Between the cities of Glenwood Springs and Aspen, is a neat little town of of Carbondale, CO.  

My family and I were vacationing in the Carbondale area (Roaring Forks Valley) and we were looking for a neat place to have lunch and spend a quiet afternoon together.  We were pleased at what we found. 

Restaurants

Carbondale has a wide variety of different styles of food. Village Smithy Restaurant is located in a renovated old blacksmith shop. This town also has  a Italian restaurant,  and a few all-american or comfort food style restaurants , Thai food and Mexican. We chose to try the Mexican restaurant-- Mi Casita.  The salsa was wonderful, as was the other food we order. From our table we had a view of the tourists walking from shop to shop.

Shops

I love to thrift store shop and antique so we took some time to look through a few of Carbondale's  second hand stores. We also found a fun consignment shop to wander through. My favorite store sold European antiques-- lots of kitchen and decor items. I even took a few minutes to look in one of their bookstores on Main Street. 

Art Galleries

One of the highlights of our trip was walking through the art galleries.  Our favorite gallery was the Kahhak Fine Arts and School.  The artworks was contemporary, abstract in nature.  We were the only patrons so we took our time looking at all the works of art.  

Everyone had a wonderful time.   If we go back to this part of Colorado, we will definitely make a stop at Carbondale... and maybe spend a little more time exploring the shops and eating delicious food.