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I'm sitting in the John Tomay Memorial Library in Georgetown, CO - the best source of free wifi in this cute little town. Hanging directly across from the desk is Harry, the stuffed head of the last buffalo in Clear Creek County, who was killed, stuffed and given to the library in 1935, only 11 years after this wonderful little building was built. This town loves its library - there is a charming little park outside with a bandstand, just dedicated this year by the Friends of the Library. Yea for great public libraries...
Yesterday was a real road trip day - we started out from Bryce at 6:30, pulled off into the Phillips 66 station about two hours later for a breakfast break - nothing like cereal in a plastic bowl perfumed by the gas pump - then on to Fruita, CO, on the western slope of the Rockies for our picnic lunch and then finally pulled into Aspen about 3:30 - we did 450 miles in 9 hours! It was a gorgeous drive across I-70, along the plateaus of Utah and seeing the Rockies emerge in the distance.
Aspen was deserted - my guess is early June
is always a quiet time but I've heard the economy has hit it hard also. We managed to have a room in a wonderful old inn, the Mountain Chalet, right downtown, including parking(worth a fortune in Aspen) and breakfast for $70 - unheard of! Wandering through downtown Aspen is an exercise in alternate realities - the 2 for $10 Tshirt shop right next to Dior and Gucci. Hard to believe all the high end shops...all with no one in them...and lots of vacant, for rent store fronts also. Forgetting how liquor hits you a high altitudes, we had a great Mexican dinner replete with some of the best margaritas we've had in a long time, followed by carrot cake and lattes at a local coffee house. We had a gully washer of a thunderstorm in the early evening, with the temperature plunging to the 40's.
This morning we took our regular morning walk along a lovely trail, with the sun shining over the mountains and the mountain wild flowers just coming into bloom. What a great way to start the day. We headed out over the Independence Pass and crossed the Continental Divide at 12,000 feet - and 44
degrees! Note to Stan Green - at age 63 Steve did not feel the need to repeat his antics of age 23 at the pyramid here at the Continental Divide. Still lots of snow on the sides of the road going over the pass and it was a gorgeous drive through the Rockies. We're now in Georgetown, having spent the afternoon taking a ride on the old narrow gauge railroad - lots of fun. Off to Denver for the evening with friends, the Blumenthals.
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Marty
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The journey is more divine by the day!
Your journey and experiences sound more divine (and enviable) by the day. Glad you hit one of the narrow-gauge railroads, and the hike sounds like it may have been enough to wrestle to the ground the points involved in the Mexican dinner with margaritas, carrot cake and lattes. I'll wait to be surprised by which establishment got your business: the 2 tees for $10, or Gucci next door.