Second day in Estes Park! Featuring Caffe Collage and Penelope's!

The day started out with an outstanding Continental Breakfast here at the Rodeway Inn.  After our tummies were full, we headed directly across the street to Estes Lake to check out their canoe rentals.  It was VERY windy though...they said we would have a really hard time getting out of the dock area even.  And since Jeff was going to take two kids, and I was going to take two kids which meant only one adult would really be trying to row the canoe, we thought it would be best to wait until the wind died down.  

We got our fishing licenses, (kids 16 and under are free with a licensed adult).  Our plan was to head down to the Big Thompson River.  This river winds up the next to the road going up the mountain from Loveland to Estes Park.  It is beautiful!  Perfect for hiking and fly fishing...or just exploring as my kids LOVE to do.  First though, before we could head over there, we needed to get MaKenna some new shoes.  Her sandals had broken at the park.  We thought we'd go to Walmart.  We asked Siri where the nearest Walmart was....and there is none in Estes Park.  So we headed downtown to look for a little store.  Once we got to downtown though, there was no turning back.  It is THE MOST quaint little downtown area.  We found a parking spot and started walking.

We found a nice little 5 and dime store and found Jake new sandals, MaKenna new sandals, a nice clearanced t-shirt for Jeff and water shoes for him so he could fish in the river.  We did a lot more shopping...mostly window shopping, but they have some really neat shops in the downtown area....very unique and fun places to look.  

We looked around a long time....pretty soon, the kids were getting hungry.  Penelope's was on the main road that the downtown area was in.  Very convenient and right next to the little creek.  We noticed storm clouds coming in, so we thought it would be a good time to eat.  I loved the old music being played and the good old fashioned burgers!  Cam loved trying a Bison burger, and Jeff was loving his elk burger.  I don't make things like that in Omaha!  The rest of us stayed pretty normal with Club Sandwiches and/or Chicken Strips, etc.  It was very good.  If there was any complaint I could make it would be that there was not a lot of seating, and we waited quite awhile for our food.  HOWEVER, it was a very busy time and with the storm coming in, everyone decided to get their lunch then.  I don't count that against Penelope's at all.  They did the best they could and we didn't mind the wait.  AND...it was well worth the wait anyway!  I would highly recommend Penelope's when you are in town!

After Penelope's we continued in our shopping on the other side of the street!  We made it back to our van and we decided to do more inside things.  That led us to Caffe Collage still downtown, but off the beaten path a little bit.  All the more reason to review it here.  It isn't on the strip, so it isn't widely known....but it is a must stop location for anyone...kids, couples, singles.  They are family friendly and group friendly.  It is a very nice place to sit and relax and in our case, listen to the thunder as it passes over.  It was really neat.  So...what is Caffe Collage?  It is a nice little place to eat lunch, have a snack, have a coffee....sit on a couch and chit chat, AND you can paint, make jewelry, etc.  We had just eaten lunch, so we chose a couple snacks of brownies and smoothies!  Then we headed back to the "Art Room".  MaKenna picked up a nice flower vase to paint, Major picked up a fire truck to paint, Cam and Jake picked up empty canvases to draw and paint their own picture, and Jeff and I chose to make necklaces.  It was very peaceful and quite a lot of fun.  Even the big boys who complained a little when I said we were doing arts and crafts, enjoyed it!  I had the opportunity to talk with the employee in there who was the sister of the owner.  The owner started Caffe Collage about 3 years ago at the age of 18.  Business is going really well.  Much of their business is local, but if you are visiting there, it really is worth checking it out!  They are very friendly there and will help you to the best of their ability.  When we were there, it was pretty busy and the employee was alone....but we did fine on our own and she checked on us periodically.  This is definitely a family friendly place!

After that we headed back to the hotel for a little bit of resting before we headed out to Safeway to get some food for a get together with our friends from hockey in Omaha, who are visiting here too!  They have a condo, so we took some burgers over there and grilled out.  We had a lot of yummy food and it was great catching up with them.  They're condo sits up next to some rock formations that the kids loved climbing on.  After dinner we walked the two blocks to downtown again along the boardwalk of the river and got some ice cream!  The boys even climbed in the river when they found a yellow rubber ducky stuck between two rocks!  They did save the yellow ducky!  :-)