Thought I would include a brief update to the blog with a short list called "Best of Bishop":
***Best Hotel: Best Western Creekside Inn***
**great breakfast with huge selection served every morning
**evening snack - fresh baked cookies (warm, soft, tasty!) served each evening along with coffee, tea, and lemonaid
**friendly staff
**EXCEPTIONAL service - in our experience, hotel staff was extremely helpful and friendly
**outdoor hottub and pool
**clean, well-kept grounds
**rooms with kitchenettes
The kitchenette rooms at the hotel are exceptionally nice - just like having your own apartment in Bishop ! and extremely useful if you like to climb late and want the option of cooking for yourself once you get back to town (since all the restaurants in Bishop are closed typically by around 9 pm)
link: http://www.bishopcreekside.com/
***Best Climbing Shop: Wilson's Eastside Sports***
Great selection of crash pads, shoes, clothes, climbing gear... Crash pad rentals, too... Nice staff.
***Best Coffee/Smothies/Grilled Sandwiches: The Black Sheep Espresso Bar***Great coffee, great sandwiches, and amazing smoothies. Cool, friendly staff. Relaxing, clean atmosphere where you can hang out and read climbing magazines and sip on a 7 fruit smoothie - good stuff...
On Main Street in Bishop in the back of Spellbinder Books.
***Best Burgers and Beer: Whiskey Creek (lounge side)***
It's easy to climb even harder when the reward is burgers, sandwiches, and good beer at the end of the day at the Whiskey Creek. Eat on the lounge side for a more relaxed atmosphere.
On Main Street in Bishop.
While the food is great, a few things to keep in mind:
**kitchen closes early (9pm weekdays, 10pm Friday and Saturday, when we were last there)
**not-so-friendly staff. We experienced servers who copped major bad attitude with us on almost every occasion.... (except one male server who was really nice)
**bring ID. For anybody coming from out of the country that isn't used to this concept, this means that if you want to buy beer or alcohol, you have to show a picture ID with your birthdate (like your passport) that shows you are 21 years old or older (minimum legal age to buy alcohol).
***Late Night Grocery Shopping: Vons***
While probably prefer Manor Market, for shopping late night, the Vons on the north side of town is open quite late (midnight or 1am perhaps).
***Camping***
There are lots of good camping sites in the Bishop area. Check some of the links on the right of the page to see some camping options offered by the Bureau of Land Management.
