Sunday, July 10, 2016

Estes Park


Hank and I spent our honeymoon in Estes Park, Colorado.  That was about 7 years ago.  When we moved back to Colorado, we knew we wanted to go back there for an anniversary.  So this year, for our 7th anniversary/2nd babymoon, we took Sadie and went to Estes for a long weekend to celebrate:)  We love that town so much, so I wanted to make sure I included it on the travel blog with our favorite places there.

Accomodations
For our honeymoon, a friend of ours gifted us with using her family's cabin for the week.  There are so many gorgeous cabins tucked away in the mountains by rivers there.  This time we wanted to make sure we got a 2 bedroom place, and we found a lot of options on Vacation Rentals By Owner.  We got a beautiful condo within walking distance of the main street.  It was located at Lofts at Estes.  We went in January, so it was really affordable.  The peak season for Estes is summer and fall.
My favorite part of the condo;)
Restaurants
Now
Breakfast: Claire's On The Park 
Then

Dinner: The Rock Inn Mountain Tavern (Best food, coffee, atmosphere, and dessert EVER! Plus live music!)

Then if you drive a little outside of town to Lyons, Colorado: Oskar Blues!!  By far one of our favorite restaurants ever.

Then with my many beverages;)

Now:)


Dessert: Estes Park Pie Shop- You Need Pie!  - Amazing Pie!  And a really good breakfast too with quiche!


Local Area Attractions

The Stanley Hotel: The hotel featured in the movie The Shining.  Eek!  But it is beautiful and really fun to walk around.  Also in Dumb and Dumber;)    


Hiking: There is a hill across from The Stanley that has old cabin ruins at the top.  So beautiful.
 The hiking everywhere is pretty incredible...

Walking around town across the many bridges along the river... Gorgeous!
Then

Now (I was 7 months pregnant;)


Elk everywhere:)  This is near downtown Estes, which is so super cute to walk around!  We love all of the shops.  There is a glass blowing store with amazing things and daily demonstrations that we've really enjoyed.

So that is my very quick review of Estes Park from our two trips there.  We LOVE it and recommend it to absolutely everyone we know.  We've only ever been there in January, so we really want to go back one summer! :)