Emily Lynn Downey goes to Castle Rock: Days 1 & 2

This last weekend my mom and I took a mother/daughter trip to Castle Rock, CO to attend Jeanne Oliver’s Wild: The Foraged Home workshop.

We had originally planned to go to one of her live workshops in 2020…but you already know how that turned out.

So it would not be an understatement to say that we had been waiting for a long time!

I had never been to Colorado before – or even anywhere west of Louisiana – so I snagged a window seat on the plane to make sure I could have a view.

The trip was mostly uneventful and I met my mom in Denver on Wednesday morning. We landed right around the same time, grabbed our rental car, and headed to Castle Rock to find our hotel. We were able to check in early and there was a restaurant across the street so we grabbed lunch before heading to downtown Castle Rock to explore.

There was nowhere we had to be, so we wandered for a little bit, stopping at The Barn and The Emporium. Both are arranged in antique mall fashion, with lots of different booths and vendors in large spaces. They were really cool to explore and there was a ton to see. We probably could have spent a lot more time shopping, but we were ready for a snack and a drink so we found Castle Cafe.

One of my favorite things about traveling to new places is learning about the history. Sometimes history can be pretty dry, but when you’re right there where the thing happened and you can visualize what is being described it is pretty darn cool.

The Castle Cafe had a page in their menu with just those kind of details. The Cafe is on the site of an old hotel and bar that dated back to the 1890s. Quarry workers, ranchers, and travelers frequented it and things apparently got so wild that the county had to hire an extra deputy just to patrol on paydays. The deputy was also charged with keeping intoxicated cowboys from riding their horses through the bar!

Our original plan was just a drink and maybe an appetizer, but we sat chatting and enjoying ourselves so we decided on an early dinner. If you ever get a chance to visit, their Blackberry Gimlet is fantastic! We ended up getting a salad to share – that was a good choice because we were still kind of full from lunch. After that we went back to our hotel to rest. There was a 2 hour time difference and even though it was only 8:00 it felt like 10:00 to us. After an early morning and a long day of travel, we were ready for bed!

On day 2 (Thursday) we were up before 7:00 local time. We grabbed a quick breakfast then went back into town to check out Rock Park. This is the park with the Castle Rock landmark that gave the town its name. We weren’t sure how two Florida girls would fare with the climb but we decided to give it a try with the understanding that either one of us would speak up if it got too difficult, and we would turn back.

We surprised ourselves! We took it pretty easy, didn’t push ourselves, and stopped often in the shade to rest.

I was amazed at how different the landscape, geography, and vegetation was. Of course I knew it wasn’t going to be anything like home but it was really neat to be in an area that contrasted with Florida so much.

We made it to the summit and stopped to take pictures and take in the view. Unfortunately, none of my pictures from the top came out very well. The air was hazy with smoke from fires in the Pacific Northwest and in California so things weren’t quite as clear as they normally might have been but it was still enjoyable. There was an air quality alert for the area but neither one of us noticed any difficulty breathing.

We did manage a selfie at the base of the rock formation though!

After the climb we were ready to eat again, so we headed back down. It would have been cool to make it to the top of the rock formation but we definitely are not rock climbers and there were signs warning of the dangers for inexperienced visitors.

We grabbed bagels from a local Einstein Bagel on the way back to the hotel (a rare treat since they don’t have any locations near me at home), spent some time outside sketching, got cleaned up, and spent the afternoon at the Outlets where I was able to find some souvenirs to bring home for my family.

Throughout the day we had been messaging some of the other women who were coming to town for the workshop to try to coordinate dinner or drinks for the evening. We thought it might be fun to get to know each other before class started the next day. We ended up at Siena and met up with one of the other ladies. The food was delicious (try the eggplant rollatini!), the atmosphere was great, and we had a fun time talking with her. It was wonderful to have a conversation with someone who is passionate about the same things that I am. My friends here at home are supportive of my creativity but most of them don’t share an interest in it, so it is rare that I get to talk about it in my daily life.

Mom and I walked around town a little bit more. The Barn and The Emporium were both closed for the evening by then but we both thought it would have been nice to go back again after we had had a chance to absorb what we had seen. The next day was the first day of our workshop so we headed back to the hotel – we were still adjusting to the time difference and wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to rest and get ready!