Galleries and Gift Shops

Something I love to do is see what's new at the various art and craft galleries here in South Park. Here are a few of my favorites, all on Front Street in Fairplay:

Coyote Creek Studio Arts is located just south of the South Park City Museum (which has a great gift shop with souvenirs and books). This artist's co-op has paintings, photographs, pottery, jewelry, stained glass and many other forms of art and crafts by (mostly) local artists.

Next to Coyote Creek is the South Park Pottery and Back Room Beads. Pat Pocius has pottery in the front and a bead shop in the back room. She sells her own lampwork beads, a selection of other beads and pendants, and jewelry made by local beadworkers.

Further south, and on the other side of Front Street is the Chocolate Moose. The front room of this "all things chocolate" shop is a gift shop with decorative items celebrating our mountain area.

The Hand Hotel B&B, across from The Chocolate Moose, also has a gift shop, with post cards, tshirts, decorative accents and more.

Summer is almost here (even though we had a snow flurry this evening)! Summer residents are returning, to the delight of all of us who have been missing them. Some mountain areas, those with ski resorts, increase in population during the winter. We're a bit far from the slopes to get the winter visitors, but during the summer, many friends return from Arizona, Oklahoma, Texas and other places where summers are way too hot. Restaurants start opening for extended hours, which benefits all of us! And soon the summer weekend events will begin (see the list to the left). Hooray for summer in the High Country!

Spring comes a bit later in the Rockies than in many other places. Although we had a mile winter, with not a lot of snow, still it is only in the last week or so that areas above 9000' or so have begun to green up. Here at 10,000' altitude, we had warm weather (up into the mid-60s and even the low 70s) for a few days several times in April. Then came yesterday's cold front: mid to high 30s, and snow! I took this picture early yesterday morning, when we had about 2" on the ground:

By this morning the snow had finally stopped, but we were looking at a 5" blanket of white. Just now, at 4:30pm, it is mostly gone. The dirt roads are muddy, but will firm up overnight, and life goes on.

Most of us here are grateful for the snow, since we didn't get much during the "normal" winter months. When things get too dry, wildfire is always a possibility. There haven't been any large wildfires here in South Park in recent years, although there have been in other parts of the state. Restaurants and other businesses that benefit from tourist traffic are moving from curtailed winter hours to staying open more days of the week. We're already seeing more visitors and more out of state traffic. When we get to thinking it's too much, though, a trip down to the Front Range will remind us quickly that greatly reduced traffic is one of many reasons we choose to live here!

Aspen Gold!

It's been way too long (over a year) since I last posted here. I'll try to do better! The aspen trees here in the high country are turning, with shades from lemon yellow to red gold. Each group of aspen is a clone family, so turns the same color at about the same time, while nearby groups may turn earlier or later, and are likely to be a different shade. These pictures were all taken today.

Alma Festival in the Clouds 2010

Today was the first of two days for the 2010 Alma Festival in the Clouds. Lots of vendors, including food vendors, and many musicians on hand to entertain the crowd. It's always a fun weekend event!

More information at Festival in the Clouds.

Guffey, Colorado

Recently I drove south through Hartsel (which I’ll cover in another post) to the small town of Guffey. Although I had been near the town before, on Colorado Hwy 9, I had never actually turned to visit the town.
Guffey is located in the basin, or caldera, left by a volcano which “blew its top” millennia ago. It is a beautiful area, surrounded by forest and ranches.



The town is located on Freshwater Creek, and in fact was once called Freshwater, a name retained by the Freshwater Saloon, one of three eating places. The others are Rita’s Place (a coffee shop and gallery) and the Bull Moose (formerly Peaceful Henry’s and just recently renovated and reopened). Only Rita’s was open the day I happened to be visiting, and it was a pleasant and attractive place with good coffee and pastries, and with sandwiches also on the menu.

Rita's Place:


Freshwater Saloon:


Coming home I decided to drive east a while before heading north on county road 59, which took me past 11 Mile and Spinney Reservoirs and a number of ranches with interesting names. Although most are cattle ranches, one, Jabberwocky, has goats, and a couple of others have herds of llamas. In addition there are ranchers in the area who raise bison (American buffalo).

Llamas!



Headed back west to pick up Hwy 9, I came to the Chapparal Park General Store, which has the largest selection of fishing gear and lures in the area – not surprising considering that people come from all over the world to fish the two reservoirs and the river between them. They also have campsites and lodging, and sell sandwiches and other packaged foods.

Chaparral Park General Store:


Almost back to Hartsel, I discovered the Hartsel Springs Lodge – a new enterprise with a large lodge and a number of cabins.





One of these days I'll go back and check out the Bull Moose, now that it is open!

Dining in Alma - 2 miles high!

Alma, Colorado is “the highest incorporated town in the United States” at 10,578 ft. Although small, it boasts several good places for a meal, all right on Colorado 9, which passes through the center of town.

For breakfast, lunch or a cup of great coffee, including espresso drinks, Alma’s Natural Food and Coffee House offers pastries, sandwiches and burritos, soups, ice cream, and more, including a daily menu of specials. Liquor and gift items are also available. 719-836-4847.


Buckskin Joe’s Pizza to Go is hard to miss, with its orange and purple building! A pizza and Italian restaurant, it is open Monday - Thursday from 4pm-8pm and Friday – Sunday from 2pm to 8pm. 719-836-2112.


The South Park Saloon is open from 11am – 9pm for food, and the bar stays open until 2am. There’s live music as well as a variety of burgers, Mexican dishes and more. 719-836-2762.


For dinner, Alma’s Only Bistro, also called “the AOB” has not only a menu with soups, salads, sandwiches, steaks, seafood, pasta and more but live music, including a singer-songwriter on Saturday nights and an open jam night on Sundays. Open Monday - Thursday 4pm-midnight, Friday and Saturday 4pm - 1:30am and Sundays 8am-midnight. 719-836-1609.