I-70s Best Break

Cursing the hell of colorado ski traffic? Pull over in silver plume.

It’s early on a fall morning as I drive west on I-70 from Denver. I get off one exit past Georgetown, and enter Silver Plume, a tiny mountain town that’s charmingly lost in time. Plume Coffee Bar sits on Main Street, snug against the mountainside, in the storefront of a beautiful late nineteenth-century Victorian building. Walking in, I’m greeted by Kent Martin, who co-owns the building with his two brother-in-laws, Jack and Brian Watson. As Kent whips me up a latte, I sit in an old wicker rocking chair next to a wood burning stove. Kent tells me that he and his brothers-in-law purchased the building in 2016. After converting the upper-floors into their own weekend-getaway spot, they had the idea of turning the storefront into a coffee shop. A few sips into my drink (made with Huckleberry Roasters’ beans), I feel the caffeine course through my veins. Sunlight is pouring inside the windows. Life is good. My Instagram update will have to wait because right now I am taking in everything this hidden gem of a cafe has to offer me. plumecoffeebar.com

—Tom Sandner