Walking Around Salida, CO - part III

This is the third and last part of the Salida, CO weekend trip.

As in every trip coffee shops were involved. My traveling partner has a gift for finding the perfect local places to hang out in, and this one certainly more than lived up to expectations: great staff, great atmosphere, great service, great food/drinks, great everything.

We stopped at Cafe Dawn the first time Saturday morning for a quick hot drink before going on our little touristy day of visiting the town (see previous 2 posts).

We liked it well enough that we decided to come back Sunday morning to read the newspaper... the place was packed!

There was a family reunion in town and they all decided to come down to Cafe Dawn for their breakfast too! It gave the place a very jovial atmosphere for sure, if at times a bit loud.

The owner came around to greet people and attend to their needs. Very friendly guy with a pleasant demeanor. I'd seen a poster about music on the wall and asked him about it. On Sunday afternoon several local musicians come around to play and have a good time together. We made plans to come back.

After our afternoon hike, we came back to rest our feet and get settled to wait for the music to start.


If you've been around this blog before, you'll know I like the occasional hot chocolate and I am very picky about how it's made: no syrup (bad aftertaste), has to be quality powder, in hot water.

Just at the off chance they might have more than soy milk (it seemed like that kind of place) I asked for their current choices: yeah, almond milk!

The barista was very nice in heating up the milk espresso fashion, giving it a fun layer of foam at the top.

Check out this absolutely scrumptious glass of hot chocolate! Hmmm, good!

A little while later the musicians started coming in and the place slowly filled up with what looked like mostly regulars who knew what they were in for.

Nothing fancy, just a group of friends enjoying playing together. Good rythm, good vibes. What a great way to spend a couple hours.

On Monday morning we headed home towards north Colorado, opting for smaller roads over the mountain pass rather than boring highway... little did we know a snow storm had had a similar idea. Besides the harrowing driving and skidding across the road, two cool things happened:

We saw a herd of wild elks off the side of the road, who promptly ran off before I could take a closer picture (the nerve), and a small family of bighorn sheep who came down the mountain to graze in someone's yard.

A great finish to a great weekend.

Walking Around Salida, CO - part II

FIBArk, advertised as "America's Oldest and Boldest Whitewater Festival," has been taking place every summer at the Riverside Park in historic downtown since 1949. If you look close enough, you can see the slalom sticks in the photo below

After spending the whole morning walking around the town, we decided it was time to visit the surrounding open spaces for trails to take the dogs on... here are a couple shots of that hike:

and today's parting shot, a room with a view... :p