As part of our week in Colorado, we flew into Denver and, after lunch, drove to Boulder, where we met and stayed with friends. Although we did take a little time to stroll along downtown’s fun Pearl Street pedestrian mall, most of our time was spent on hikes and exploring one of the town’s newer wine and food bars.

PMG, about a block off Pearl Street, is a boxer bistro whose menu is dominated by small plates. The four of us shared half a dozen plates, enjoying the tagliatelle with peas and prosciutto, the charred octopus with crispy potatoes and peppers, and especially the porcini-crusted quail (with grilled peaches and matsutake mushrooms), the lamb meatballs with polenta and duck liver pate. These and a couple bottles of the very reasonably priced Sass Willamette Valley Pinot, made for a lovely dinner. Our only complaint was with the curved plates on which it was almost impossible to lay silverware without it falling onto one’s lap.

Before leaving Monday morning, we made a stop at The Saturday Boulder Farmers’ Market, where we stocked up on fruits and vegetables for a week in Vail, and had breakfast (Vietnamese breakfast crepes–a dish that our friends did not recommend, for good reason) before taking the long-about route through the majestic Rocky Mountain National Park’s Trail Ridge Road which at over 12,000 feet, is the highest continuous road in the U.S.

Although we typically spend a day in the park, gazing at the views and hiking many of the trails, this trip gave us only a few hours. So, after a beautiful drive and short tundra hikes (the Tundra Communities and Alpine Ridge Trails), we were off for our next destination—Vail.