Blanche & Lucy want to show you around Olde Town.

Blanche & Lucy want to give you a walking tour of our little downtown, starting at their favorite park in Olde Town (because they always spot squirrels here.)

Here and there around town you will see these great plaques in the sidewalks welcoming you to Olde Town Arvada.

And you will also see lots of pretty banners on the lamp posts

They're all over town welcoming you.

And there are many variations.

And from anywhere in town you will see this very tall water tower at the top of the hill marking the Olde Town section.

There are lots of beautiful flower barrels around town as well.

They take pride in making the town very pretty.

The tree lined, streets are loaded with interesting shops and restaurants. Many shops are brick, some in cute little Victorian homes built in the 1800s.

Not unusual to see vintage cars around town - many car lovers here.

Every town needs an Army Navy Surplus store ....

and ours has great art work painted on the side.

We also have two Breweries - this is one of them - Arvada Beer Company.

You can buy their brewed beer in a brown glass jug and bring the jug back for refills at a discount price.

And the brewery has great outdoor seating that welcomes dogs which Blanche and Lucy love.

Every town needs their own winery too -ours is Silver Vines Winery.  They have tastings & great entertainment every Friday and Saturday evenings.

And if you know Cheryl - you know she is very particular on her wines.... well she really likes their wines, well priced and very tasty... so we became club members and will receive wine monthly...

This local German bakery creates specialty cakes & creates many delish 'gluten free' baked goods.

The Rheinlander bakery has little outdoor eating tables - the morning sweet rolls are deadly with great wake-me-up coffee.

Earlier this season the bakery had a great fundraiser for our local food bank.

If you want to make a one-of-a-kind necklace or bracelet for yourself or for a gift - this bead place is where you want to go...

This Candleworks studio is a place my sister-in-law Diane would love - she enjoys candles... and lucky for me they have lots of 'unscented' candles.

For all the gals I know who do ' Fly Fishing' you'll want to drop into Charlie's.

"I know - sounds painful doesn't it?"  Forget the 'eyebrow threading' - I'll go in for the facials - my favorite guilty pleasure.

Bread Winners is a function hall but they also do catering for the community.

If you like live music - pizza and a funky place to enjoy it - you'll love D-Note.

I don't usually shoot posters, but I wanted to let you know what goes on here at D-Note.... 'Beer Pong'..... I don't  know - seems to me drinking beer and playing ping pong could be difficult.

But live Salsa Music every Sunday  - plus free salsa lessons sounds like fun - No we haven't gone yet - waiting for someone else to go with us.....

And for those of you who like Blues - every Tues D-Note has 'jump blues' with free swing dance lessons...... hey Jakota come join us for this....

And for those of you who have enjoyed "The Whale" in Newburyport with Cheryl - the 12 Volt Tavern is Arvada's answer to the Whale...

The 12 Volt was voted Arvada "Best" local Dive in their 'best of' magazine, we are dying of curiosity - so we will definitely try it at least once.  We've seen some interesting 'characters' come in and out of this place.... there is a guy on the bench outside in this photo playing the guitar (got his inspiration inside....)

Scattered all around town we also have these great "Walking Tour" plaques that describe what the particular section of Olde Town that you are in looked like in the early days.

We have not taken this tour yet - but the first Arvada Flour Mill is this original building in this original location and is still in operation.  They give tours by appointment.... we'll be going next week.

We did tour the McIlvoy House which also houses the Arvada Historical Society.

An outdoor plaque describes it and shows photos of how it originally looked.  Here is a link to an article written on the McIlvoy Home  and especially Mrs McIlvoy - http://www.historycolorado.org/content/chn-arvada%E2%80%99s-mcilvoy-house

This carving of Mrs Clamency McIlvoy who rarely left her home, and her dog was created from an original 100 yr old Cottonwood tree.  The bottom of the carving is still the original tree trunk that is still rooted on the property. 

Mrs McIlvoy was quite a town character - she smoked cigars and told stories to the local children for hours on end - kids called her 'auntie Mac'.

Katrina's Boutique is a lovely little yellow cottage filled with really sweet, very unique, well priced women's clothes.

Our main street is Olde Wadsworth and many of the shops here are in converted little cottages and older Victorian houses.

This converted Vitorian is now "Global Goods & Coffee Shop" a coffee shop, gift shop that supports Global Refuge projects around the world. To learn more about Global Goods click on this link:  http://globalgoodsandcoffee.com/about-us/

They provide an emergency lifeline to victims of war, infectious disease, and disaster.  This is a photo of a Uganda girl who is studying to be a Medic.

They have photos of people who have been helped with our purchase of a cup of coffee or some of the handcrafted goods from Uganda and Burma that they carry.

This little cottage is the home of our Healing Arts Center, offering everything from Acupuncture, Chakra Balancing, Foot Baths, to Massage Therapy and more....  here is there site http://eliashbyhealingarts.genbook.com 

Blanche & Lucy wanted to make sure you saw their favorite shop - this little Pet Supply store always has fresh dogy cookies in stock. 

The Archive Room is just one of the many restaurants we have in Olde Town.  There is also a function hall upstairs which is always jumping with music.

We've eaten outdoors here at the Archive and have to say they have fabulous sandwiches and wine.

We have visited Manneken Frites way too often... Here we are with Tyler on this visit .....    http://www.mannekenfrites.com/  they offer the most deadly 'Authentic Belgin Fries'... And they love when Blanche & Lucy visit.

Another of our favorite places is the Arvada Tavern which have the Best Best refreshing salads with their home-made dressings.

The EggShell is now my very favorite breakfast place.  Amazing Eggs Benedict...  http://www.arvadaeggshell.com/

Our first visit to the EggShell was with our friends - Mary, Libby, and Nancy.

The EggShell also has a great outdoor dinning area - but it was too hot on our visit to sit ourdoors.

Many of our little restaurants and businesses made the area "Best-of" magazine - This is Fuzzy's, a Mexican restaurant that we were told has the "Best" Margaritas... so of course it is on our list of must visits.

Udi's Restaurant occupies the first floor of this brick building, as well as a great outdoor pattio with lots of shade... Great 'Brick-oven pizza and sandwiches.

This one is for 'Uncle Paulie' - this is our beautiful old St Anne's Catholic Church - for when you come to visit (Paul & Cindy)...

And part of St Anne's Parrish - we also have the Catholic School (brings back my memories of 12yrs of catholic school....

Something that was a real plus for us when we visited here looking for the perfect little town to live in was this little theater.  The Festival Playhouse.

The playhouse was originally the Clear Creek Grange Hall where farmers would meet to discuss the problems of the day.  The theater only seats 100 and is perfectly charming with lots of hilarious and charming productions.

And for Cheryl, Tyler and Blanche and Lucy there is nothing better than an ice cream cone at the end of the day... So 'Scrumptious' home made ice cream and candy fills the bill....

If you sit here long enough you will seem most everyone in town walk by. Blanche and Lucy are waiting for Tyler to share her ice cream with them.... Hope you enjoyed your little tour of the town... There are so many more shops and restaurants and clubs - but we couldn't fit them all on this blog...