Last week, I went to Florence, Colorado. In case you are unfamiliar, this is a weird but wonderful little pioneer town in Southern Colorado. It's home to a bevy of antique shops, plenty of unique architecture, and...the penitentiary. Not kidding.
It makes for an interesting town. And happily, I had some time to explore it. Let me tell you what I found there:
Before I go into food, let me tell you that there is an enterprising artist in Florence who carves tree stumps into elaborate works of art. Here I am next to one of them.
The first culinary stop was Two Sisters, which is an establishment which seems like it's of a bygone era, or at least a David Lynch movie. We got some very hearty beef strogranoff, which was the special of the day. To our amazement, when dessert came (included with dinner)...it was cinnamon rolls. Cinnamon rolls at night? Don't mind if I do.
I was surprised to see that Two Sisters had mixed reviews on Yelp. It's certainly not the place to go if you're into organic food, or even vegetarian food. But as a special occasion trip to the Colorado frontier, I thought it was full of charm and homestyle goodness.
The next morning, we went to a place called the Rose Bud Cafe. Everything you ordered arrived covered in gravy. It was that type of place. They did have cinnamon rolls, but we didn't partake. But it did get me thinking: perhaps gravy and cinnamon rolls were the official foods of the town.
Photo: Rose Bud Cafe Yelp page
After breakfast we went to the local bakery, Aspen Leaf, and picked up a variety of treats, including pecan brownies, bread pudding, and bear claws. Oh, and yes: they had cinnamon rolls.
We went to the local coffee shop, The Pour House, and got coffee. And a doughnut, made in nearby Cañon City. Why not?
We walked by this place and were intrigued, but it was not open. 
That day, we went to the Pikes Peak cog railway. 
Here we are from very high altitude!
For dinner, we went to my cousin Jason's house. Seriously, dudes, he built a house. They have chicks. Baby chicks. So cute!
I made the three ingredient chocolate cake from this very blog for dessert and we ate it before it even cooled. Classy!
The next morning, we went back to Two Sisters for breakfast, since it was Easter and it was the only thing open. Cinnamon roll? Oh, too full.
Luckily, a couple of the antique stores were open on Easter, so we toured them and I got THIS treasure:
I probably should have bought this, but I didn't. If you are going to Florence anytime soon, it's all yours.
We got home feeling tired and full. Overalll, it was a great and sweet trip!
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