Our Favorite Vacation Activity

Whenever my wife Lori and I travel or vacation, we inevitably find ourselves planning our activities for the days ahead.  And, when I say "activities", I really mean where we plan to eat.  We have been known to schedule other trivial activities, like say the beach, at certain intervals to allow ample time to experience local flavors... or even some national flavors that we just have to have because they can not be found in good ol' Pueblo.

This is one of our favorite vacation pasttimes whether we are spending a weekend in Denver or two weeks in San Diego.  In our defense, we are usually pretty adamant about trying restaurants that are not chains or, at the very least, ones that we do not have in Colorado.  We make it a point to find hole-in-the-wall places that the locals go to.  This can be difficult at times.  I am not sure if it's because the locals want to keep their places a secret or if some of the locals we talk to are simply not foodies, but we have heard places like Outback, Applebee's, and Olive Garden far too often when asking for good restaurants. 

I am famous for talking about restaurants with anybody willing to share stories with me.  When I was consulting and traveling weekly, I would inevitably end up passing the time on my flights by listening to tales of the best places to eat in the various cities I was working in.   And, I made it a point to enter them in my PDA (personal digital assistant for my young readers... think cell phone without the ability to make phone calls) and always made a point of experiencing most of them.  As I have said before, I enjoy food.  I enjoy tasting regional variations on dishes.  I enjoy talking about restaurants and loved when a fellow traveler had experienced many of the same places. 

Our last real vacation was last August in Las Vegas.  Like all of our other trips, we made sure to list those places that we had to go to.  Not places like the fountains at The Bellagio, which we love by the way.  Not places like our favorite casino.  Not the incredible shows, like "O".  By places I, of course, mean restaurants.  We had to make sure that we got our In 'N Out burger fix...  though I don't love the food, the rest of the family does and I enjoy the experience.  I wanted at least one night of all-you-can-eat sushi at Yama Sushi... highly recommended for those sushi fans traveling to Vegas.  We plan for which buffet we are going to make ourselves sick at.  It's a ritual with us.  And, from many people I have talked to, we are not alone.

This weekend, Lori and I celebrate our 23rd Wedding Anniversary!  This is an amazing number since I sometimes don't even feel like I am 23 years old... oh, and also because I am such a putz and I am shocked that she has put up with me for this long.  As Lori and I were making plans for a little mini-vacation this weekend, we started talking about spots around Colorado that offered great hiking trails and beautiful scenery.  For the two of us, a weekend of physical activity combined with being in the great outdoors sounds better than the search for a good eatery.  We have only discussed what park we want to go to.  What hotel or campground we will stay in.  What trails we will hike.  And, not once have we discussed where we are going to eat.  We have not talked about all of the places we love in the Denver area and there are plenty.  I am not even sure we will go anywhere special to eat.  We might even opt for a healthy lunch 9,000 feet above sea level!  And that excites me... yeah, I know, I am a freak!

Here's to planning vacations around local places of interest and not local restaurant favorites...