It's a Wonderful Life

Meet Oreo, the official Armstrong Hotel cat! Although she's not allowed in guest rooms, she has the important role of welcoming visitors from her chair next to the reception desk. This is how busy she was mid-morning today, when we came in from our abbreviated walk on the Poudre River Trail as the temperature steadily rose toward the 102F / 39C predicted. I guess we've been at the hotel long enough now to not be considered visitors.

Oreo wasn't much busier when we returned mid-afternoon after a long lunch at The Mayor of Old Town, famed for its 100 beer taps, which we had enjoyed so much the previous evening. Despite careful study of the beer list online, it's quite a shock to be actually in front of all those names. Our lovely server, S, to Phil's right, was very helpful and patient with all our questions and photo-taking.

Today we had a flight (small sample) of several white beers, which are lower in alcohol than darker beers. Three of them were Belgian, and considering how much we loved the Blanche de Bruxelles, which had the fragrance of honey, and the Triple Karmaliet, a beer pilgrimage to Belgium may be in our future.

The food at The Mayor is simple, but freshly made and carefully plated. For lunch I had a bagel sandwich, "The Venetian" (egg, provolone, prosciutto), and a repeat of the delicious salad I had last night -- apple, walnuts, grapes, greens, and blue cheese, with a raspberry vinaigrette.

S was our server again today, which made our long lunch even nicer. Just before we left The Mayor, she showed us the keg room downstairs, which Phil had expressed an interest in seeing. It was very interesting to hear her describe the lengths to which the staff go to keep each of the 100 lines -- through which the 100 kegs of beer travel to the 100 taps above -- immaculately clean and working well. They take great pride in the beer served there, and rightly so!

It's time to head down to Ace Gillett's Lounge, right here in our hotel, for a drink and something to eat from their varied and appealing menu. I hope I'll be up for cooking again when we get home!