, it had it’s moments of violence, but it made sense within the context of the story- it didn’t seem gratuitous.
Everyone hit the sack around 10:30.
Spring Break Day 3
Monday we decided we would ride up the road to Delta, CO and eat at a little place called Miller's Deitch Haus Restaurant...
I can not possibly tell you how good this place was. It was nothing fancy, just really good down home cooking. The prices were very low and the portions were huge! I ordered the meatloaf (which was the best I'd EVAR had!), mashed potatoes with gravy, fried okra and a from scratch roll. Dev and I split a piece of ShooFly Pie for dessert. The place is owned and run by a group of Mennonites. I had no idea they had such a wonderful food culture! Next time we go in, I may just pick up one of their cookbooks, just to see what goes into all those wonderful dishes.
After lunch, we all needed a walk, so we strolled around downtown Delta and did a little shopping. The local theatre is rather different, as you can see....
No one did much of anything after we got home, except lay around and moan about how full we all were.
Spring Break Day 4
Monday was Dev's mom's birthday, but because we had planned to go out for a big lunch, we waited until Tuesday night to go celebrate.
One of the nicer restaurants in Montrose is a place called Camprobbers. We have been there before and the food is wonderful- a little out of our normal price range, but great for a special occasion.
Here is a pic of the birthday girl, Eleanor (Dev's mom) and Bill (Dev's dad).
For dinner, I ordered the pistachio encrusted, beer battered shrimp with steamed veggies and a baked potato...
After some discussion, it was decided that Dev and I would share a slice of Brandy Alexander Pie for dessert. This was a good call because it was out of this world.
The rest of Spring Break just kind of got past me. We went shopping in Grand Junction on Thursday. There was a return trip to the Mennonite restaurant Friday evening, etc.
We hit the road to come home Saturday afternoon. All in all I would say it was a great Spring Break. We ate a lot, relaxed a lot, talked a lot and slept a lot.
I feel refreshed and ready to go back to school tomorrow!
After eating a rather eclectic breakfast (we were trying to get rid of the last of the leftovers in the ice box before we left for a week), Dev and I packed the truck and headed for Montrose.
Along with our clothes and other trip necessities, I always try to pack some kind of food and water. I know this sounds stupid, but if we were to get stuck in an avalanche or snow slide, at least we would live a little longer if we could eat some almonds or granola and share a bottle of water. At least it would put off cannibalism a bit longer…
We had 3 routes at our disposal, and Dev chose the Silver Thread Byway (Hwy 149) through Lake City. We passed through Monte Vista, Del Norte, South Fork, Creede and Lake City on our way to Blue Mesa Lake and Hwy 50.
One of the cool things about traveling around in the mountains here is the amount of wildlife you get to see. On this trip we saw a mountain sheep, bounding up the side of a little cliff…
By the time we got to Lake City, we decided to stop and eat some lunch.
As with most little mountain towns, Lake City doesn’t have much going on in the winter. Unfortunately this means there are not many restaurants or shops open, even on Saturday. Dev spotted a little diner on the side of the road, and we pulled off to take our chances.
I am a true believer in the idea that some of the best food around comes from little divey holes in the wall. However, having made some monumentally bad restaurant choices during past trips, I was dreading what might await us inside the Tic Toc Diner.
I am happy to say that the Tic Toc Diner ended up being one of the best places we’ve ever eaten on the road. The menu was varied and the portions were huge. There weren’t many people in the restaurant, but they were locals. The people sitting behind us worked for the local paper. We were entertained the whole time by their conversations about local events and people. I don’t remember our waitress’ name, but she was delightful. She had just a touch of Flo from “Alice” going on. She knew everyone in the place.
Dev ordered the “Albuquerque Turkey” sandwich and I ordered a gyro. We both had Tater Tots. These were very good Tater Tots. Fried- the way a Tater Tot should be.
We will definitely be going back this summer on one of our many anticipated camping adventures!
After lunch we loaded back up in the truck and headed on down the road.
Blue Mesa Lake was completely frozen over, with several little “villages” of ice fishermen in shelters dotting the surface of the ice. We saw deer everywhere, feeding along the side of the road.
We got to Dev’s parents’ house around 3:30pm and settled for an evening of catching up and eating. It’s always good to come home for a while….
Spring Break Day 2
We got up Sunday morning and had a breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage and toast. After we ate, we sat at the kitchen table a long time, solving the world’s problems over coffee.
Outside, the 5 or 6 cats Dev’s parents have been feeding through the winter were lined up waiting for the buffet.
Cute, aren’t they? I would love to take one of the Maine Coons home with me, but I don’t think we’re ready for pet ownership just yet.
After breakfast we ventured out to do a little shopping. First stop was JC Penney, but I didn’t find any trouble there. Target was another story….
I love Target- probably because I hate Walmart. Target just seems cleaner and nicer to me. I had a list of things to look for, so I didn’t waste anytime getting down to business. I always like to buy dried fruit there, because they usually have a good selection and it is reasonably priced. This time around I bought blueberries and cherries. I also like to buy roasted nuts there, because I like the plastic jars they come in…so I bought some whole cashews and some almonds. There was a sale on the condiment aisle, so I got some traditional Tabasco for a buck, and two mustards- raspberry wasabi and brewmasters.
I was looking for a loose tea thermos for school, and found a really cool Bodum coffee press thermos. You just put the loose tea or coarse ground coffee in the bottom, fill with boiling water, wait 4 minutes, then put on the top and press the plunger down. There is a little sippie cup top that opens after the plunger goes down. Pretty neat- needless to say it came home with me as well.
Next stop was the newly remodeled City Market store. I know, it doesn’t sound very exciting, but this store has a better gourmet cheese case than the Fresh Market in my home town. Not to mention the sushi counter…..
I walked out of there with a tray of salmon and tuna nigiri for lunch and small pieces of Cotswald (a cheddar with chives), Red Leicester Cheddar, and a goat cheese with garlic and herbs. Those are my kinda groceries!
After lunch, we all went to the video store and picked out a movie for later. “American Gangster” proved to be a really good movie. It took a while for them to put the pieces together and really get the movie going, but other than that it was very good. Much less violent and graphic than I imagined it would be. Don’t get me wrong, it had it’s moments of violence, but it made sense within the context of the story- it didn’t seem gratuitous.
Everyone hit the sack around 10:30.
Spring Break Day 3
Monday we decided we would ride up the road to Delta, CO and eat at a little place called Miller's Deitch Haus Restaurant...
I can not possibly tell you how good this place was. It was nothing fancy, just really good down home cooking. The prices were very low and the portions were huge! I ordered the meatloaf (which was the best I'd EVAR had!), mashed potatoes with gravy, fried okra and a from scratch roll. Dev and I split a piece of ShooFly Pie for dessert. The place is owned and run by a group of Mennonites. I had no idea they had such a wonderful food culture! Next time we go in, I may just pick up one of their cookbooks, just to see what goes into all those wonderful dishes.
After lunch, we all needed a walk, so we strolled around downtown Delta and did a little shopping. The local theatre is rather different, as you can see....
No one did much of anything after we got home, except lay around and moan about how full we all were.
Spring Break Day 4
Monday was Dev's mom's birthday, but because we had planned to go out for a big lunch, we waited until Tuesday night to go celebrate.
One of the nicer restaurants in Montrose is a place called Camprobbers. We have been there before and the food is wonderful- a little out of our normal price range, but great for a special occasion.
Here is a pic of the birthday girl, Eleanor (Dev's mom) and Bill (Dev's dad).
For dinner, I ordered the pistachio encrusted, beer battered shrimp with steamed veggies and a baked potato...
After some discussion, it was decided that Dev and I would share a slice of Brandy Alexander Pie for dessert. This was a good call because it was out of this world.
The rest of Spring Break just kind of got past me. We went shopping in Grand Junction on Thursday. There was a return trip to the Mennonite restaurant Friday evening, etc.
We hit the road to come home Saturday afternoon. All in all I would say it was a great Spring Break. We ate a lot, relaxed a lot, talked a lot and slept a lot.
I feel refreshed and ready to go back to school tomorrow!
Comments
Have you guys discovered AllGon Pizza in Fort Garland?
Another good Valley restaurant is Kip's Grill in Creede, but it might not open until after Memorial Day.