Aspen (Glenwood Springs: good hotel, luxury, restaurants)

[wanttomoveeast]

I'm going to Aspen tomorrow. Staying at the Molly Gibson. Hope it's decent. I'm not looking for luxe, but bed bugs are out of the question!

Anyway, while my DH works, I'll be with my laptop and looking for a cool coffee shop with WIFI to hang out in. What else can I do?

Anyone know of cool coffee shops in downtown Aspen?

[Idunn]

Not sure I've ever had coffee in Aspen, CO, so this is second hand:
Aspen Coffee, Aspen Colorado Coffee Bars and Restaurants

Perhaps you've already located a favorite by now. One suggestion would be take a walking tour of downtown, sure to come across something lovely.

[wanttomoveeast]

I found a really cool one, Explorer Bookstore -- they have coffee AND wine and beer! Aspen wasn't really for me though, too, well, how should I say this? Uppity? Oh well. I'm in Glenwood Springs right now and I like that a lot better. Thanks for the link though!

OH! I should add, the Molly Gibson was awesome!!! We had our own little semi-private hot tub, no one ever used it. The room was small but just fine for 2, the staff was great, breakfast great (extended continental with waffles, bagels and such), just a really nice hotel and only a few blocks from downtown. Some people complained on TripAdvisor but I really think that perhaps they expected luxury or just aren't used to Colo. town hotels.

[Sockeye]

Have breakfast at the Wienerstube. One of the few remaining old mom and pop restaurants in Aspen. Same for Little Annie's.They serve up some great ribs and burgers for dinner. Both right downtown.

[wanttomoveeast]

I'm back already. We saw the two you mentioned Sockeye, but by that time were pretty disheartened by the town.

We did find, however, The Hickory House!!!!! Now THAT'S a place to eat. $6.75 for a pulled-pork sandwich covered in the most lip smacking sauce you've ever had. Came with cole slaw and fries. Sooooo good and w/normal prices!!

We stopped by Glenwood Springs on the way back and had lunch at Jucy Lucy's. Just awesome!

[GJBenn85]

I loved Aspen and found the people to be generally friendly. Maybe it was the time of year (October) and that the "uppity" ski crowd had yet to arrive.

Visit Naples, Florida, sometime. It will make Aspen seem very humble.

[wanttomoveeast]

eh, it was a very uppity crowd. My DH had boots on and we walked past this girl who made a face as she looked him up and down. He was wearing a nice white shirt and jeans. Her face was obnoxious and she didn't even try to hide it. The nicest people we met were the front desk people at the hotel, Molly Gibson, and the staff at Hickory House. Some of the restaurants were pretty hoity toity. As if. Oh and we met some really really cool people at the local bars, can't remember the name. We spent a lot of time in this one bar that was really divey but so fun. It was as if we were in Beverly Hills but not really. I think that many of the people there want to think they are in the Hills.

And this is supposed to be there down time, no skiing crowds, so I thought it would be a lot of locals around. But there were quite a bit of tourists. Maybe taking advantage of the good hotel deals. My DH's work paid for the whole thing, so it was really a win win situation. I just don't think Aspen is for us.

[wanneroo]

Originally Posted by wanttomoveeast

We did find, however, The Hickory House!!!!! Now THAT'S a place to eat. $6.75 for a pulled-pork sandwich covered in the most lip smacking sauce you've ever had. Came with cole slaw and fries. Sooooo good and w/normal prices!!

I used to go out of my way to eat at the Hickory House, the food being great, but I always found the service very spotty or indignant and rude. There was another place over near City Market downtown that is a butchers shop that makes great sandwiches but I can't remember the name now.

Whenever I would work in Aspen those were usually the 2 places I would go because the food and prices were good.

Aspen I always described as a place where everyone and everything is extreme. I explained it by telling about the one August day I was sitting on a bench waiting on a side street in Aspen and the first person to pass by was a scruffy, dirty skater dude with raggy clothes and hair standing on end, skating down the street with half a bottle of OJ and the next person to walk by was a woman in a fur coat(middle of August), high heels dressed to the nines with jewels and the hair and walking a perfectly manicured dog.

[wanttomoveeast]

Well, at least I got out and tried it. It was an adventure, I'll give it that!

[Fuzz]

I'm not too crazy about Aspen the town -- too much of a Beverly Hills feel. But the natural stuff around the area is fantastic. Great hiking, biking, skiing.