Some enchanted weekend (part 2)

The advantage of eschewing TV and making a relatively early evening of it is that you can get ten hours of sleep and still be up by 8 in the morning.

We were, and, after lounging about a bit, went downstairs …

… well, back up first. The suite’s bathroom is huge, with a large two-person jacuzzi tub in the corner. It also has a tiny corner “coffin” shower (reminiscent of the one in my old town house). That wasn’t the main problem with the morning toilette, however. The main problem was the thrice-bedamned “Global War on Liquids” which meant that I’d removed my antiperspirant, toothpaste, facial scrubs, etc. from my travel kit and put them into a nice Zip-loc bag — which, of course, I’d left
at home. Mutter-mutter-mutter …

Anyway, went downstairs to a yummy breakfast — veggie fritata, pumpkin pancakes with both maple and home-made apple syrup, spicy chicken sausages, oatmeal … even after a huge dinner the night before, we ate a fair amount.

After breakfast, we took a little walk up the hill to the Starr Kempf estate. The former owner created a bevy of beautiful, huge, metal kinetic sculptures, most of which are still on display on the property (despite the neighbors’ best efforts).

We then bundled into the car and headed off toward Seven Falls, “the grandest mile of scenery in Colorado,” and, again, right up the street (you can basically find the Cheyenne Canon Inn by following the signs for it and for the Starsmore Discovery Center).

Well, it may be grand, but it was also something like $8/head for admission, and we decided to hell with it. Instead, we drove into the free North Cheyenne Canyon Park (again, right next to the B&B). We drove up some pretty, winding roads, and then got out at Helen Hunt Falls, and hiked for about an hour up to Silver Cascade Falls and back. Very
pretty, and we took many pictures. Drove back down the dirt Gold Camp Road on the back side, and back into the Springs.

From there, we stopped by Van Briggle Pottery, a cool old pottery center located in an old railroad round house (we have a vase from them from a previous visit). Then …

… the Old Dinner Restaurant Mystery.

Last time we stayed down here (several years ago), we’d gotten a recommendation to a little hole-in-the-wall not-quite-strip-mall restaurant nearby, opened by a couple of (as I recall) young chefs formerly from the Broadmoor. We’d gone there and enjoyed it greatly, and I believe when Eric and Janine visited, we went there, too (since Eric was at a medical junket to the Broadmoor).

We just couldn’t remember the name of it. We’d finally found it last night driving back from Mona Lisa, on 8th — currently named La Belle Vie.

Problem was, we didn’t remember it being a French restaurant.

Now, restaurants can change at the drop of a hat. We went by it on the way back to the B&B, noted the address, glanced at the (yummy-sounding) menu, then started Googling when we got to our room.

Nada. No mention by name. No mention by address (in case the name had changed). Nothing.

So we changed our nascent dinner plans.

Instead, we headed back over to Manitou Springs and did a bit of wandering about and shopping (I picked up some ceramic stuff for Margie for Christmas at Filthy Wilma’s; Margie picked up some fun clothes at the Cotton Club), before heading over for dinner at Blue Vervain.

That restaurant is located at the west end of town, where Park almost comes back into the main drag again. While the menu sounds a bit more offbeat than at least my tastes would go (“an eclectic array of creations featuring classic cuisine with contemporary twists influenced by French, Italian, Asian and Southwest traditions”), everything we had was yummy.

One of their specialties is steak (either flat iron or fillet) with chimichurri. They were having a special that day with some free-range grass-fed (from Lassiter Ranch) beef filet, prepared the same way. So Margie and I ordered one of each, to compare.

Mmmmmmm.

The lot-fed fillet was tender. The grass-fed one was flavorful. Both were excellent, esp. along with the chimichurri sauce and veggies. Oh, and the gnocchi and tuna carpaccio appetizers, the yummy salad, and the desserts. Oh, and the wine (Orin Swift Prisoner). Oh, and especially the company.

Faboo. It was all good. I highly recommend the place.

And then back to the hotel to lounge about and … well … blog about the day. Which was, on the whole and in nearly every particular, very nice.