Upon leaving the park, we made the short drive to the nearby city of Cortez and checked in at the Holiday Inn Express. This was one of the very nicest HIX's we have ever stayed in, with granite countertops in the bathroom, granite shower, upscale furnishings, and (judging from sitting on it and typing this out now), a very comfortable king-sized bed. The breakfast buffet supposedly has cheese omelets as well as the usual fare, so I'm looking forward to checking that out in the morning. The only down side is that there is a kids' soccer tournament going on this weekend in Cortez, so the place is teaming with kids, but the top floor, which we are on, is very quiet, and the view out the back of the surrounding hills is lovely!
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Balcony HouseWe drove a short distance down the road to the Main Street Brewery & Restaurant to eat, as I had read good reviews online. The beer and food was indeed wonderful, but it was also packed with kids (at a brewery!?) as well as adults, and we had to wait nearly an hour for our food! We were getting quite irate when Barry finally went and spoke to the guys in the kitchen (over a partial-wall barrier), and immediately thereafter, our food appeared. It was worth the wait, though we felt that our waitress was definitely more interested in keeping bar patrons beer steins filled than in getting our food to us. Barry had a margarita and a three-cheese and veggie pizza (10" single size). I had a delicious spinach salad with beef strips, eggs, and hot bacon dressing to accompany the delicious beer brewed there. For dessert we split a mud pie (coffee ice cream with oreo cookie crust)...mmmmm....! Fortunately our hiking mileage is going to start picking up again from here on out, and my pinky toes were much, much better today, so hopefully we'll burn off as many calories as we've consumed in the next few days. I am sure we haven't achieved that goal in the past few! |