The big Labor Day weekend had left us road weary once again, so we spent week 5 close to home for recovery. After all, we had not yet taken a chance to experience all that Pueblo had to offer. There are two things that my co-workers said one must do while in town: take a stroll on the Riverwalk and eat a slopper. Once we had two days of rest under our belts, that is how we spent our evening in downtown Pueblo.
The Riverwalk is just what it sounds, a paved path along the portion of the Arizona River running through town. Restaurants and shops line the river as well as benches as bronze animal statues. Gondola rides are available if you are in a romantic mood, and a fountain bubbles for those seeking serenity.
We used our stroll to build up an appetite and get into the mood for a slopper at the Gold Dust Saloon. The restaurant had an old western theme with cowboy, Indian, bandit, and rancher memorabilia covering the walls and ceilings. When we first arrived, the emptiness of the dining room left us a bit concerned; however, we soon found that we had just beaten the dinner crowd. Now, I’ll bet you are wondering just what a slopper is. This is it…
Can’t tell what it is? That’s okay, it is a bit of a messy dish. The slopper, indigenous to southern Colorado, consists of an open face hamburger topped with fries, smothered in green chili (another southern Colorado dish made of green chilies and pork), and garnished with onions and cheese. Yowza! It is a lot of food! A dish like this is not usually my thing, so I just sampled Bilbo’s and ordered a much less intimidating sandwich of my own. The chili was a new and exciting flavor, but neither of us are anticipating our next slopper. What we are looking forward to is the Pueblo Chili Festival on the last weekend of September! It has been named as one of the top small town festivals in the USA and features—you guessed it—green chili!
To hone some new skills and to prepare for our weekend hiking trip, Bilbo spent a large portion of the week baking. One of his favorite things is stuffed ciabatta bread from Morgantown, WV’s New Day Bakery (formerly Daily Kneads). Missing his delectable habit, Bilbo found a couple of recipes to take for a spin and found a winner! He made a three cheese and garlic ciabatta crusted with parmesan. I am so proud of my little baker because his bread was amazing! I can’t wait for the next batch.
Another little bit of homesickness gave us a hankering for pepperoni rolls. The initial plan had been to make one batch for our hiking tip and two batches to introduce my co-workers to a bit of WV culture. I will come right out with the truth…the plan failed! We ate all three batches during our hiking trip and they were a little slice of WV heaven! I guess we’ll just have to make some more.
Speaking of our hiking trip…Here is Quandary Peak, one of Colorado’s 50+ fourteeners!
Since our Colorado planning began, one of the activities that we were most looking forward to was conquering a peak with 14,000+ elevation. The trail began at around 10,000 feet above sea level with a very quick assent for the first mile. Can you see the summit in the very distant horizon down there? It was still around three miles away.
The quick change in altitude had us ready for the first of many breaks. If you aren’t familiar with the affects of altitude on a low dweller, I’ll enlighten you. Altitude can cause fatigue, shortness of breath, nausea, headache, and dizziness. After almost two months in Colorado, we have built up a tolerance to the altitude at 10,000 and below; however, we still feel the affects of 11,000 and up! We were feeling a little fatigue and a little shortness of breath following our first burst of effort, but it was quickly resolved and we saw a log with a pelican shaped root while we rested.
During the next stretch, the trail became a little less intense and we soon found ourselves looking down into the valley from which we came.
Do not be deceived, though! We still had a long way to go! The summit is that little peak sticking out between the trees below.
As we hiked on, the tree line became closer and the terrain began to change. Soon, we found ourselves meandering over and through rock fields with an ever-increasing slope. It this point at which the muscle fatigue really kicked in and we began to count our steps. Every 150 paces we would take a short rest to catch our breath and shake out our legs.
Slowly but surely we surpassed the tree line and reach a plateau where we were offered a bit of a break from the incline and spectacular views! Can you tell how happy we were to have come so far?!
We were even happier to look up at the summit and see that it was so close! We only had a mile or so to go and the adrenaline kicked in!
A nice surprise awaited us ahead as a herd of mountain goats were “grazing” beside the trail. They were very calm and photogenic. It seemed as if they were posing for the camera saying, “Get my good side.” Interacting with the wildlife gave us another break before we began the final assent to the summit.
Looking back, we were in awe of how far we had come. Looking forward, we were in awe of how far we had yet to go. The summit was so close, but the incline was steep and the slope rocky. Not to mention, we were hiking at a higher altitude than either of us had even sat at before. As we began the incline, the steps became harder to take and our rest breaks became longer and more frequent, but we carried on…
AND WE MADE IT!
Here’s the panorama…
Here are our victory poses (yep, I’m jumping)…
We took some time to soak in the scenery, relish in our success, and eat the rest of the pepperoni rolls before we turned around and began the descent.
Walking down a mountain is definitely easier than up, but it is harder than you would expect. The rocks slide under your step, your ankles become tired from correcting your balance, and you were tired to begin with. Despite all of the obstacles, our friend was on the side lines to cheer us on! Believe it or not, we did not use the zoom for Mr. Goat’s picture. He was just that close.
To celebrate our success, we stopped in nearby Breckenridge, CO, for some grub. You would have found our limping and groaning quite hilarious as we walked the less than quarter mile from the parking lot to the Breckenridge Brewery and Pub. Surprisingly, we were not terribly sore the next day, our muscles were just tired.
At the Breckenridge Brewery, the food was above brewery standards and we found that it was not just rated highly by Trip Advisor due to a lack of competition. Bilbo had an awesome burrito and I had a steak sandwich with cheese sauce. Even though we ate A LOT of pepperoni rolls on the way up the mountain, we were famished! That food did not stand a chance! With satisfied stomachs, tired bodies, and happy moods we returned to Pueblo to begin the next week.
Stay tuned for a look at our weekend in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, which includes another mountain to be conquered!
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