Sunday, July 22, 2007

Central City Opera Weekend 2007 and The Best B&B in the West

This weekend Kathy and I celebrated our fifth annual Central City Opera Weekend, staying at our favorite Bed & Breakfast, Chase Creek Inn in Blackhawk, Colorado (see link below). Central City and Blackhawk are two historic Colorado cities that are, unfortunately, now known mostly because of legalized gambling and the influx of casinos. This is unfortunate because their history is very rich and interesting. Additionally, the Central City Opera, in its 75th year, provides excellent operatic entertainment every July and August, high in the Rocky Mountains.



The Central City Opera House, built in 1878, was reopened in 1932 by the Central City Opera House Association, and has been in operation ever since. Here's a picture of the historic building. Check out their website here: http://www.centralcityopera.org/










A view down the street running by the Opera House. The historic St. James Methodist church (oldest church in Colorado) is on the left (but unfortunately covered by the huge pine tree!).
















Here's Kathy in the historic Teller House Hotel (next door to the Opera House). It is now a museum, not an operating hotel, but they do have a bar and a restaurant operation out of the Teller House during Opera season. In fact, we had a fine dinner here with our friends, Jim and Sue, on Saturday evening, between operas.






This year we were again blessed to enjoy our opera weekend with our dear friends, Jim and Sue. Here is a picture of the four of us out front of the most peaceful, wonderful Bed & Breakfast we have discovered, the Chase Creek Inn.







Here's a view of the B&B from above.
















Kathy and Sue relax on the porch. The rocking chairs, gentle breeze, and the sound of the babbling brook make this a very relaxing area. Also, chipmunks and squirrels cavort on the hill behind the house, and hummingbirds visit the feeder provided for them.


















The hot tub is one of the attractions that keep us coming back to Chase Creek Inn year after year.


















Hal and Karen are the proprietors of the Chase Creek Inn B&B. They are a delightful, hospitable couple (and Karen's gourmet breakfasts are par excellence!). For further details, check out their website here: http://chasecreekinn.com/index.html

2 comments:

Liz M. said...

you didn't even mention your "walk of fortune" which was the funniest story of the whole weekend!! :-)

Julie C said...

Jim - Thank you for sharing your experiences of the Central City Opera annual adventures. These truly look as awesome as you described. I hope to add this to Mark and my 'bucket list' to at least experience it once. Enjoy your annual trip this coming weekend!