Steamboat

Stories from the road

Friday

Steamboat Springs, CO.

 

On the flight into Steamboat Dennis Humphrey sat next to a portly man who was belting down a double Jack Daniels at 11:00 in the morning. Dennis likes to read and have quiet time, but the large man wanted to talk.  Once he learned Dennis was coming to Steamboat, he started telling him about the best restaurants in the mountain town. Considering the man’ appearance, Dennis paid attention.

We have been to several of the recommended eateries, and they have all been good. The best was last night. At Café Diva Dennis and I had elk medallions, whereas Vicki and Steve Valle had lamb shank. My martini was excellent as was my glass of malbec.

Our waiter was an interesting person. Like a travel agent describing the best of Italy and France, he made each dish sound wonderful. He was intelligent and persuasive, though like many servers, subtly condescending. At one point, when Steve ordered a certain kind of wine, the man said he wouldn’t order it with lamb, but it was a good wine.  There was a little hostility beneath his presentation. However the meal was great, and his descriptions of the courses were correct.

We lingered at the end of the meal, as none of us were in a hurry to go.  Though we had said our thanks yous, he came over again and said, ”Thank you”, which I took to mean,  “You need to leave now, so I can have your table.”   This once happened at Mille Fleurs, but Bertrand sent us to the bar with free after dinner drinks.

Today the skiing was better. Once again it was snowing on top of the mountain, and the visibility was very poor. We descended and skied the lower trails where we could see well. The snow was good, and I had fun skiing down the fall line with quick turns.

We talked with some interesting young people from Chicago, who had just arrived at the resort. They were smart, attractive young people, and we had fun talking with them for the ten-minute gondola ride. One of the young men said we were lucky to be able to ski so much, and I agreed with him.