$50 cognac (the vail trip update)

So the gods of cycling must like me. If I had to miss the Triple Bypass, this was the year to do it. It rained all day, and quite atypical for July was a high near 60 in Denver. This would probably equate to 40’s at the top of a pass, not to mention you are wet. Missy is still bitter about the day probably. Cloudy, drizzle, fog. Strangely, I still wish I rode. It would only add to the drama.

Originally planned as a destination for Silly Kim during my ride, we used AmEx rewards point to get a free night at the Ritz Carlton in Vail. Long story short, it was getting complicated to change/move the free night, so we decided to just add another night to our stay. Turning a “bad weekend” into a “great weekend” and finally actually having one of those nice relaxing getaway and do nothing weekends Silly Kim and I have talked about. The weather actually helped with this mindset. The day of nothingness would end with a really nice dinner. We would then sit by the fire in the great room, and look at the dramatic clouds. Since the service at the Ritz was great, it was quite easy to fall into a fantasy lifestyle.

With a decant mindset, you can’t just have a glass of wine by the fire—do something fancy. Kim ordered a lovely port, and I saw a cognac I had when we were in Maui. Of course, they were out of that, so I just had to randomly pick another from the list. (I was determined to have a cognac apparently despite not really knowing much about them.) We enjoyed our drinks and commented how much fun it would be to actually live like this. Overhearing conversations about people next destination, their summer homes, and stuff like that. Time to pay the bill… (gasp!) Are you kidding me?! Hoping it was just keyed in wrong, I asked our server. No doubt about it, I got the $50 a glass cognac. She told a story about how the bartender was excited to pour it. :-) Anyway, she took the bill back and said she’d correct it. The new bill had the drink removed entirely. Not the expensive glass at the cheap price, but gone all together. I think the cycling gods were responsible for this too. A lovely weekend to be certain.