So yes – Colorado! And to a lesser extent, Utah. I have to admit, I never thought I’d actually be spending vacation time in… Utah. But yes, I did. It was dry. Hot. Lots of rocks.
Let’s go back a bit first, get a little backstory to fill in the why of this trip. About 29 years – give or take. Early 1980’s. My mother’s father, Alfred, owns and operates a farm in Grand Junction, Colorado. He’s getting up in age at this point and doesn’t have a particularly extensive catalog of farmed products. A few various things here and there, some hay, chickens, a turkey. Occasionally grazing the neighbors cows on his fields. That sort of thing.
This farm in Grand Junction was the central hub of the universe that is my maternal family for many, many years. Spread out across the Western United States, this was where we all gathered every Summer to be together.
I’d love to say that I got a real farmer’s education from this place, but my memories (being the age I was) extend only to feeding chickens, running away from the turkey (his name was George but we called him Monster), collecting eggs, picking cherries and fresh peaches, and floating boats and rubber balls in a race through the irrigation ditches. Very little time was spent in a kitchen, I was too busy playing in the treehouse.
I hadn’t been to this place since I was 13. 16 years ago now – my grandfather passed away in 1994. At that point in my life, I had been coming to the farm every Summer – so it was admittedly a bit difficult to see it all go away like that. There had been plans to sell the farm and move him closer to my parents, but whether a change like that happens abruptly or with anticipation – it’s always a bit difficult.
So last year, my oldest brother Sean, proposes a reunion here. My nieces and a nephew, the next generation, should see the places that meant something to us out there. It had been close to two decades since we visited each other in Grand Junction.
The following is a story of ten days in hot, dry, crazy places, in altogether too close quarters with my family. Don’t worry, it’s primarily a picture tour. I’ll leave out the gory bits. And yes, Thomas Keller’s Rib recipe is coming. It’s ridiculously awesome, I promise it’s worth the wait.
The first three days there were spent at a B&B that our family took over. I mean, we booked every single room in a giant house. There was family there from Virginia, Maryland, Idaho, Washington (state), Montana, Colorado, Louisiana, and Hawai’i. The number fluctuated from 13 to 22, depending on the day.
The bulk of the trip revolved around this hub at Grand Junction (really a nearby town called Fruita, but there’s no real need for the distinction here).
While there, we visited the Colorado National Monument, and a particular trail called the Devil’s Kitchen – a very well known place from my childhood.
We also visited my grandfather’s old property, which had been sold to new owners. They tore down the farm house and built a new home – a shame but the new home was pretty beautiful – and have converted the place into a sod farm.
Not terribly exciting, I have to admit. But sod is a far sight more profitable than anything my grandfather ever did with the property, so there you go. There used to be a beautiful little cherry tree grove about halfway down the field there.
Back at the house, I made Thomas Keller’s pork spare ribs one night, along with some creamed corn. Every time I made food on this trip it felt a little like something out of Kitchen Impossible – I had no idea what ingredients I’d have access to, I’d be working in a strange kitchen that may or may not have the equipment I need, and I’d be cooking for 15-20 people or so. This time it was 20 – I made 4 racks of ribs so I tripled the amount of dry rub I made.
| ESTIMATED CALORIC INFO | |
|---|---|
| Serving Size | 2 ribs |
| Calories from Protein | 24% |
| Calories from Fat | 76% |
| Calories from Carbs | 0% |
| Total Calories | 350 |
Ingredients…
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 2 tbsp kosher salt
- 2 tsp sweet pimenton/Spanish paprika (regular paprika will work in a pinch)
- 2 tsp cayenne
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 1 tsp red papper flakes
Mix all the above in a bowl for the dry rub. Thaw rib racks, and cut into 2-3 rib pieces. Cover ribs thoroughly with dry rub, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2-6 hours for the flavors to set.
While the ribs are sitting in the fridge the rub will draw juices out of the meat, so you should make sure to put them on a plate or expect a bit of a mess.
Next, take the ribs out of the fridge and sear them on a grill over high heat – about 2 minutes each side. Alternate them at 7 o’clock and 11 o’clock for a nice cross-hatch pattern.
Remove ribs from grill, and bake in an oven for 2 hours at 250 degrees F. Remove from oven, let rest 5-10 minutes, and serve.
A word of caution – if you double or triple this recipe like I did, you may want to be conservative with the cayenne and red pepper flakes. My tripled recipe turned out seriously HOT. Not that that’s always a bad thing, but it should be kept in mind.
Next up, we drove from Grand Junction down to Moab in Utah, and stayed in some cabins for two nights. Moab is basically the middle of the desert. There’s really not much there at all, except for some serious mountains, a *lot* of bats, and of course Arches National Park.
Arches was very surreal. Like other-planet surreal. The magnitude of this scenery doesn’t translate well through photograph; it was all pretty intense.
We did a few hikes in the park here, and played some music in the cabins. Then we moved on.
Another 3 hour drive later and we were back in Colorado, in a little town called Mancos. Another house taken over by the family. This location was chosen for it’s proximity to Mesa Verde, another national park with all kinds of ancestral Puebloan structure.
Stayed two nights in Mancos. Finally, we drove back up north to Grand Junction again, through the San Juan mountains. We passed through Silverton, near Telluride, an old mining town known for it’s brothels.
While in Silverton, we overheard some cheering down the street and went to go check it out. Turns out it was the finish line for the Hardrock Hundred – a 100 mile foot race through the mountains. The elevation at Silverton is about 10,000 feet, and we got winded just sitting in a car. These people ran 100 miles over an equivalent elevation change to running up Mt. Everest – and back. And the first place runner did the thing in 27 hours, straight through. So about 15 minutes per mile.
So crazy. And inspiring. I can’t even imagine.
So anyway, there it is. 10 days out west. Really more of a tour than a vacation as there wasn’t too much time to spare for relaxing, but we saw some great things. And it was good to spend the time with family.
