Manitou Springs, Colorado 2017
Manitou Springs, Colorado
Every two years my husband's parents plan a family vacation. Paul and I have driven or flown to Seaside, FL; Napa Valley, CA and this summer Manitou Springs, CO. We meet up and the 6 of us eat, shop and get outdoors for a whole week. Each couple is in charge of a meal one night of the trip. We are all foodies so the meals are always delicious! Here's what we did:
Sunday afternoon Paul and I drove in to Manitou Springs with our little dog and a ton of food we'd cooked and frozen two days before. We decided in advance on sweet and savory crepes. (Spinach and mushroom filling and squash & cheddar filling) We also made cheesy hash brown bake, pot roast with carrots, and packed spicy salsas freshly made in my favorite Latino grocery in Dodge City. We also packed Trader Joe's chips and a huge box of "bloopers" chocolates from the Russell Stover outlet in Kansas City. We made Moscow Mules as the cocktails (and I added limonata Pellegrino to mine). When Paul and I set out all our supplies I started making crepes. Once everyone arrived we had dinner and spent the rest of the evening catching up. We took the dog for a walk to the base of the Incline steps and made plans to climb it a few days later.
Monday- As soon as we all got ready we took a 3 mile hike up Red Mountain. What an escalation! It took a long time to acclimate to the elevation! We made lunch at the house. I scrambled eggs and heated up cheesy hash brown bake. We all took a nap and then walked along the shops and restaurants downtown Manitou Springs. We stopped for cold drinks and French fries at a small restaurant with a big patio before walking back to the house. For dinner we went to Mona Lisa Fondu Restaurant. I loved this place! Everyone did! We had our own dining room and we ordered the three courses of fondu: cheese, meats and chocolate. This restaurant had the meat course grilled on a raclette grill instead of boiled in bouillon. Paul and I love making raclette at home and the meats and fish on the grill tasted delicious. The sauces that accompanied them were really delicious too. My favorite was the apricot sauce on the chicken. Paul and I chose cookies and cream for our chocolate course. We got to taste everyone else's cheese and chocolate too.
Tuesday - We visited the Garden of the Gods stopping in the Trading Post first for souvenirs. We hiked the Siamese Twins trail and took tons of pictures. Paul's mom had made a group reservation for High Tea at the Miramont castle. This was so much fun and I'd been looking forward to it before the trip even started. We chose three teas: Boulder Blue, mango, and lavender. Then the food arrived in courses: butterscotch scones, then a fruit salad in a pretty glass, then an assortment of finger sandwiches: tomato and Gouda, blackberry and Gorgonzola, chicken salad, and Reuben with hot mustard. Afterwards we toured the castle and learned about the priest who had lived there. After a nap Paul and I took our dog downtown to walk around the shops again. We had seen these cute fluffy goats eating leaves at one of the houses near our rental and we stopped and chatted with the owners. We sat on a bench and had a blue raspberry coconut Hawaiian shave ice. Mo and Enne made dinner that night and it was delicious: cucumber gin and champagne cocktail, cheese and crackers, curry chick pea salad and gf pasta salad with feta, pine nuts, red bell pepper, Kalamata olives, lemon peel and honey.
Wednesday - We drove back to the Garden of the Gods and took the loop hike. We ate lunch at the park (veggie burgers and buffalo burgers) in the cafe overlooking the mountains in the distance. Then we took two cars and drove up Pike's Peak. This was surreal and beautiful. It was hard to breath at 11,000 feet and clouds kept floating over us making our hair wet. A marmot appeared and started hopping around the rocks we were standing on. My brother in law took about 50 pictures of it and I tried to feed it part of a granola bar. Once we made it back down the mountain we had dinner at Creekside Cuisine and Craft Beer. I loved the sausage plate (rabbit, elk and pork-jalapeño-cheddar) and we all ordered Colorado beer flights. The rabbit sausage was incredibly delicious, one of my favorite foods of the trip. Then we walked next door to the historic penny arcade. It had beautiful old pinball machines and other games from every era. Paul and his dad challenged each other to a pinball race. I don't know who won.
Thursday- It was finally the day for The Incline! The famous steps that replaced the long gone funicular chairs that used to go up the side of the mountain in Ruxton Canyon. We started out as a group but Paul's very fit parents quickly pulled ahead. I was breathing harder and harder, glad that my brother-in-law Mo needed to take stops to breathe. Mo and I decided to only go 3/4 of the climb and then took the Barr Trail bail out path down the mountain. Paul caught up with his parents and made it to the top. Mo and I had a nice walk down catching up on everything. Paul and his dad wanted burgers after the big climb so I went with them to Creekside Cuisine again. This time for a burger with fried pickle spears on it. After packing a little Paul, Mo, Enne and I went to Cave of the Winds for an easy tour and history of the cave. Mom and Dad Morelli made a tasty dinner: spaghetti squash casserole, salad, rolls and gelato. Peach bellinis for cocktails. After dinner we walked around a neighborhood we hadn't explored and then sat and looked at pictures and reflected on what a great trip it had been.
Friday - Everyone got up early to pack up and clean out the house. We watched the Tour de France, scrambled eggs, and talked about how the house had been visited by a bear in the middle of the night. The Morellis had heard it in the middle of the night and caught it turning the garbage cans over outside. They yelled at it from their bedroom window and it ran down the street. There were bear paw prints on the hood of my Jeep!! We said goodbyes and then Paul and I drove to Colorado Springs to spend the day. We walked all over downtown and found Bambino's Urban Pizza for make your own pizzas. I had the Spicy Pig pizza with bacon, sausage, caramelized onions, mushrooms and Pueblo peppers. Paul created his own version of Hawaiian pizza with ham, pineapple, and Gorgonzola cheese. We walked up and down Tejon Street and stopped in Bella's Bakery for mixed berry scone and chocolate peanut butter muffins. We stayed north of the city in the suburbs and found sushi for dinner at Kura. Paul is currently obsessed with unfiltered sake (the cloudy kind) and he found a great one. We loved the veggie rolls stuffed with asparagus, pickled carrots and everything else, beef fried rice. Afterwards we stopped in Small Cakes for cupcakes. The vanilla chocolate icing one was delicious and reminded me of Muddy's cupcakes with the dense, wet chocolate icing. We watched the Rockies play the Mets on tv and I went to bed early for my very early flight to Charleston, SC to see Stephanie!
Every two years my husband's parents plan a family vacation. Paul and I have driven or flown to Seaside, FL; Napa Valley, CA and this summer Manitou Springs, CO. We meet up and the 6 of us eat, shop and get outdoors for a whole week. Each couple is in charge of a meal one night of the trip. We are all foodies so the meals are always delicious! Here's what we did:
Sunday afternoon Paul and I drove in to Manitou Springs with our little dog and a ton of food we'd cooked and frozen two days before. We decided in advance on sweet and savory crepes. (Spinach and mushroom filling and squash & cheddar filling) We also made cheesy hash brown bake, pot roast with carrots, and packed spicy salsas freshly made in my favorite Latino grocery in Dodge City. We also packed Trader Joe's chips and a huge box of "bloopers" chocolates from the Russell Stover outlet in Kansas City. We made Moscow Mules as the cocktails (and I added limonata Pellegrino to mine). When Paul and I set out all our supplies I started making crepes. Once everyone arrived we had dinner and spent the rest of the evening catching up. We took the dog for a walk to the base of the Incline steps and made plans to climb it a few days later.
Monday- As soon as we all got ready we took a 3 mile hike up Red Mountain. What an escalation! It took a long time to acclimate to the elevation! We made lunch at the house. I scrambled eggs and heated up cheesy hash brown bake. We all took a nap and then walked along the shops and restaurants downtown Manitou Springs. We stopped for cold drinks and French fries at a small restaurant with a big patio before walking back to the house. For dinner we went to Mona Lisa Fondu Restaurant. I loved this place! Everyone did! We had our own dining room and we ordered the three courses of fondu: cheese, meats and chocolate. This restaurant had the meat course grilled on a raclette grill instead of boiled in bouillon. Paul and I love making raclette at home and the meats and fish on the grill tasted delicious. The sauces that accompanied them were really delicious too. My favorite was the apricot sauce on the chicken. Paul and I chose cookies and cream for our chocolate course. We got to taste everyone else's cheese and chocolate too.
Tuesday - We visited the Garden of the Gods stopping in the Trading Post first for souvenirs. We hiked the Siamese Twins trail and took tons of pictures. Paul's mom had made a group reservation for High Tea at the Miramont castle. This was so much fun and I'd been looking forward to it before the trip even started. We chose three teas: Boulder Blue, mango, and lavender. Then the food arrived in courses: butterscotch scones, then a fruit salad in a pretty glass, then an assortment of finger sandwiches: tomato and Gouda, blackberry and Gorgonzola, chicken salad, and Reuben with hot mustard. Afterwards we toured the castle and learned about the priest who had lived there. After a nap Paul and I took our dog downtown to walk around the shops again. We had seen these cute fluffy goats eating leaves at one of the houses near our rental and we stopped and chatted with the owners. We sat on a bench and had a blue raspberry coconut Hawaiian shave ice. Mo and Enne made dinner that night and it was delicious: cucumber gin and champagne cocktail, cheese and crackers, curry chick pea salad and gf pasta salad with feta, pine nuts, red bell pepper, Kalamata olives, lemon peel and honey.
Wednesday - We drove back to the Garden of the Gods and took the loop hike. We ate lunch at the park (veggie burgers and buffalo burgers) in the cafe overlooking the mountains in the distance. Then we took two cars and drove up Pike's Peak. This was surreal and beautiful. It was hard to breath at 11,000 feet and clouds kept floating over us making our hair wet. A marmot appeared and started hopping around the rocks we were standing on. My brother in law took about 50 pictures of it and I tried to feed it part of a granola bar. Once we made it back down the mountain we had dinner at Creekside Cuisine and Craft Beer. I loved the sausage plate (rabbit, elk and pork-jalapeño-cheddar) and we all ordered Colorado beer flights. The rabbit sausage was incredibly delicious, one of my favorite foods of the trip. Then we walked next door to the historic penny arcade. It had beautiful old pinball machines and other games from every era. Paul and his dad challenged each other to a pinball race. I don't know who won.
Thursday- It was finally the day for The Incline! The famous steps that replaced the long gone funicular chairs that used to go up the side of the mountain in Ruxton Canyon. We started out as a group but Paul's very fit parents quickly pulled ahead. I was breathing harder and harder, glad that my brother-in-law Mo needed to take stops to breathe. Mo and I decided to only go 3/4 of the climb and then took the Barr Trail bail out path down the mountain. Paul caught up with his parents and made it to the top. Mo and I had a nice walk down catching up on everything. Paul and his dad wanted burgers after the big climb so I went with them to Creekside Cuisine again. This time for a burger with fried pickle spears on it. After packing a little Paul, Mo, Enne and I went to Cave of the Winds for an easy tour and history of the cave. Mom and Dad Morelli made a tasty dinner: spaghetti squash casserole, salad, rolls and gelato. Peach bellinis for cocktails. After dinner we walked around a neighborhood we hadn't explored and then sat and looked at pictures and reflected on what a great trip it had been.
Friday - Everyone got up early to pack up and clean out the house. We watched the Tour de France, scrambled eggs, and talked about how the house had been visited by a bear in the middle of the night. The Morellis had heard it in the middle of the night and caught it turning the garbage cans over outside. They yelled at it from their bedroom window and it ran down the street. There were bear paw prints on the hood of my Jeep!! We said goodbyes and then Paul and I drove to Colorado Springs to spend the day. We walked all over downtown and found Bambino's Urban Pizza for make your own pizzas. I had the Spicy Pig pizza with bacon, sausage, caramelized onions, mushrooms and Pueblo peppers. Paul created his own version of Hawaiian pizza with ham, pineapple, and Gorgonzola cheese. We walked up and down Tejon Street and stopped in Bella's Bakery for mixed berry scone and chocolate peanut butter muffins. We stayed north of the city in the suburbs and found sushi for dinner at Kura. Paul is currently obsessed with unfiltered sake (the cloudy kind) and he found a great one. We loved the veggie rolls stuffed with asparagus, pickled carrots and everything else, beef fried rice. Afterwards we stopped in Small Cakes for cupcakes. The vanilla chocolate icing one was delicious and reminded me of Muddy's cupcakes with the dense, wet chocolate icing. We watched the Rockies play the Mets on tv and I went to bed early for my very early flight to Charleston, SC to see Stephanie!
