Category Archives: Road trip food

Rolling Through Boulder, Colorado

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Boulder Creek is a lovely place for a walk or run through Boulder

Boulder Creek is a lovely place for a walk or run through Boulder

Boulder may well be the hippest city in Colorado. On the doorstep of both Denver and the Rocky Mountains, it’s small enough (less than 100,000 population) to easily get around, yet sophisticated enough for the outdoors and arts crowds, thanks largely to the state’s biggest college, the University of Colorado (CU-Boulder). It is more touristy than Fort Collins, especially along Pearl Street. The good news is you can park for free, for a couple of hours, a block or two away and walk to many of the better eateries and coffee shops in town.

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Cheyenne, Wyoming: Big Boots and Character Diners

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One of many artistic cowboy boots scattered around Cheyenne

One of many artistic cowboy boots scattered around Cheyenne

It’s less than an hour’s drive east on the I-80 to reach Cheyenne from Laramie. But after climbing steeply out of Laramie to the Lincoln Monument (at 8,640 feet the highest point on this interstate), it’s well worth taking the quiet, parallel Highway 210 (Happy Jack Road). It traverses high rangeland dotted with fantastic red Sherman granite boulders, an area known as Vedauwoo (vi-de-vu) and frequented by climbers. Just beyond are a couple of high-plains lakes in Curt Gowdy State Park, named after the famous sportscaster.

Cheyenne is by far the biggest city in Wyoming (the Air Force base helps), it’s the state capital and it boasts a major rodeo during its Frontier Days. So, to the victor goes the spoils, at least architecturally speaking. The wide downtown streets are nicer, the historic buildings better maintained and the surrounding residential streets more prosperous than, say, nearby Laramie. It’s worth getting a brochure at the downtown visitor centre and tracking down some or all of the 19 eight-foot-high cowboy boots, creatively painted by local artists and scattered around town. The city’s culinary choices may not be quite as inspired, but there are a few places definitely worth seeking out.

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Rawlins and Laramie, Wyoming

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Hanging out at Coal Creek Coffee, Laramie Wyoming

Hanging out at Coal Creek Coffee, Laramie Wyoming

About halfway between Lander and Laramie, Rawlins is the site of the Wyoming Frontier Prison, under lock and key since 1901. As it advertises, “come hang with us” on a tour of this often brutal prison’s history.

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My Best Road Trip Meals of 2012: Part Two

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Marathon Mouth chomps down on salmon tacone at Go Fish, Vancouver B.C.

Marathon Mouth chomps down on salmon tacone at Go Fish, Vancouver B.C.

It’s a bit late, but I realize I overlooked a number of categories in my Best Road Trip Meals of 2012 awards and figured I didn’t want to wait perhaps months to post reviews of some stellar places. So here we go with Part Two.

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Chewing to Colorado: Introduction

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Fantastic lamb burger and fries at Bingo Burger, Pueblo, Colorado

My doctor told me I had to stop throwing intimate dinners for four unless there are three other people – Orson Wells

When I watched Super Size Me, I was highly dubious of filmmaker Morgan Spurlock’s claim that eating all his meals for a month at a fast-food restaurant had compromised his health. I mean, 30 days? Well, after 25 days and more than 100 road-food meals in diners, cafes and other affordable eateries in the western U.S., I’m not so sure.

In that time, I ate a lot of deep-fried potatoes, doughy pancakes, fatty burgers, processed meats and greasy cheese in dining establishments from Montana to Colorado and Wyoming to Idaho. Did I mention bacon, something I maybe eat once or twice a year at home but which graced my breakfast plate and seasoned my burgers more times than I’d like to remember? Continue reading →