Wine, Women & Winter Park, Part 3

Mayor’s Note: This is the final installment of my three-part series on Winter Park, Colorado in the summer. Catch up by reading part one and part two.

Once we got our bloody Mary fix, and had given ourselves the high elevation thrill of riding up and down the Zephyr chairlift, we were ready for some food and wine. To prepare for an afternoon of drinking we started with a big lunch at Cheeky Monk.

The lovely, outdoor patio was already packed so we settled for an inside table and tucked into fried pickles (watch out they are HUGE), and various entrees. I’m a little stuck in rut at Cheeky Monk – a delicious rut. I always get the Croque Madame, a turkey and Swiss sandwich on sourdough topped with a fried egg and Mornay sauce. It is to die for. In an attempt to be healthy, I paired with a side salad.

After our meal, it was time for The Village Uncorked – this is what we’d been waiting for and the reason for the trip. And much to our delight the tickets came with a wine tasting glass that has a cord so that you can hang it from your neck. My friend Christine was overjoyed, as you can see.

I did not take my fancy Canon to wine fest or SolShine, so my pictures for this third and final trip post are all taken with my phone, so pardon the quality. I knew that expensive camera + me + wine fest = a disaster waiting to happen.

I am going to explain The Village Uncorked very simply. Imagine many white tents all over the Village at Winter Park Resort. Some are filled with bottles and bottles of wine, while some are filled with taster trays full of cheese. I’m fairly sure that Heaven is exactly like this.

In addition to the wine and cheese, there were booths selling art and artisan crafts like jewelry. There was also live music, as well as a wine and cheese pairing event that I’m so glad we attended. MouCo Cheese Company, already a personal favorite of mine, was pairing their cheeses with an assortment of wines. The room was small and packed, and a little warm, but this did not deter the crowd from having a jolly good time.

It was quite warm during the entire event, which was nice because the skies had threatened rain earlier in the day, but by late afternoon we were ready for some air conditioning so we slipped into Lime for a happy hour margarita. Everyone has margaritas after wine tasting, right?

I can, without a doubt, say that this is the best $3 house margarita I have ever had. I will definitely be back to Lime for this treat, whether it’s their Winter Park location or one of their Denver locations.

After a brief time out in our room at The Vintage, to recharge and rehydrate our batteries, we were off to Hideaway Park in downtown Winter Park for SolShine, a free music festival that occurs twice each summer. The park forms a sort of bowl shaped amphitheater and it seemed like all of Grand County had shown up that night to see The Samples and Leftover Salmon. This venue is awesome and a real asset to the town of Winter Park.

About half way through Leftover Salmon’s set my cohorts, Susan and Christine were ready for dinner and so we walked over to The Library Sports Grille & Brewery and consumed big sandwiches and admired the adorable wait staff that consisted of a lot of guys who we assumed had day jobs at a bike shops (blatant reference to earlier post).

It was a lovely way to finish our Winter Park girlfriend getaway.

This trip sponsored in part by the Grand County Tourism Board.