And what brings us to Oshkosh, NE? Ice fishing. Since Eagle Nest, NM is not even open yet as there's not enough ice and we've already been to Gunnison, Glenn searched elsewhere for his passion for perch fishing and Blue Lake, a few miles from here was his choice!
I checked the internet to decide on a motel - and discovered there's only one in town! But that was OK since the reviews were great and I'll take a small motel any day over a chain hotel (most of the time anyway!). The Shady Rest Motel it is! I called to reserve 3 nights and the gal I spoke to sounded wonderful - I didn't even leave a credit card to reserve it, just my name! She did inform me there was ONE place to eat dinner but that it closes at 7:00pm - and Monday through Friday there was a little cafe that served the locals breakfast! Our room was to have a microwave and frig so it was no problem to pack breakfast and lunch!
We left Tuesday morning at 6:00am sharp - Glenn with all of his fishing equipment and me with my computer, books, files and lists! Plus enough clothing to not only get by in Oshkosh but then head to Ft Collins for 3 days to visit the kids and watch the Super Bowl!
Glenn made a smart decision on Monday nite - we were planning on taking our new car but he decided to take the pickup in case of muddy roads - and the road he had to take to get out to the lake was not only muddy, but a long ways on dirt!!
We arrived about 11:30 and drove around the small town as I wanted to check out Main Street (hoping it would be close enough for me to walk to - duh - the population here is 832 people) and we also located a coffee place - can you believe it, this small, small town has a coffee place that not only sells coffee but roasts the beans too!! More on that later............
We checked into the motel that of course offered wifi and I got the lowdown from Maggie the owner of where to get coffee and where to eat dinner! Our room was VERY nice - beautifully decorated in a country theme with everything I would need in the following days! I especially appreciated not only the desk and chair so I could use my computer there but also the one easy chair to read in!
Glenn immediately headed out to fish at Blue Lake and I settled in for an afternoon of reading! I had some lists to make for our upcoming trip to Mexico but realized I didn't even have a pen on me - I always carry one in my purse but somehow it mysteriously disappeared!
No fish for Glenn - but he wasn't disappointed - he'd had a great time! By the time he rolled in the door at 6:15 we immediately had to leave for dinner at The Panhandler since they closed at 7:00!! Yes, small towns roll the rug up early!
Dinner was just fine - nothing spectacular but the burgers were great and the home cut french fries were tasty!
Since Glenn went to sleep at 8:15, he woke up pretty early - it's hard to sleep with the smell of coffee tantalizing your senses so soon I was up too! He was out the door early - I chose to tidy up the room, make the bed and do some floor exercises before eating my sausage and egg burrito that Glenn had made the day before - it was delicious!
I had found a pen in the truck the night before so after making my Mexico lists, I bundled up and headed out the door in search of the coffee place - not hard to find in a town this size! The place is called Specialty Coffee's and it's a cute place with KONA coffee for sale in bags and a small place to order your coffee!
Mark Ferrari is the owner of this place and after learning the art of roasting KONA beans in Hawaii, he opened this place up which sells Hawaii grown but Nebraska roasted beans! The gal made my coffee and I was super impressed with the taste! I'm pretty picky about my mocha with a shot of caramel, skim milk but with whipped cream coffee!! And let me tell you, this ranked right up there with the turtle mocha at Caribou Coffee!!! YUM!! I told her I would be back the next 2 days and maybe once more before 12:30pm when they close for a frappe!!
I walked around with my coffee for a little while but it was cold enough out that it soon started to get lukewarm so I headed back to the motel room to heat it up and thoroughly enjoy it!
My second walk of the day was longer - walking around and checking out the town - stopping into a cute place which sold local handmade items - and being surprised at the number of business places!
I read up on Oshkosh and found it was settled in the 1880's by cattlemen who decided it was a perfect place to graze cattle. And yes, Oshkosh WAS named after Oshkosh, WI!
And our dinner plans tonight? The Blind Goose in Lewellen which is 12 miles away - sounds interesting, doesn't it?
2 comments:
Sounds like a very relaxing time away from home! Enjoy!
Looks like a cute town. Glad you found some good coffee!
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