The long drive back to Denver

Mark and I met Mark and Kristin at Relish a newer restaurant in Breckenridge that was recommended by a friend. When our waiter Sam arrived at our table I asked him about his being at this place instead of our favorite restaurant Cafe Alpine. He let us know he switched when the owner of Cafe Alpine decided to close the place. This was a shock. It was the best place in Breckenridge and Mark and I loved eating there. The owner paid off all of his debt and decided to go into the consulting business to help other restaurants be successful. He said the landlord of the place was hard to deal with. We were sad to here this news. The sous chef from Cafe Alpine opened Relish so we knew we were in for a treat. The food at Relish is great. So now I suppose this is our favorite place in Breck, although we have another new place to try called Modis.

Mark and I got up late, 8 am this morning so we did a smaller ride. We rode from Breckenridge around Lake Dillion and back, so only 36 miles. The weather was cool and we again had a tailwind riding back to Breckenridge. A rare event and two days in a row. We had seen a new bike trail just over the top of Swan Mountain and decided to explore it. I was a short climb and then a long decent through blooming mountain meadows to Lake Dillion. Definitely a great find and one we will bike again.

The traffic on Sundays from the mountains can be quite heavy and today it was worse than usual. The stop and go traffic started on the west side of the Eisenhower Tunnel which is about 80 miles from Denver. When we finally got to the tunnel the siren went off and the tunnel was closed for about 10-15 minutes. We are not sure why that happened. Mark and I know all of the side roads off of I-70 so when we got to the first exit that we could get off that parking lot we did. I love the side roads because the landscape is beautiful and the road is mostly quiet. Of course we are not the only locals who know this trick so we had some company. The trip that usually takes an 1 1/2-2 hours took 2 1/2 hours. It was slower however I love those back roads. It rained on us before getting home. They say that Breckenridge has had more rain this year than they have had since 1870. Everything is green.

Percy our blue front Amazon Parrot is singing because he is happy we are back.