Saturday, June 21, 2008

Grand Junction Downtown Farmer's Market


If you are lucky enough to get into town on a Thursday, check out the local Farmer's Market.

This market offers a wide variety of interesting things, of course there are the produce stands, which will be bursting with fruits and veggies in the next few weeks. This last market featured cherries, tomatoes, herbs, leeks, onions, peas, beets and homemade goodies. Soon it will be bursting with apricots and peaches! A number of the restaurants had booths, including Pablo's Pizza and Main St. Bagels.

There is fresh popped kettle corn and the highlight, Navajo Tacos at the vending truck.

If you've never had a Navajo Taco, you just HAVE TO try one!!!
Enstrom's Candies has an ice cream truck, you can buy it buy the pint.

Then there are the artisans, plein aire artists, live music, entertainment, including rock music and tribal bellydancing. Usually there is a community drum circle at the Market.

We made our stop at the Canyon Spirit Soap booth, had to pick up the soap for your room!

You can stop at the Massage Store booth and get a massage, oohh yeah!

For the kids- cotton candy, a balloon artist, a guy doing fancy yoyo tricks, face painting and a booth sponsored by the Art Center where they can make a piece of art to take home.


There are community booths as well, Western Equality, various church groups, the Colorado National Monument to name a few...

So head on down to the Farmer's Market, don't forget to bring a hat and sunscreen, it's hot out there!

Friday, June 13, 2008

No one will get hurt if you just give me the bean juice!

Don't do wineries? Here is a coffee, dessert and goodie tour for the teetotalers!

Of course, you can't miss Willow Pond's afternoon treats like- Sarah's famous chocolate chip cookies, brownies, peanut butter cookies, chocolate-chocolate chip cake and lemon cupcakes, but if you haven't had enough of the sweet stuff, here are some suggestions:

Coffee Muggers - www.coffeemuggers.com - (970) 255-0700
644 Main Street 970-255-0700
THE best coffee house in Grand Junction, live music and soon joining with La Paninoteca to offer wonderful baked goods and panini sandwiches!

Slice of Life Bakery in Palisade
105 W. 3rd Street, Palisade 970-464-0577
Not to be missed on your tour of the Grand Valley! Fresh baked breads, sweets, cream puffs, jams, cookies and ice cream sandwiches. Fresh peach pie when in season!
You will go in for one goody and come out with a box.

Enstrom's Candy: http://www.enstrom.com/
(970) 683-1000 701 Colorado Ave
In addition to the world famous toffee and candy, don't miss the ice cream bar, including my personal favorite, Enstrom's toffee ice cream! They also serve coffee, baked goods, sugar free items and have an internet cafe overlooking the factory through a big glass window...
so Willy Wonka!
Moulin Rouge French Bistro and Piano Bar
Don't miss the chocolate mousse with raspberry sauce! Ooh, la, la! The perfect ending to a perfect meal!
707 Horizon Dr. Grand Junction 970-243-0000
David recommends the vanilla bean cheesecake, I recommend the chocolate espresso torte with raspberry sauce! They have a beautiful bar and offer a nice selection of desert wines and ports for those of you who don't teetotal!

Main Street Bagels - www.mainstreetbagels.net - (970) 241-2740
559 Main St Grand Junction (970) 241-2740
The best bagel shop in town, don't miss their fresh baked sweets, bagel pizzas and my favorite bagel in the world, the pesto bagel. The Tassajara wheat bread is YUMMEEEE! Won't make it home! They also feature live music.


Colorado Legacy Coffee - http://www.legacycoffee.com/ - (970) 241-6558
1048 Independent Ave., GJ 970-241-6558
Great service at this little spot over by Sam's Club. This place roasts their own coffee and features a wide variety of boxed teas.

Fraps & Wraps‎ -
150 W Main St, Grand Junction, CO‎ - (970) 242-8400
This used to be Pappy's Ice Cream Parlor, now it is a wrap shop but they still have the ice cream bar.




Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Summer Snow Skiing in JUNE!!??

Believe it or not, Aspen will be open for skiing this weekend!
If you are traveling thru the Grand Mesa, don't expect backroads to be open yet. There has been record snowfall on the Mesa and they don't anticipate opening campgrounds until July 1st, after they've plowed everything. There is still 3 feet of snow in many areas and as of last week, Land's End was not open and they were still snowmobiling up there!

So you have your pick... mountain biking and summer activities in the Grand Valley or Winter sports on the Mesa! What a treat!

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

June News From the Pond




Happy June!

Here is the latest "News from the Pond":

Willow Pond's Summer House Concert Series:

For all concerts, reservations are required.
Please call 970-243-4958 to reserve your seat!


Monday, June 23, 2008
6:30pm
Pete Kartsounes
(and friends)
$15.00 donation requested. Well-behaved children welcome.Attend this concert and help kids with cancer! Eclectic Singer/Songwriter Pete Kartsounes will play original music in the beautiful outdoor setting at Willow Pond!Proceeds will benefit Camp Wapayapi for kids with cancer, visit: http://wapiyapi.org/
For more information on upcoming concerts, check out the Music page at http://www.willowpondbnb.com/.

7/13/08 & 7/14/08 Michael Anthony Nigro, South American Classical Guitar
8/03/08 The Refugees
TBA Steve Eulberg, Dulcimer
10/10/08 Cullen Purser, Singer/Songwriter
11/23/08 Elinor Frey, Cello
12/08 TBA Willow Pond Holiday House Concert
1//09 Ernesto Tamayo, Classical Guitar


June happenings around town:

12 Farmer's Market starts!! Yippee!
13-14 Relay for Life
15 Father's Day and Lincoln Park Car Show
(How 'bout a Willow Pond getaway for Dad??!!)
21 First day of Summer- Woo-hoo!!
23 Pete K Concert at Willow Pond!! Don't miss it! ,
26-29 Country Jam


Specials:

Yes, you can still afford a get-away at Willow Pond!

Innkeeper's Spring Special:

Only available through Willow Pond Bed & Breakfast.
What a deal!
March 29, 2008-June 21, 2008Book Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday for
$99.00- any room!
* Double occupancy.
To reserve, call innkeeper directly, rooms must be booked throughWillow Pond Bed & Breakfast.
Rooms booked must be for a stay between March 29, 2008 and June 21, 2008.Fri-Mon excluded, holidays & special event days excluded.Must mention special when making reservation,
other restrictions may apply.May not be combined with any other offer.

To view our other specials visit:

www.willowpondbnb.com/Willow_Pond_Specials.htm


Other current specials:

Tea Party packages,
Mountain Dulcimer Lesson packages,
Wine Lovers Special,
Green Getaway
Gourmet's Delight (Cooking package)

Special Events:

www.willowpondbnb.com/Willow_Pond_Special_Events.htm

Willow Pond still has dates available for 2008 weddings and special events. Book now!


Well, that's the news for now!!

June is busting out all over!!

Welcome to the first edition of the new and improved Willow Pond Blog!

To subscribe to Willow Pond's "News from the Pond", just send us an e-mail with "Subscribe" in the header, to unsubscribe, e-mail us with "unsubscribe" in the header...Or just subscribe to this blog and get ALL the news!

Well, summer is almost here, but you wouldn't know it from the rain and thunder we are having at the moment! The vegetable garden is growing, the lettuce and cilantro is ready to pick. The cherries and apricots are just around the corner! Gotta wait for those peaches though...


The ducks have returned to the pond and we can't wait for the babies to arrive! Looking over the fence you can see the newborn calves, they are adorable! Another treat has been standing out by the pond while the cliff swallows divebomb for insects, they are perfectly silent in flight and have no fear flying right beside you, within inches! We also have a new batch of goldfish in the pond. Last year's fish became heron food.


Last week, we had the pleasure of an outstanding houseconcert at Willow Pond. James Smith, classical guitarist and professor of music at USC, and Endre Balogh, world-reknowned violinist, performed an exquisite set of glorious music in the Garden Room. I cannot even describe it in words, if you haven't been to one of our concerts, you just don't know what you are missing!
See our music page for more info on houseconcerts and see http://www.endresphotos.com/ to learn more about the Balogh/Smith Duo.





This month we have Pete Kartsounes, eclectic singer/songwriter from Boulder coming to perform a benefit concert for Camp Wapiyapi, a camp for children with cancer. Pete has an amazing set of Bluegrass and blues inspired music, come to the concert and help those kiddos!
Monday, June 23, 2008
6:30pm
Pete Kartsounes (and friends)
$15.00 donation requested. Well-behaved children welcome.

Visit http://www.petekmusic/ or http://www.wapiyapi.org/ to learn more.

THE FARMER'S MARKET opens on June 12th, hallelujah! Just imagine all the yummy delights we will have cooked up for you when you visit!

Here are some other cool happenings in the Grand Valley this June:

13-14 Relay for Life
15 Father's Day and Lincoln Park Car Show
(How 'bout a Willow Pond getaway for ole' Dad??!!)
21 First day of Summer- Woo-hoo!!
26-29 Country Jam

We discovered a new treasure, Bangs Canyon and the Mica Mine Trail located on the BLM lands just east of the Colorado Monument. If you get a chance to do some hiking in Spring or Fall, this is a beautiful secluded little spot. Right now there is a cool little run-off stream going through the canyon, the wildflowers and wild roses are in full bloom and there are waterfalls and red rock canyon faces. The trail is beautifully maintained by local poet, Jeffrey Fleming, http://www.rockyireland.com/ and is easy enough for children to enjoy. it took us 45 minutes to get to the mine itself. We are hoping to find some more treasures to share with our readers, as we are looking to adopt a trail. We'll let you know when we do. There are some beautiful places on the BLM lands, they are neglected and abused, we are hoping to find a little corner and do our part to clean up and beautify. The Bookcliff Wild Horse Range is another one of these treasures.

In March, we celebrated our first anniversary here at Willow Pond. Over the past year, we have had the pleasure of meeting some really wonderful people from all over the world, some that are sure to be more than just return guests, but lifelong friends. Thank you everyone for making our first year so fruitful and wonderful!