Silverthorne, CO to Aspen, CO

After a fabulous visit with brother Tom, who was kind enough to alter his work situation to spend more time with us, it was on to Aspen and Casey. The hair bending drive over Vail pass on slickery roads (a slick and slippery hybrid situation) was a distant memory by the time we drove through the beautiful Glenwood Springs canyon and Aspen valley. The Sawatch range and the Elk mountains were my first introduction to the Rocky mountains 14 years ago and they were as awe inspiring as I remember them. It was a nostalgic moment for me thinking back to my first drive through them, the way the peaks glistening white with snow cut sharply through the blue sky. I knew that it was love at first sight. And lucky Ryan was now stuck in the car with me while I relived each and every goose bump I felt on that first drive....

I digress. Back to Casey who by the way is fabulous. We stayed at the Aspen-Basalt Campground which had all the amenities; electric, water, sewer if only the 4 hoses we have now bought were long enough and Wifi. Ryan was in web geek heaven. We went to dinner in Basalt, which is the cutest town ever, and you need to know that I had the BEST eggplant parmesan in history. Who would have thought that the best eggplant parmesan would be in Basalt, CO but it is. Casey looks incredible, what's left of her, and was bubbling with excitement about her new adventures is Aspen. And she has become a proficient snow driver.

We awoke to a fresh coat of new snow with sunny skis and cold temperatures. Ski legend has it that it snows at night in Colorado and is sunny during the day. It's hard for a Pacific Northwest skier to imagine skiing fresh snow with visibility so I have always been skeptical of this folklore. But since this was the 3rd sunny powder day I was starting to believe the hype. Given the avalanche danger we decided to stick to low angle treed runs called the Buttermilk bowls. (See Mom's and Dad's, we are being good little back country skiers.) It was just enough hiking to feel like you earned your turns that day and boy what turns they were. The snow is unbelievable, the true definition of champagne powder and everyone knows how much I love champagne. I am fortunate enough to have in my possession a pair of Volkl Gotoma's with an AT binding so I imagine I was the happiest person on earth on this day. Imagine a sustained head rush interrupted by fits of laughter. Good stuff.

Ryan and I have adopted a mantra for our trip. We were skiing a bluebird powder day on Crystal Mountain with cousin Richard a few years ago and just loaded up on the lift after skiing a fluffy, bottomless powder run. With adrenaline pumping we started contemplating what our next plan of attack would be in the search for more powder runs. During a lull in the conversation, the wise sage sharing the lift with us spoke these pearls "The way I see it, why leave fun to find fun." In that moment it all became crystal clear. Why on earth would you leave what's fun for the unknown when you could just keep having fun? And so this has become our mantra for the trip. If it's not broken, don't fix it. And with these wise words in mind, we headed off to the Buttermilk bowls several more times for more of their sweet, white loveliness.

Besides seeing Casey, skiing beautiful powder, eating amazing eggplant parmesan, meeting Chris Davenport and the stunning views, the highlight of our trip to Aspen were these spinning discs that reside in downtown Aspen. They are like miniature merry-go-rounds big enough for only one person and boy do they get spinning. After spinning we would try to walk around like you did when you were a kid only now we looked like idiotic drunks. I wonder if this is what the celebrities do when they come here?

Aspen is a rockin town. The layout is a perfect little ski village filled with elf size dwellings nestled around a gondola that leads up a stunning 11,000+ foot peak. Given that the elfish dwellings run about 3 million a piece, Aspen also goes on our list of cute towns we could never afford to live in but it's sure is fun to fantasize. Despite all it's wealth and hoopla, Aspen seems to have maintained it's local, down to earth vibe. Exhibit A: There is an Ace Hardware store that is neighbored by a Louis Vuitton and Chanel right in the center of downtown across from the famous Hotel Jerome. Exhibit B: No one asked name dropping, tough guy questions at the lecture that we attended featuring Chris Davenport talking about his latest ski mountaineering conquests in Antartica and the Alps. Exhibit C: There was a free soup cook off and it seemed that every walk of ski town life came out to enjoy a cup of the warm liquid. Kudos to Aspen for keeping it real.

Our last night in town Casey came over and we lit candles, made dinner, drank yummy wine and played a mean game of trailer Jenga which is extra challenging given that the whole trailer shakes every time someone moves. As I contemplated our impending trip to Silverton, CO the next day I thought to myself, all the elf houses in Aspen have got nothing on the mobile ski chalet.

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