About an hour from Denver, nestled into the mountains, lies the quaint, historical mining town of Georgetown. When two of my best friends visited over the holidays, I was quick to suggest that we make for the mountains, despite the cold and falling snow.
When I first agreed to move to Denver for {lovah}'s job, I thought Denver was IN the mountains. Imagine my surprise when we landed at the Denver International Airport, which is in the middle of a barren, depressing flatscape. I thought we'd accidentally landed in Kansas. I was very disappointed to find that Denver is about as flat as my home neighborhood of Silver Lake is hilly. So the obvious response? Head to the mountains as frequently as possible!!!
As {lovah} and I are fascinated by history and nostalgia, we find Georgetown to be particularly endearing. The facade of main street is almost untouched by modernity, apart from the ability to string colorful holiday lights across the street, which is, of course, utterly charming.
We visited just a week before Christmas, and with the snow falling softly, the little town really did appear to be a magic winter wonderland.
My favorite destination in Georgetown is the tea room. On a little side street, it is also home to a store full of miniatures-- the type of miniatures you'd use for making dollhouses! The tea room is kitschy but delightful, with beautiful mis-matched china, funky lace linens, and, thankfully, individual space heaters for each table!
With a very wide selection of teas to choose from, each of the four people in our party decided on something different. Four pots of wonderful tea led to hours of sipping and conversation...
We also enjoyed delicious tea sandwiches, in traditional English style, along with scones and clotted cream, and other wonderful delicacies.
The potato soup was the most flavorful I'd ever had! I am now determined to replicate this soup because it really was extraordinarily good.
My favorite tea ended up being the White Avalanche, which has the unusual added element of coconut, a flavor I'd never had in tea before. Erin was the one who chose this particular blend, and I'm ever so glad she did. She also purchased a tin of the loose tea for me, and I've been enjoying it for months now.
By the time we finished our tea time, it was dark out and we set out to begin the rather treacherous and nerve-wracking drive home, as the snow had picked up a bit and I'm not a fan of driving in the snow... but we made it home safe and sound, and I'm already pining for another little excursion to Georgetown and the Saint James Tea Room!
Saint James Tea Room 614 Rose Street Georgetown, CO 80444 303-569-3100
Images by Lauryl Lane.