Town of Thermopolis and Coffee Dissertation

Any move, road trip, or adventurous drive to Alaska must include coffee–lots of it. Ken and I are both coffee drinkers and medium-high connoisseurs. By that I mean, Ken has lived in Hawaii and knows the luxury of Kona. The medium-high term means we are not always able to afford such taste. I learned how make espresso properly by working in a cafe my first trip to Alaska. As such, I have no taste for standard drip coffee anymore. (Before that experience, I hardly drank coffee at all!) Our preferred method of coffee making at home is by french press. We would buy beans and grind to our liking. 

My goal in bean purchases for many years has been to buy shade grown, organic, or fair trade. This was learned from my education at The American Botanical Council (ABC) while working as Art Director for HerbalGram Magazine http://abc.herbalgram.org/   ABC is a non-profit education and research organization producing information on the use of herbs as medicines. Coffee, chocolate, and tea were subjects covered in depth which included the importance of sustainable growth and harvest. For instance, coffee is naturally found growing under the protection of taller trees, hence the term ‘shade grown’–also not a monoculture. I will leave it there and let ABC or the web or your local Co-op help you with any other questions you may have. 

Back to our current issue, drinking and driving, coffee mind you. One of my fun activities to do while on road trips has been to find the local coffee stop, no matter what size of town or city. That could be a whole blog unto its own, I am sure someone else is working on. So I will concentrate on our trip at hand. When we were in Wichita, Ken and I enjoyed a great little shop near the downtown farmer’s market, Mead’s Corner http://www.meadscorner.com/meads/ . My sister enjoys Riverside Perk, I did not make it there but am sure it was good. We did not do the best we could in Denver due to so many outfitting commitments. Therefore we went to the chain that shall not be named because they already have enough business. 

Today, we have come upon The Crow Bar in the town of Thermopolis. It is located inside Nature’s Corner at 530 Broadway (sorry, they do not have their own website). Nature’s Corner is a wonderful health food store with a full line of products, even a little bit of produce, and “hippie gifts” like incense, wind chimes, candles, locally made art and the like. I was so impressed that this small town had such a nice selection of healthful foods, and it just makes sense since it is located near a huge healing mineral spring. 

The Crow Bar offered fair trade coffee selections as well as fresh made smoothies and juices. Ken and I ordered a coffee as it was time for our afternoon break. We also purchased some Dr. Bronner’s soap for all purpose washing while camping, and some snacks. Not only was the food selection fantastic, but the design and decor of the shop really well executed and artful. The owner’s had restored a corner shop in this town probably built in the late 1800‘s to early 1900‘s and left its integrity intact. High ceiling with pressed tin. Full front windows, wood floor, ceiling fans, and new refrigerators. The Crow Bar was located in the back of the store and displayed a beautiful stylized tree on the back wall, my photo above. The owner said she gave the gentleman license to do what he wanted when building out the cafe area. I think its gorgeous and the name is quite clever. 

As nice a find as it was, we had to be moving on in order to enjoy the hot springs before they closed. With out tummies warm, we headed around the bend to the state park.