A real American experience

A real American experience. That’s what I had been missing. I’ve been in Colorado for a month now and, until recently, hadn’t had a stereotypical American experience. You know the ones. Finishing your steak and realising there really was a plate underneath, you just couldn’t find it. Going to a frat keg party that gets shut down by the cops, who turn out to be really cool and join the party. Buying a gun from Wal-Mart. That one almost did actually happen. One of the people I’m living with who has a visual impairment came home from Wal-Mart with a Winchester case. We all freaked out until he just pulled a scope from the box. It is to help him see race courses from the bottom of the hill. Pretty much anything you would see in a Michael Moore film.

I finally got a full on dose of American culture over the Christmas break. I had a few days off so I headed over to Breckenridge to visit some friends. Apparently they’d been hanging out for a reason to go ten pin bowling. So the day after Christmas that’s what we did. Erin was the expert in our group – own bowling ball, sky blue leather bowling ball bag, bowling shoes, bowling ball shiner – and her alley of choice was in Dillon. I couldn’t help but show my shock and excitement when they suggested we eat at the alley. This real American experience was actually happening. My arteries couldn’t help but show their shock and horror when we looked at the menu, handwritten on a white board. Cheese pizza, corn dogs, hot dogs, nachos, just to start. This was all a bit much for us, so after a buffalo burger across the road we returned to the alley for bowling and beer. It was everything I was hoping it would be: dark and dingy, people curling balls from the edge of the gutter to the middle of the pins, beer served in plastic cups. The only thing missing was a group of mismatched men in bowling shirts with names on the back like Bowling Stones, Kingpins and Rolling Pins. And if you were wondering, Erin won. Just.

Ashley (bowling name: Dinah) demonstrating 

her impeccable bowling skills.

Dinah doing some serious 

ball shining.

Part two of the real American experience came this morning in the form of a diner breakfast. Halfway between Vail and Avon, just off the I-70, lies the old mining town of Minturn. People come from all around to Minturn to eat at the Turntable Restaurant. This place is for real. We were greeted by an aging, flirtatious waitress, drip coffee was served, half and half was added to the coffee, orders were taken and we were left to marvel at our surroundings. Original Coke posters and mirrors adorned the walls, a locked glass case filled with Elvis memorabilia and life-size mannequins of Elvis and Marilyn Monroe stood sentry in a corner and, the crowning glory, Minturn High School graduating class pictures peered down upon us from above the door. We politely enquired to our waitress where her class photo was. She finished in 1966. The class photos only covered up to 1959. The Turntable Restaurant’s food is good. I can recommend the veggie omelette. It is a travesty that it is only the third best restaurant in Minturn.

The Turntable Restaurant, Minturn.

So now I’m looking for some more real American experiences. Any ideas?