Day Two - May 27 - FridayI woke up at the crack of dawn today like I always do. It was about 5am and already light outside. You would have thought it was closer to 8am.... At that moment, it looked overcast but it wasn't raining....yet. I made some coffee from the complementary stash the hotel left and quickly realized that we needed to make another trip to the grocery store. There was no way I could drink that lame excuse for java the next three mornings. But I'll suffer through it this morning....
Sweet Girl was still slumbering while I sipped the awful cup of joe and straightened up the room a bit. It was a great room! Had two big king sized beds with better-than-motel linens and lots of pillows! There was an adequate bathroom, a great big TV and a little microwave and refrigerator. Just enough essentials so not to require us to eat out at every meal. Sweet Girl loved that she could heat up a little snack of melted cheese all by herself....yes we bought cheese....and yes we like to melt it as a little snack......
When she finally turned over and opened her eyes, she looked a little confused as to where she was. When she remembered, the corners of her mouth bent upward so strongly and I received one of the best smiles a mom could ask for....and it came with a running start!! We were both so happy to be there in that room in the mountains at that moment...and to be together!
She jumped out of bed and hit the floor running. She ran towards me as I said "soft feet - there are still people sleeping below us!" We were on the third floor, room 306. She wrapped her arms around me and did not let go for a long time. We enjoyed that sweet moment.
Today was going to be a great day!
We took our shower, shared a banana, blow-dried our hair (not her favorite thing to do) and got dressed. I knew that we had to go back to the store for "good" instant coffee but had to add allergy meds to the list. Both of us were suffering more than I had imagined.
Once we were all done primping, we stepped outside only to find that it was slightly raining, not a down pour, but enough to change our plans of an early morning walk down the street with all of the cute shops. It was probably better that way since they would not have been open yet. It was only 830am.
So we jumped into the rented white Jeep Grand Cherokee and went exploring. We drove through the Mountains to the entrance of the Rockie Mountain National Park, drove past The Stanley Hotel, and down to the Sombrero Stables where we would do some horseback riding later in the trip. We stopped at the store and then headed back to the lodge....it was about 930am.
I was beginning to wonder when the fun part was going to start and I'm sure Sweet Girl was wondering too. We were anxious to get our adventure started and I was getting a little disappointed.
We waited in the room until 10am when I knew the glass-blowing shop would open. We walked over to this cute little converted house that was filled with beautiful glass creations. There were big bowls, little bowls, serving platters, ball ornaments, glasses and vases of all shapes and sizes. There were even a few glass pigs and fish that stood out as our favorite creations. We picked a few little bobbles as keepsakes and a few birthday gifts then made our way to a part of the house that you might expect to see in the garage rather than in the house.
An artist, Jennifer Nauck, was working on a large bowl when we first walked in. She had a large stick in hand with a piece of hot substance about the size of a large man's fist stuck to the end. That end was in a furnace called "Glory Hole" about 2000 degrees hot. She was dressed in faded shorts, a very old shirt with the company logo on the front pocket, a baseball hat and protective glasses. I guess I expected to see something a little different considering the beauty that surrounded her....but I can't fault the artist right??
Anyway, the piece she was was working on was large and she said it would take about 90 minutes to complete. I wasn't sure if Sweet Girl could sit and watch something like that for so long, but we were going to attempt the challenge. We were both fascinated.
The artist, despite her sloppy appearance was great! She walked us through each step and at the end produced a gorgeous purple, orange and green bowl. The final product was too large for our house and was to going to be featured in an upcoming show or we would have bought it. I would love to have something beautiful like this bowl in my house that i witnessed being made....
We left the shop completely satisfied and hungry!
Our next stop was a cute Christmas shop that was open all year (except on Christmas Day). We found a ballerina ornament to replace one that broke this past holiday, a new Santa ornament to add to the collection, and a cute little ornament that we had personalized with our family names...the first that would include our sweet Baby C!!
At that point, we started our descent down the street lined with cute little shops. It was almost Noon and we were getting hungry! As we strolled, hand in hand, we made a list of shops to visit after we grabbed lunch. We stopped at a restaurant called "Locals". On every trip to Estes that I can remember, we have stopped here for a great hamburger! And here we are again. The pasta that Sweet Girl ordered was gone two minutes after delivery - she was starving! I ordered a burger. We enjoyed our meal to the music of an old jukebox. The songs were old and the records sounded warped but the experience was a good one....
We left, made our way back up the street, stopping at each pre-determined stop and then back to the lodge. The lodge was really great! Located right on the river, the hotel had a great outside sitting area with large chairs and chair swings. There was even a little play scape for the kids to play on. This was the part of the trip that I wish Daddy, the Boy and the Baby were with us. It's not much fun to play by herself and I would love some company to enjoy the peacefulness with...
You would have thought it nice to sit out on my own but the one draw back is...that the lodge isn't that secluded. There are still cars and traffic that distract the quiet moment of sitting and listening to the water falling across the rocks. So having someone else there to enjoy it with would distract from the distractions...We got back to the lodge at about 3pm, rested a little, colored a bit, and then went out for the walk we had planned to do that morning. We walked the same direction as we did before but on the creek side. There were less people and no traffic. We thought the walk was an adventure! I kept pointing out places for dinner but my baby wasn't hungry and insisted that we keep walking... so we did.
We were back at the room by 6pm and sweet girl was asleep by 730pm. She was pooped (Mommy, what does "pooped" mean again?)
What a great day! And tomorrow, even more adventure!!!
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