Der Fondue Chessel

Well, my son and I made it back from our Colorado ski trip unscathed. We flew into Denver, rented a car, drove through the Rocky Mountains in the wind and snow for two hours, and arrived with just enough time to check into our condo and catch a gondola to another gondola to the top of the mountain for our dinner reservation at Der Fondue Chessel. Night gondola rides in the dead of winter are not as fun as you might think.

It was about 7 degrees Fahrenheit, and my son had only been wearing a heavy sweatshirt. Before we left the condo I asked him if he wanted to put on something warmer. So he put on a hat. Uh, huh. Luckily they gave us blankets for the gondola ride or I would have had to deal with a human popsicle.

While we ate, we were serenaded by Those Austrian Guys. I could tell they were really Austrian. The spoke just like our Governator, wore lederhosen, and sang Edelweiss.

There were only about 15 people in the restaurant, and at one point Those Guys got most of us up and doing The Chicken Dance (an Austrian tradition of which I was previously unaware (I thought it was Spanish)). Unfortunately, I accidentally left the camera on the table where my son could reach it.

I got him back, though.

We were were near Buffalo Bill's gravesite, so as a tribute we had buffalo for the raclette course. Along with shrimp, scallops and venison sausage. I refused to get him the lobster. Lobster on top of a mountain in Colorado. Lobster that would have had to have ridden on a plane from Maine, a truck from Denver, and TWO gondolas to get there. I didn't even ask the price.

Yes, that is chocolate fondue. Mmmmmmm.