What Ingredients Make a Denver Omelet?

A Denver omelet starts with eggs just like any other omelet. On most breakfast menus in Denver, you will see three egg omelets as the most common amount. At Denver Breakfast champ, Snooze, they don’t bother naming out the ingredients in a Denver omelet, but they do offer a three-egg omelet with your choice of ingredients. You can even go egg white omelet, but you’re on your own there as far as I’m concerned.

The best ingredients inside a Denver Omelet are ham, green pepper, and onion. Any real omelet should contain cheese as the default, but if you are looking to split hairs, then the real Denver Omelet ingredients are ham, green pepper, onion, and cheese.

Denver Omelet Recipe

Since a Denver Omelet’s ingredients may not be common knowledge, asking for a Denver omelet recipe isn’t quite as bad as in the commercial where Gordon Ramsay yelled at that guy for asking Alexa for a grilled cheese recipe. However, once you know the ingredients used in a Denver omelet, there really is not much left to put into a recipe.

The Denver Omelet Recipe Steps

1. Crack 3 eggs into a shallow dish.
2. Add 3 tablespoons of milk
3. Whip it. Whip it good.
4. Pour the eggs into a heated omelet pan.
5. As the eggs start to firm, tilt the pan and pull back the firmed egg allowing liquid to flow onto the pan.
6. Once you’ve gone around and gotten most of the egg firming up, add the diced ham, green pepper, and onion.
7. Let it cook for a minute or two
8. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top of the ingredients.
9. Fold the omelet in half
10. Cook for a minute to let the cheese melt
11. Flip to the other side to make the grilled sides the same.
12. Pull it and plate it.

In Denver, a lot of us choose to add some form of hot sauce to our Denver omelets. Regular Franks Hot Sauce or Tabasco sauce works just fine. However, in your finer breakfast establishments (those that aren’t Dennys, Village Inn, or iHop) you might get the choice of a more interesting hot sauce, maybe even a local blend.

Remember, lots of places will let you switch out your side of toast for pancakes.

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Head in a little closer to the actual mountains and there again is another way to see the mountains. Drive West on Highway 36 and you get a beautiful view of Boulder, the University of Colorado campus, and yes, the mountains, this time mostly obscured by what us locals would call the foothills. (The three large rock formations are called the Flatirons. It sounds better once you’ve heard it a hundred times.)

Historic Colorado Train Ride Georgetown

If you want to really satisfy that desire, one of the best ways to see the mountains is on the Georgetown Loop train ride. If you plan ahead a bit, you want to get your tickets online. It is always a letdown to find out that the train is sold out for your planned trip, or even sold out for the entire day.

The train begins in Georgetown. To get to Georgetown you drive west on I-70 getting closer and closer to the mountains until all there is are mountains on each side of the road as you drive up an increasing incline. With each turn, you get further and further into the mountains until everything is up. Chances are you might want a little more zing on your mountain visit.

The Georgetown Train Loop is actually the Georgetown Train back and forth but let’s not split hairs. The train runs from the western edge of Georgetown up some suspicious track along the mountainous hills, the canyon below, and the piece de resistance, across an absurdly high bridge named Devil’s Gate Bridge. The train cars are windowless so you can gawk out the window as much as you like. If you decide to take photos, or film, by holding your device out the window, hold on tight. Finding your gadget once dropped is unlikely. It working after it is dropped is more unlikely.

A look inside Rakuten

The train travels up to Silver Plume, a smaller town than the tiny Georgetown you came through to get on the train in the first place. Getting off the train, however, is not part of the standard ride. Instead, you relax as they prepare the train to go back down to Georgetown. There is no loop. They just get the engine ready, and you go back the way you came. But don’t worry, the ride is worth it for the ride and views. Getting somewhere is not the point.

Georgetown Loop Special Events

The Georgetown Loop train puts on some special events depending upon the time of year. They do a really fun Christmas service complete with food and a Santa, and of course, lights. They also do a Pumpkinfest in autumn.

Georgetown Loop Train Mine Tour

If you have the time, I’d recommend the mine tour. It is a separate ticket. You get off the train in the middle of the ride. Don’t worry, you get back on the train in the same place and take the whole ride. You just take a little detour.

Georgetown and Silver Plume were thriving mining towns just a few miles apart. Mining is one of those rare things that generates so much money that spending a ton of money on something like a train that gains 600 feet in elevation over just two miles while crossing back and forth across the river a normal expenditure. The mine tour is of one of the abandoned silver mines. You get a hard hat (if you are a fellow member of the 6’+ tribe, you’ll be glad you have the helmet more than once or twice) and follow a guide down into the mine. After the tour, you get right back on the train.

Georgetown Visit

Georgetown is a small mountain town that is more a place where people live than a charming tourist destination. Still, there are a few blocks of old town and there are some fun places to eat and drink along the way. There is also a candy shop (fudge!) and a toy store that are fun to visit. There is a great rest stop area in the middle of the main roundabout that handles traffic to and from the interstate. Just grab a parking spot and you’ll find comfortable bathrooms, a couple of vending machines and a little shop.

Colorado Historical Society

The Georgetown Loop train is run by the Colorado Historical Society, so if you want any sort of media or behind-the-scenes tour they are the ones to contact.

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Mount Evans Road

Mount Evans Road, officially the Mount Evans Scenic Byway originates either off of I-70 near Idaho Springs, or from Bergen Park. The latter is very important to know because the former is frequently filled with bumper-to-bumper traffic. As with all things in the Colorado mountains, earlier is better. If you are on your way up Mount Evans at 8:00am, your drive will be much more pleasant than if you start the journey at 1:00pm.

Part way up the mountain, you will find the Echo Lake Lodge. Lodge is a bit generous, but there is a nice gift shop and a restaurant if you want to eat on the way up, or if you are too early for your summit reservations. Most importantly, they have bathrooms.

The Mount Evans Highway doesn’t go anywhere other than the top of the mountain where it ends in a small parking lot where drivers simply turn around and head back down. As you can imagine, the flow of cars newly arrived from their journey up doesn’t always match the flow of cars finishing their time at the top and heading back down. As a result, people either circle the parking lot repeatedly while tempers flare over who gets what parking spot, or people begin to dangerously park along the side of the already very narrow road.

The Top of Mount Evans

Are there bathrooms at the top of Mount Evans?

Fortunately, yes. There is a parking area and places to get great photos of the surrounding views. You may also hear what sounds like annoying dads whistling at their kids. Those are actually marmots, and they love hanging around there.

If you actually want to summit Mount Evans, you have to climb up on foot a bit more. It’s an easy enough trail, just don’t be one of those people trying it in flip flops, and you should be fine. If you don’t think it’s honorable to drive up the Mount Evans there is also a trail that can be hiked to the summit.

Here is the view of Downtown Denver from Mount Evans (It wasn’t very clear that day. I’ll try and find a better one.)

Mount Evans Timed Entry

To avoid the problems of increasing crowds, you are now required to have a timed ticket to finish the drive up to the top of Mount Evans beyond Echo Lake.

In order to get an entry ticket, you have to buy it online. They do not sell them anywhere on the mountain, including at the Echo Lake Lodge rest area. Now, here is where it gets tricky. There is no cell service after about halfway up, which means if you plan to use your timed reservation ticket electronically on your phone, you must download it BEFORE heading up the mountain. For best results, either print out your ticket, or screenshot your reservation so that you can show a picture of it. If you need to download it once you get up there, you’re going to have a bad time.

Mount Evans Weather

No matter what the weather is like where you are, it is different on the top of Mount Evans. Think of Mount Evans not such much as near where you are in Colorado as it is another mile up into the atmosphere. It will be colder on Mount Evans, and it is almost always windy. If you aren’t getting buffeted by 30 mph winds, consider yourself lucky.

If you didn’t realize how cold it would be, or if you just want a souvenir, they have nice hoodies at the Echo Lake Lodge gift shop.

Mount Evans Name

Mount Evans was renamed for John Evans who was governor of the Colorado territory. My understanding is that Evanston, Illinios is also named for him. He was one of founders of the University of Denver (DU, around these parts). He is also credited for the growth of Denver by bringing in railroad service.

There is a movement to rename Mount Evans because of the governor’s possible role in the Sand Creek Massacre.

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As you can imagine, it is tough to come up with a suitable variety of people, places, and things in Colorado to accurately satisfy such questions. But recently, I found a cup– a mug, really — in one of those Cherry Creek North shops that sells “Colorado art,” the real kind, not the copying-Santa Fe-art kind. It is a Yeti mug knockoff, complete with the same see-through lid that seals for heat, not for spills. These metal mugs have a certain feel to them that appeal to people, and particularly Colorado people and Colorado hunters. This one also had a cartoonish, not to scale, map (I don’t know what those are called) listing many of Colorado’s greatest treasures in one place. I figure that is as good of a place to start with how to really know Colorado.

The Mug

In my outline for this article, I explained what the mug was like here. I got carried away and already described most of my Yeti-like mug. It has a China stamp on the bottom, but no other markings.

What about these whimsical drawings drawing our attention to places across Colorado filled with Colorado life?

The Left Edge of Colorado

Better known as the Western edge, the leftmost part of the state is as good of place as any to start on a round map. We’ll proceed to the right, heading toward Colorado’s westernmost edge. So, without further ado, I bring you, The Colorado Mug.

You’ll find many people who think Grand Junction is one of the best places to live in Colorado. Most of the rest of the towns out here would only make the best places to visit in Colorado list.

Dinosaur National Monument

Ah yes. The only name brand tourist attraction in the Colorado northwest, Dinosaur National Monument.

Dinosaur National Monument is so far west that only part of it is in Colorado. The rest continues across the border into Utah. When you are done with Dinosaur National Monument, it can be a short visit if you aren’t really into dinosaurs or archeology. There are various outdoor activities available made all the more attractive by the lack of other people and cities nearby.

River Rafting Dinosaur National Monument

In spring you can take advantage of being pretty much the only rafting group out river rafting. In fact, you can go by yourself. You can get Class III and Class IV rapids on the Green River, as well as Class III and one Class IV rapids on the Yampa River. Before you choose the river rapids route with more Class IV rapids, you should know that the single Class IV rapid on the Yampa side is named, “The Maytag.” – I’ll let you kiddies look up what a Maytag is.

Dinosaur National Monument Camping

There are six campgrounds in DNM. They get more crowded toward mid-Summer and less crowded through fall. You can do some sweet nighttime star photography from here. Civilization is several miles away, so the only light pollution is probably coming from you. There is even a certified dark sky location if that is your jam.

Obviously, the fossils and petroglyphs are the stars at Dinosaur, but with over 200,000 acres, you can hike to your heart’s content as well.

Grand Junction

Grand Junction is a great town on the Grand River. It sits along the Western Slope of Colorado on the state’s main east-west highway, I-70. Grand Junction is one of those towns that is big enough to have everything, but not necessarily have two of everything. Sporting around 70,000 people, Grand Junction has great food, fun nightlife, access to world class skiing, and plenty of ways to get off the beaten path.

Grand Junction is the biggest city in Grand Junction County.

Montrose

For those of us from I-25 Corridor (I’m going to get us a better name), Montrose is famous for being a town, at long last, after driving many, many, miles without one as we trek from Denver to Telluride or Crested Butte.

If you are looking for more than gas, food, and a place to stand up and rest your butt, Montrose’s main attraction is the nearby Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. All around are hiking trails, rock climbing ascents, both set and unset, and of course, river rafting through the canyon.

Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde is a if-you-know-you-know (IYKYK) national park. Located in Southwest Colorado away from anything resembling a city, Mesa Verde consists of several cliff dwellings left behind by indigenous Ancestral Puebloans. When I was a kid in school in Colorado (Oh yes, I’m an insufferable Colorado native) we learned that they were Anasazi. It’s the same tribe of people, but apparently Anasazi can be interpreted negatively.

People will tell you that there are all kinds of things you can do around Mesa Verde. Ignore those people. See everything you want to see at Mesa Verde and then go to the Great Sand Dunes National Park if you are looking for more things to do.

Follow The Mug

Keep with us as we follow the mug across Colorado.

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Trail Ridge Road offers extraordinary views of the Colorado mountains and all the way down to Denver. The road is curvy and, in many places, missing a shoulder. If you have never driven in the mountains, it may take some getting used to, but Trail Ridge is not considered a particularly difficult drive.

The most important thing to remember about driving Trail Ridge Road is that 12,000 feet is very different than 5,000+ feet down in Boulder or Denver. It can be hot and sunny in Lions, and windy, snowy, and blizzarding at the top of Trail Ridge Road. It is important to be prepared for any kind of weather, especially if you intend to get out of your car and enjoy the view.

For planning purposes, it is almost always windy at the peak. A jacket or sweatshirt are a necessity even in Summer. In Spring or Fall, you are going to need a coat, like you would wear skiing.

When Does Trail Ridge Road Close This Year?

Every year, the highway department fights valiantly against Mother Nature’s snow and wind. They plow the road and put down sand to improve traction. Eventually, they simply can’t keep up with accumulating snow and worsening conditions, and they are forced to close the road for the season.

Trail Ridge Road usually closes around the middle to end of October. For some Coloradoans, the closing of Trail Ridge Road marks the official start of watching for Winter to arrive. Fortunately, the NPS keeps everyone updated with a Trail Ridge Road status webpage so you know if you can make it to the Trail Ridge Road summit or not.

Likewise, “Is Trail Ridge Road open?” is the question that marks the end of winter.

Colorado Mountain Roads Closed

Several other Colorado mountain roads close for the winter as well, notably Fall River Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, and the road to the summit of Mount Evans. Mount Evans Road is usually closed at summit lakes which is about five miles down from the summit. If you have the gear and the will, the mountain can still be summited on foot and cross off this fourteener at 14,265 feet.

In 2022 Mount Evans Road was closed October 3. Fall River Road also closed on October 3, 2022

The people atop Trail Ridge Road continue to fight to keep her open, despite a partial closure on October 2, to clear some snow.

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“A lot of you have probably seen these mountains from the I-70 overpass at Genesee, so I took a photo and labeled all of them as a reference.”

Ariel F. Patz

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Denver and Colorado Reviews

• Climbing Gyms
  • Ubergrippen
  • EarthTreks
• Museums
  • Denver Art Museum exhibits (Degas! — construction ends soon)
  • Denver Museum of Nature and Science
  • Denver Zoo
• Great National Sand Dunes
• Summit County
• Winter Park
• Steamboat
• Crested Butte
• Manitou Springs
• Garden of the Gods

Colorado and Denver Guides

• What to do on a long weekend
• Where to shop
• Bookstores
  • The Bookies
  • Tattered Cover (4 of them)
  • More!

And tons of other fun stuff.

Keep an eye out, it’s going to be great.

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For years, many restaurants around Denver offered a special menu during Restaurant Week that both showed off each restaurant’s specialties, plus offered a great deal. Originally, over a decade ago, the deal was $52.80 for a couple, usually including a drink. The price was a symbol of Denver itself, and it’s 5280 feet (one mile) elevation.

But, times change, and inflation marches on, and restaurant’s had a harder and harder time coming up with the kind of menus they wanted for that price. So, cool symbolism has been abandoned. Instead, restaurants are now slated to offer meals on a price schedule reminiscent of the old 59, 79, 99 cent menus at Taco Bell. (If you remember those days, you might be a 40-something

The Denver Restaurant Week menus will come in three varieties, $25, $35, or $45. Some restaurants may offer all three menus, while others may stick to the top of the range. These will be per person prices, instead of the old couples pricing.

The dates for 2017 Denver Restaurant Week have been announced as February 24 through March 5th.

The first menu postings are scheduled for January 25th, so just one more week until you can start drooling over your favorite menus. Although a look at individual restaurants may give you a sneak peak. For example, I found a Coohills Restaurant Week 2017 menu. Looks like they have targeted the $35 price point, with several optional “supplements” if you are looking to go all out.

Super savvy diners who already know which restaurants they want to hit may want to start making reservations now. Many Denver area restaurants take reservations online via OpenTable, so start there.

Several restaurants have traditionally pulled out all the stops for Denver Restaurant Week in the past. I’m looking forward to checking out menus from Guard and Grace, Mizuna, Tag (fingers crossed for meatloaf and duck fat fries) among others.

What restaurants are you looking forward to checking out?

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Denver does sit at an elevation of 5,280 feet, and yet, it technically sits in a valley in an area gently sloping away from the foothills, a 20+ minute drive to the west. And, the mountains, are behind THOSE.

Seeing the Mountains While In Denver

To see the mountains from Denver, Boulder, or any of the cities along the length of I-25, seeing the mountains is as easy as looking west. There they are (if you don’t see them, then they’re behind that building) rising up out of the plains into a purple / blue / gray / white (depending upon the day) ridge in the sky. But, that isn’t what people really mean when they say they want to see the mountains. What Colorado travelers, and Denver visitors, mean when they ask to see the mountains is to be in the mountains.

This, is slightly trickier than it sounds, because being in the mountains actually makes it kind of hard to see the mountains. First, off, that little ridge you see in the front of the mountains is actually what we call the foothills. The real mountains are behind those. Second, when you are in the mountains, there will be what appear to be hills blocking your view of the mountains. Those “hills,” of course, ARE the mountains, but they can block that majestic feeling of vast mountain-ness you are going for. Fortunately, there are some great places to really see the mountains and experience the big, wide, huge, TALL mountain feeling you are looking for.

Mount Evans

Mount Evans is, among other things, the highest paved road in North America. It is also one of Colorado’s 14ers (mountains over 14,000 feet high). It’s also a really great way to get friends and family up into the mountains, while satisfying that “I want to see the mountains,” wish. The road goes all the way to the top (there’s a little hill left to climb if you want to go to the tippy-top), and since it is the tallest mountain around, you get magnificent views of mountains in every direction.

If you’re lucky, you may even see wildlife on the road up. Look for mountain goats and deer. Also, around the parking lot, it is common to see, and hear, marmots, which look a lot like beavers, without the special tail. They make a squeaking sound a little bit higher and squeakier than you would expect for their size.

The drive from Denver takes between 90 minutes and 2 hours depending upon traffic and weather. As you might expect, at 14,000 feet, the road closes in the winter once the snow buries it too much to bother plowing out. It usually reopens near the beginning of July. Check the CDOT (Colorado Department of Transportation) road conditions webpage to make sure the road is open if you plan to go in early summer.

In the summer, afternoon thunderstorms are common. Such storms can be dangerous and the clouds will restrict your views, so a morning start is best for this trip.

A similar view and experience can be had from Trail Ridge Road, which is further away up in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Georgetown Railroad Loop

Another great way to see the mountains is a ride on the Georgetown Loop Railroad. Back during the gold rush days, they built a railroad connecting the towns of Georgetown and Silver Plume. This is a lot easier said than done thanks to steep mountainsides. To make the track work, engineers used narrow gauge track and plenty of switchbacks. Also, lucky for us tourists in Colorado today, they built a spectacular bridge over Clear Creek called the Devil’s Gate High Bridge that the train still crosses today.

Getting to Georgetown is easy. It sits directly off of I-70 about an hour west of Denver (traffic and weather dependent). There are signs to direct you up to the railroad. The train itself is just a loop from Georgetown to Silver Plume and back. But, on the way, you’ll spiral up the mountains without having to take a long hike, and get plenty of great views along the way.

Before or after, stop into Georgetown, a little mountain town with a few shops, and a nice lake just east of town if you want to see a cold, snow fed lake. In Winter, when the ice gets thick enough, they race Jeeps out on the frozen lake.

In town, find the candy shop where they make plenty of homemade sweets including multiple flavors of fudge. Sometimes, they even have Dreamscicle fudge, which tastes exactly like those orange ice cream treats (but not much at all like fudge, so get a chocolaty one too.)

Estes Park

Further away, and up a smaller, curvier, mountain road, than I-70, you’ll find Estes Park which is the town that sits on the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park. They have a few great streets of various mountain tourist shops, as well as two year-round Christmas stores. Get off the main drag to follow the river behind town for more mountain views and a rushing river as well. (Extra rushing available in springtime when the snow melts.)

I-70 Scenic Views

If all this sounds like too much, the easiest way to visit the Rocky Mountains is to drive up I-70. Keep going until you find a scenic overlook that looks promising. Roll down your window, and you can get amazing scenic mountain vista shots without even getting out of your car.

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One of the most interesting thing about the Botanic Gardens in Denver is its Tropical Conservatory. One of Denver’s first wealthy families was the Boettchers. You have seen their name on things if you have been sightseeing in Denver at all. In fact, today’s Governor’s residence is in, you guessed it, Boettcher Mansion. The Boettchers made their money in cement, supplying the building materials during Denver’s boom. So, when the time came to build something to house tropical plants, the Boettchers donated it, and cast the whole thing out of cement.

Inside, the tropical forest has live, towering jungle trees, flowers, coffee trees, and more. There are also some ducks. Stairs in the center take you up three stories to the top of the jungle canopy. It’s worth the price of admission on it’s own.

Next door, a newer addition has a warm, moist area for a collection of orchids and other plants.

Outside, wide open trails and a friendly attitude make it a great place for a stroll, with or without kids. Around the edges are “hidden” paths off of the main paved trails. There is also a science pyramid, a bonazi garden, lilly pad ponds, beautiful fountains and more. The Botanic Gardens had a very successful show of Chihuly glass art in 2014. When the show left, the Gardens bought a beautiful, permanent, glass work to display. You’ll find it near the Gardens southeast corner.

As an added treat, there is a Botanic Gardens Cafe near the entrance. The pastries and quiches here are very good, and definitely worth a stop. The cafe in the middle of the gardens near the Japanese ponds is more hit or miss, but if you need a burger, or slice of pizza, it’s your place.

Across the street on top of the parking  structure, is a Children’s Garden. It has fun paths, including a simulated hike up to 10,000 feet, and hearty plants. The main draw for most kids is the, go ahead and play in it, simulated stream in the center of the Children’s Garden.

Around Christmas time, the Denver Botanic Gardens does an extensive Christmas light show using the trees and plants in the Gardens. It can get cold at night in Colorado during December, so check the weather and bundle up.

Usually, the Botanic Gardens is not crowded and a great, relaxing experience. However, the Botanic Gardens offers free days that get very crowded, and they have big plant sales a few times each year which bring out the crowds as well. If you want the gardens to yourself, you’ll want to avoid those days.

The Denver Botanic Gardens hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m from Mother’s Day until Labor Day and 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. during the winter months. They are open every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.

If you want a less sculpted, more outdoorsy experience, there is another branch of the Botanic Gardens south of Denver at Chatfield Reservoir.

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