Posted Saturday, June 3, 2006

Along the Road, May '06
Another of Ken Poston's L.A. jazz events provided the impetus for a wonderful 11 day western adventure. Grab your cowboy hat and come along for the ride.

I wasn't at all hesitant when Michael announced he'd be attending another L.A. jazz event. Since we're spending the spring and early summer in Denver, instead of harried plane travel Michaels' jazz conference meant one thing to me.. ROAD TRIP! Since we've been anchored in the east, a western road trip was tantalizing. I love road trips in the west. The topography is so wonderfully varied, the roads so uncluttered; just miles and miles of rugged beauty. This trip didn't disappoint.

Since we were heading 'that way' anyway, we took the opportunity to swing by Phoenix to see Jenna and Tim and deliver the former loft furniture to her. I realize that only in my geography book is Phoenix 'on the way' to L.A., but we loaded up the trailer anyway and off we went. The easy two-day drive confirmed our belief that we're going to enjoy our new, more central location in Denver. Getting to the kids was no problem at all. We stayed just two nights, including a nice dinner at Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion, before taking off for L.A.

Michael spent his four days attending one wonderful concert after another, but I had my own adventures planned. I loved my traditional day in Santa Barbara with Lu and Kathy. As usual we mulled the state of the school, reminisced about old friends, and really enjoyed the absolutely perfect toes in the sand experience.

The next day, I flew to Oakland to spend the weekend with Denny and Marian and Maggie. Again, the weather was perfect and the company delightful. Denny and I started the weekend in style with lunch at Taste a new restaurant in the Berkeley gourmet ghetto. I can highly recommend Taste! The wine was delicious and the Niman Ranch burgers on crusty French bread incredible. We filled the rest of our time together wandering about in Berkeley, Alameda, and Tiburon.. ‘lunching’ along the way. Sam's in Tiburon is a MUST LUNCH THERE experience. The onion rings with blue cheese dressing are sinful and the crab sandwich on sourdough is the best I've had.The weekend was relaxing and fun. I don’t get to see nearly enough of Denny and Marian.. What a treat!!

The surprise of our May road trip was a two day visit to Telluride, CO. We were heading back from our L.A. to Denver and decided to take a detour since neither of us had ever been there. Spring rates abound, and we settled into a in a VERY nice hotel, The Peaks in Mountain Village, with a balcony and mountain views. We celebrated the night with a bottle of champagne as we watched the sun set on the mountains and valleys; then had dinner in the hotel restaurant. We had a wonderful sleep nestled in the luxury linens under a down comforter with mountain air filling the room from the door of the balcony left open so we could hear the rustling leaves of the Aspen trees. PERFECT… and it certainly gave us visions of our life in the mountains to come.

We took an early gondola ride over the hill to the town of Telluride to find breakfast at Maggie’s, a small local café. And in the afternoon we boarded the gondola again and went in to explore the town a bit more. Very very cute town.. We had a great day.. Lots of walking!!

We liked it so much that we decided to stay another night. Since The Peaks was full we got reservations in the Mountain Lodge, which are basically condominiums. Ours was a modified ‘studio’ with a gas fireplace separating the living room from the bedroom. We could hear a bubbling creek out the balcony doors and bedroom windows, view mountain peaks, and watch the gondolas glide by. We can also recommend Bistro Isabelle if you’re in the area. We had a lovely dinner there in ‘the core’ of Mountain Village with a to-die-for freshly baked chocolate lava cake-like concoction with vanilla ice cream and blueberries for dessert.

Check out the photos from this May road trip in the gallery interface on our home page. www.ourislands.com

GO WEST, young man… We can highly recommend the adventure!

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