Bed & Breakfast in Estes Park

It’s Festival season in Estes Park. This is Bond Park a little under a mile from the B&B. Do you see the horse and carriage? This is a fun time!

Leah Simmons De Capio is a friend and local artisan who owns a gallery and cafe in our neighboring town of Glen Haven.

This fellow didn’t give me a passing look. His person works all the fairs so he’s seen it all.

Click this photo to learn about what to pack when coming to Estes in the Spring and Summer.

Thank you Lissa for posing a great question which inspired this post. Lissa will be coming to see us the weekend.

We offer the above items to our guests. It’s a new service we are able to provide compliments of the brand companies. Men and women deodorant and razor’s, lotions from Dove, Oil of Olay, and Nivea, power powder drink mix. Advil, throat lozenges, women’s sanitary items. Not shown are breakfast bars and chewing gum. The rooms have soap and conditioning shampoo and robes.

We hope this helps you with your traveling plans and avoiding delays at airport security. We are located less than one mile from a Safeway Grocer and a pharmacy.

Eric Innkeeper Action Figure is helping out a fellow innkeeper for the next three days. Cooking and hosting guests at Eagle Cliff House. Nancy the owner had to leave town and the employee that was to fill in for her fell ill. We offered to lend a hand. Eric will stay the night and make breakfast in the morning, and refresh the rooms in the afternoon. He will also provide hiking and touring information to Nancy’s guests. They flew in from Switzerland to visit Estes Park also known as “little Switzerland”. Click to see Nancy’s place.

I think Eric is glad to be out from under my reign for a few days. He looks happy, do you think he looks happy…? I think he looks real happy.

Bubbles of joy and three generations celebrate a new marriage. Steve and Pearl were married in the meadow here at Gilded Pine Meadows B&B. The grand kids were given the task of blowing bubbles for Grandma and her new husband. The children’s faces were precious to capture on film! Weddings are a great time to catch kids on film getting into mischief.

We spent the morning with Andrea and Michael who come each year to celebrate their anniversary. Congratulations on your 7th year! I’ve talked before about our very open conversations here at the B&B. Well, Andrea is great at opening doors to VERY intriguing topics. It was a given that Obama’s name came up as a topic of debate. Andrea please stay clear of the secret service we love you and want to see you again next year to discuss our new prez…or the anti-Christ theory which ever is applicable.

It’s really hard to get this man to keep a straight face when I’m taking his picture. Anyway! We are now closing our gate when we don’t have a guest staying with us. I would be curious to hear your thoughts on that. Please pick up those phones and dial the number at the bottom of your screens… Actually, please post it on our blog. We’re not a televised program.

After we locked our gate….we treated ourselves to a breakfast burritos at Kind Coffee here in Estes Park. In the summer we go for lunch and in the winters we’ll go at breakfast time.  Click this for the website which has plays music.

Can you see that? Try clicking it.

Amy with our garage sale booty. I had mentioned before that I’ve had this super-killer cold. This morning I didn’t think I’d be able to lift a tired bone if my life depended upon it. Than Amy called and asked me if I wanted to go to a large church garage sale. Well, it was a miracle how the life in my limbs returned with a gush of light, and in a flash I had grabbed up my loose change and put the peddle to the metal.

And, they say their is no cure for the common cold. In total Amy won the “frugal-Finders Award”. She spent a total of $5.00 I spent $9.00. I bartered one of her bargains off her by making a trade. I still owe her for that, so, she’s ahead by a Star bucks Coffee.

This umbrella was my winner item. I bartered the seller down a buck…so THAT feels cool.

We found some silk flowers for pennies. I maybe should of bought more. This is the wreath I started last week.

After unpacking our new treasures I went to Amy’s place. She and Bart have a duck that has laid eggs near their pond. She’s going to photo the families progression. Maybe she’ll share the pictures so we can post them. AMY, what ya think?

Planting flowers in an old head board is a fun idea.

I took this last week at Barbara’s B&B. I’ve already stayed up to late, but I’ll try and update you on the Innkeepers tour we did last week later this week. That’s when I took this shot–it was a group effort.

Friends. You got to love them. Brooke and Melissa are the new owners of Riverspoint Spa.

I’ve had a cold for a week or so now. Gosh dang! How does one appear happy, springy, and thoughtful when ones throat feels like gravel mixed with shards of broken glass. Worse is a throat that seems to have enough fluid in it to sink a shabby-sheik bed post. What a crazy time I’m having this Spring springing into Spring… one of my favorite times of year. It leads into SUMMER. My ultimate favorite time of year. I’m thinking a –Universal message maybe in my dilemma. Got any ideas?

Lake Estes at sunset.

Caprissa and Eric. This is us standing near the lake and near the spot the first homestead was built in Estes Park.

Me laughing with guests. Note the phone near my lap…waiting for a call. We can never get too many calls–sorry if I missed your call. I need to figure out how to strap the thing to me. You can book one line anytime and all mistakes can be fixed.

Getting to know our newest guests Larry and Barbara during check-in time. We are chatters. We love to talk to our guests. When we first opened I told my husband we mustn’t talk politics and religion. Well, that lasted 2 minutes! We cover every topic under the sun at the breakfast table. We laugh, cry, yell, talk-over-each-other. We walk the line I guess you can say. If you’re an innkeeper I suggest walking that line only if it’s in your nature to begin with. Although it hasn’t happened in a year or so, we’ve had people try to convert us to their religion and we’ve had pyramid sales-people try sell us their goods. So, if one is willing to open those doors, one must also be willing to stand strong on their convictions. That’s where the fun comes in…

Maggie (far left) sneaks into tonight’s late night conversation, she tends to pick up on people’s emotions. At this point we are talking about France and Paris and the people that live there. Barbara and Larry have a daughter and son in-law that live in France.

Here we sit: I’m behind the flowers, Eric, Barbara, and Larry talking about politics and mental illness… not that the two have anything to do with one another. The front porch is my favorite place to nap during the day–if I’m so inclined. I’m not really, what you might call–a napper– but sometimes one just MUST.

This afternoon I changed my multi-seasonal wreathe by adding purple silk flowers. I’m not finished with it–it needs some bright yellow sprigs. I use the same wreathe year around by changing out the flowers to bright red berries during the holidays, and autumn leaves in October. The wreathe came with pin cones.

The first flowers on my front porch went out today. I’ll bring them in over night to protect them from late night frost. I love this basket! Each year it showcases my flowers and makes it easy for me to bring the flowers in doors if the weather changes.

Well good night. It’s after 11:00 PM and I have yet to check to see if I have the needed ingrediants for blender pancakes. I took a few days off blogging–I hope you stay with me during my journey in the rockies as an innkeeper.

Chuck Angerman, CEO of Majestic Sky came to our home to sip lemon aid and review my marketing budget with me. Can you see my red elbow in the mirror? We spend 10% of our income on marketing. This is a budget I set from day one. Click photo for info on Chuck’s services.

The paintings on the European furniture were done by the owners of this inn. By clicking this photo you will be taken to our association’s website.