This last week we were in Colorado, not at home in The Pearl. Our friends, Lisa and Tim, invited us to join them on a trip to Glenwood Springs. The objective of the trip was so Lisa could put her parents ashes to rest at the top of the Aspen ski run, a place they loved and visited often, Tricia and I were honored to be part of that memorial event. Red rock structures are ubiquitous to this part of Colorado.

Thanks to Lisa this was our home for the week, we even had deer and wild turkeys as visitors.

Here is a view of a barn in a neighboring field from the deck.

We drove the three and a half hour drive in separate cars, Tricia and I stopped in Vail for lunch. Not surprisingly, we found The Vintage, a French brasserie. We sat outside and enjoyed the pleasant server who, though from Kazakhstan, knew a few words of French. Tricia had a salade avec cheve chaud. I had the Swiss Forest Galette – “One egg in a puff pastry with woodland mushrooms, caramelized onions, Gruyère cheese & white truffle oil. Mixed green salad with walnuts and dried figs.” So glad we stopped.

Sunday we drove from Glenwood Springs to Aspen, then took the gondola up to the top of Aspen Mountain. We found a secluded spot in some trees and laid Lisa’s parents to rest, said a few words, and pondered the beauty of the place and the importance of people in our lives. I sketched Lisa sitting in a red chair as a memento for her.

We rode the gondola back down, amazed at the number of people that were actually hiking all the way up the steep mountainside – no way. Lisa wanted to take us out for a special lunch, and oh, it was amazing. Since we have had so many wonderful meals in our travels I gave up using terms like ”the best” when it comes to eating, this one will certainly be on our list of memorable meals forever.

The French Alpine Bistro has been written up in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Wine Spectator, and New York Times and plenty of others – it is well deserved. The service and ambiance is stunning, Tricia will be writing about it next week along with her always enjoyable photos, do check it out.

My entree (starter or appetizer for you USA folks) was Steak Tartar, something I have missed since leaving France, and one of my favorites. It was seasoned with shallots, capers, cornichons, and topped with a quail egg – perfect.

My main (entree, for the USA folks) was Truffle Gnocchi-flette – Black truffle potato gnocchi, bacon, carmalized onions, touch of cream, melted Gruyère cheese.

The wine and the deserts were just right, they even had a kir cassis, a traditional French aperitif which I have not had since returning to the USA, unless Tricia made one for us here.

Monday Tricia and I had lunch at the Glenwood Canyon Brewpub. I had the Peppered Cheesesteak sandwich. We sat outside and watched the people and dogs walking by.

There was plenty of inspiration on this trip. Atop the hill across the valley from us sat a tiny bright blue house tucked inside the trees, made all the more intense by the background of the iron-red hills.

Even while in Colorado my mind wanders to France. This the view we had from our back door in Normandie.

I did this pen sketch while sitting on the deck chatting with Tim.

The reason I promote travesketching is because it is a great way to capture moments while on the journey, it beats selfies since you are more engaged with the moment, even if it is brief. The goal is not to create a finished piece of art, though often that does happen. Here are a few that I did this week, quick, not as an apology for low quality, but because other people would have been inconvenienced, something that I don’t like to do, yet they captured the moment and will always remind me of the time.

It was a good week, we ate, laughed, and Tim and I did a lot of music together. Good to be back in The Pearl, but it was wonderful to explore a new place, and to share an important moment with a friend.

I hope you had a good week, wherever it took you, thank you for joining us on our journeys.