cindy b.'s Profile

I am fond of saying I live in the eye of the storm, just off Colorado north of Alameda.  I really missed having a hardware store in this location, but the fact that it's an Ace is even better because driving down to South Colorado from North Colorado to avoid Home Depot was not fun.  

I have so far purchased electrical supplies, stuff for an apartment, home improvement supplies and lots of gardening stuff here.

It's been a while since I was down this way but I make up for it by mail order.  These brothers are artist of chocolate and the lunches were very yummy the last couple of times I was there.  Definitely a stop for Taos.

The cafe can get busy but is worth the wait, indoors or out.  Do not neglect to buy some chocolates to go, and on a chilly day the Mexican Chocolate can't be beat.  It is my standard care package to college students.  Yumm.

I recently found out that this chain clothing retailer has dropped its prices to a very affordable range.    

We go to NYC for family events from time to time and we needed some dressier stuff for a family member.  This was great!  They had coats, sweaters, dressy dresses, slacks, pants, sportswear and shirts all at really reasonable prices.  We got exactly what we needed.  Some of it will have to have the sleeves shortened, but other than that it was a breeze.  I will definitely be back.

Just to add a note that the third pair of shoes were also a hit, in fit and satisfaction!

This being my first Philly Cheese steak sandwich stop ever, I have to ask the people sitting next to me at the communal style table, do they know the goods?  Yeah, one is from Boston and they say this is the best in the Springs.  The place is packed.  

I order the small basic, with onion (I didn't know they came any other way) and a ginger ale, which they have in addition to fountain drinks.  I think the menu is sort of a cultural icon, it looks like it's supposed to be like any other place like this.  There is the obligatory poster of Rocky on the wall.  

Well I have a good time drinking the ginger ale and have to get it to go.  I pay and grab the sandwich on my way out.  It's great.  I can even eat it sitting in the car; it does not fall in my lap and is good tasting. I t has an undefinible crunchy texture in between the shredded beef and the melted cheese.  Can the onions be raw?  I can't figure it out and now there's no one to ask.  It's not nearly as greasy as I expected, seriously. It's large--the small was really two sandwiches for me.  

This is a step up from a burger except the cholesterol count.  I'd do it again.

I go here for dinner with a group and we almost always get one or more seafood dishes.  I can't recall any totally stellar Chinese food I've had in Denver but I haven't had the abysmal Chinese food that I have had outside of Denver, either.  Red Coral is not probably worth driving across town for but it's solidly good.  

The seafood is good, the hot and sour (a staple as far as I am concerned) is good, and the drinks are great.

This is our takeout place but we mostly go to another place.  I went in here with a friend at 8 pm on a Sunday; we'd planned to do tea but that place closed early on Sunday (what else?). So I had tea and watched her order and eat a big bowl of steamed vegetables and tofu, with the sauce ("white sauce" according to the waiter) on the side.  

The place is gorgeous inside, white tableclothes and nice decor.  i always think I should come here more often. Her vegetables were gorgeous, and just crisp the way they should be, and it was a huge quantity.  She took some home.  

The tea was average.  I like their food, but compared to other places I would give it a 3.  I add a half star for the wonderful atmosphere and the very friendly staff if you remember to go.

I can't put this place on the same five star level as world class hotels, but it's downtown and C.Spgs has a real downtown.  I have also had enough great times here so that this hotel has reached a point of nostalgic attraction for me.  The furnishings and amenities of the rooms and the lobby are just as luxurious as you'd expect, but not over the top.  The bar is better than average in terms of decor, and the lobby bar is a great place to hang aournd, and the restaurant is OK too.  

I am fond of recalling the time the restaurant packaged up a dinner order for me to take to my room just because I asked them to.  Then there was the time my daughter was interviewed for, but did not get, the big fellowship and charged her friends' drinks to my room.  The next day it took me a minute to figure out who the heck did all the drinking at the bar.  Then there was the time my work group ate at Mataam Fez and I mean to tell you, there were some freaked out people in that group.  That was fun.

There was another time when I was drinking in the bar and chatted with a black female jazz singer who ended up in Colorado Springs because her recently deceased husband, a member of the military, told her he did "not want to die in Texas".  

Oh, and the many times I walked out of the front of the place and strolled around downtown Colorado Springs at night, or a couple of blocks to a decent restaurant, etc.  It's a good place to stay and they do everything and have everything you would expect a first class business/tourist hotel to have.  It's so accommodating that I have even been able and willing to buy things I needed in their gift/sundry store without feeling totally ripped off.  Now that's something.

The best thing about this place other than the size of the rooms is that the staff are really very nice and the view is lovely.  I had 3 stars and the reason I added another star is Mark McKee, a security staff, who brought me an ice pack for my knee after he saw me limping up the stairs with an ice bucket.  He earned the extra star.  

This was a very expensive piece of hillside real estate, next to the Broadmoor area with a golf course below  it.  It does have a nice exercise club and swimming pools.  

There is a main restaurant and a bar and grill, Remington's.   The lobby bar area seems appealing, a clubby area open to the lodge like lobby.  In the summer, for out of towners, it might seem pretty nice.   I would not want to eat all your meals here.  

At check in this year, I got a card and was instructed to drive around the front of the complex to the buildings in the back.  I parked, and walked the three half flights to the room and the numbers were hard to see because the outdoor lights are not placed for lighting the front of the room doors.   The buildings outside of the main building are, inexplicably, that sort of wood with stairs and levels that you see in the Mountains from the sixties and seventies.  So you walk up and down wooden steps to go everywhere which is probably nice when you want an outdoorsy sort of vacation but not so nice if you found out the day before you needed to have your knee 'scoped.  So, of course my key cards didn't work.

So, I get in my car and drive the 1/4 mile back to the lobby to exchange key cards and, while I am at it, ask for a room on the "main" level so I only had one half flight instead of three (stairs are quaintly meandering for some reason).  I get it.  I go back and it still takes me three tries but this time I am determined.  I'm in.  The room is quite large,and it was discounted rate and there is only me.  Two queen beds, a bath with granite and limestone, and  "luxury" amenities like bathrobes.  

My wireless does not connect, I have to use the hotel wireless and it says "first day free" leaving me to wonder what the second and third day will cost nothing as it turned out.  Coffee pot does not make hot water. nor even warm water.   I have picked up dinner on my way here, knowing I would not feel like going out the first night, and wanted hot tea with my cold dinner.  I drink cold tea instead.    The room had two large bottles of water, for $5 apiece.  

TV has very few channels and several pay per view.  Furnishings are pleasant and the bed has enough covers--a rarity.   There are just enough hangers in the closet for my three day business stay because two of them hold the robes.  I hang everything, though.  

This room was $93 plus change.  I don't know the add-on if you'd actually put four people in the room.   I would rather have the lobby nearby so if I needed extra tea or the coffee pot did not work, I would not have to either walk a 1/4 mile in the cold or get in my car and drive.  

The group I stay with always gives us breakfast and snacks generously worked into the contract so I know I won't starve. The food was slow coming at 8:30 this morning.  The rest of the conference service was fine after that initial glitch--I guess they didn't know we'd line up for three squares a day.

I got a long lunch so I went  to PakMail and got my haircut (see my review of Salon Frank Paul).  

I will get a menu controlled dinner buffet and cash bar with the group tonight. The rest of my meals I will have to fend for myself by grouping up with others to go out, to the restaurant  or the bar and grill in the conference resort, or to the grocery.  The restaurants are within 2-3 miles, not walkable except one that serves Mexican food as I recall.  It is also a similar distance to the Broadmoor amenties.

The meal the second evening was great in terms of service, management, and creating a very fun social atmosphere.  It was a three part buffet and we took over the main restaurant.  I don't know where everyone else ate; there were buses of Asian tourists coming and going all week.  My group takes their one evening group meal seriously.  Salad bar, very good with cheese plate, artichoke hearts, and everything I, a confirmed raw vegetable eater, could want.   They had some sort of smoked white fish (not lox), and other delectibles along the way.  The risotto and mushroom ragout or whatever I had was good--the meal was light on the meat but the guys still were happy.  Desserts were plentiful including the beloved ice cream.  The salad bar and dessert buffet the next day at lunch were also good.

This is  an OK place to have a business conference but it would be more pleasant to stay here on vacation, probably. It's a bit too remote from town for my tastes.  Maybe if it was summer . .. there was a view of Cheyenne Mtn and the golf course from my second floor.

I love to take the whole family and bankroll a selection or two for each of the kids.  That way I get to find out what they're onto and get to hear it also.  Gotta stay fresh and this is the place to do it--there's something for everyone.