The Cinnamon Roll Chronicles

We have pretty much decided that Rocky Mountain National Park hates us.  Let me describe Rocky Mountain for you.  It is very similar to the Great Smoky Mountains.  It is very large. On the East Side of the Park is a town called Estes Park.  The west side is a town called Grand Lake.  It is 48 miles from one town to the other, but because you have to drive across the mountains is takes about 1.5 hours.  A nice couple we met today described the two towns like this: Estes Park is like Gatlinburg - super busy and tons of people.  Grand Lake is like Townsend - slower pace and more relaxed.  At the top is Alpine Visitors Center it would be like Clingmans Dome in the Smokies.  So here is a quick recap of our last trip to RMNP five years ago.  First, we went to Estes Park, crazy town.  Second, we were staying in a KOA and got the worst campsite in the world.  It was right beside the highway.  I swear our tent sh...

We tried to keep driving to 3 hours or less a day, so EG wouldn't have to ride for long periods of time.   No more driving 36 straight hours :)  So instead of driving straight from Black Canyon to Rocky Mt. we decided to stop in Glenwood Springs, CO.   Daniel has driven by Glenwood Springs several times on his way out to Utah.  And it looks like a really neat town.  Now if you want my honest opinion I think the reason Daniel really wanted to stay in Glenwood Springs, is because of Hotel Colorado.  Which Teddy Roosevelt stayed at twice when he came to Colorado bear hunting.  And well Teddy is Daniel's favorite president and all.  Most of the hotels are on the opposite side of the interstate from downtown, but they have a really neat pedestrian bridge to take you right into downtown.  We had lunch at the Blue Bird Cafe, and watched a local artist hang out some of her beautiful work to display in the cafe.  And just w...

While camping in the Great Sand Dunes we noticed that the family in the tent beside of us had North Carolina tags.  We were going to ask them where they were from but when we returned from the park later in the day, they had already left.   On Thursday we left Great Sand Dunes to drive to Mesa Verde.  We stopped along the way in Durango, CO.  Durango was a great town.  Daniel really liked the fly fishing shop.  They had a cute kids store called Kids Rock...where we bought EG a stuffed moose, because she needs another stuffed animal.  The quilt shop though....TERRIBLE.  Worst quilt shop I have ever been to. First of all their selection of fabric was very lack luster.  But I tried to look at an accessory in the store and the lady yelled at me.  I get so frustrated when quilt shops don't take young quilters seriously.  We arrived in Mesa Verde and after setting up camp we went looking for dinner.  As we sat down at our ta...

Every time we take a trip we always talk about the food we ate, but we can't ever remember the names of the restaurants because for some reason we don't ever write them down or post about them on the blog.  So we decided to change that this year.  Typically in order to choose places to eat we use Yelp.  If it doesn't have 4 or more stars we won't eat there.  I try to research restaurants and their rating prior to our trip.   Colorado Springs: Our first night in Colorado we at a pub called Odyssey. We both had the Chicken and Corn Waffles and it was amazing!!! I would def. go back again.  Daniel is always on the lookout for a good coffee shop.  Some how I found a Coffee Shop called the Story Coffee Co. on instagram a few mos. ago.  Since I knew we would be visiting Colorado Springs I saved it so I could remember.  They make their own homemade pop tarts!! Also I had a Coffee Arnold Palmer...which is basically Coffee...