Feels Like Paradise - Aspen Trip 1

Hi guys.  I'm checking in here from Aspen, Colorado.  We've been here since last Friday afternoon and I'm loving every second of it.  It is BEAUTIFUL here. Besides the 360 degree views of the majestic mountains, the town is clean, vibrant, and gives NYC a run for its money as far as people watching goes.  The weather has been absolutely perfect with temperature at mid 40s in the morning and night, and mid 80s during the day.  But there's hardly any humidity, which means any slight breeze actually does provide a cooling effect.  Here's what I've been up to.

Our first day, we took a trip to the Aspen Art Museum, which is tiny (but will be big once the new building is completed).  Behind the museum is a lovely area with a walking path surrounded by huge rocks, including a standing rock dedicated to John Denver.  This lovely area leads to a skate park, where Randy had to break out his old moves.  The kids who were watching him all commented afterwards that they thought he was going to fall. Frankly, so did I.  But my man did his thing and looked great doing it! 

Our second day, we took on the challenge of hiking the Ute Trail, which leads to the top of the Aspen Mountain.  Let's just say that I almost killed my husband for not telling me how difficult this challenge would be.  85% of the trail is 45 - 65 degree angled uphill climb.  The picture of my husband along the flowered path is just where the trail starts.  

That's me at about two thirds of the way to the top.  I was EXHAUSTED.  But a funny thing happened that kinda made our day.  When we were about 15 minutes from reaching the top, we saw two fit and tanned looking dudes.  We asked them how far the top was.  Upon looking at one of them, I thought he may be Lance.  Yes, Lance as in Lance Armstrong.  The potential Lance said to us, "It's about 10-15 minutes.  But it's shorter to go up than it is to go down."  I was like, yeah, no sh%@.  After the potential Lance and his buddy left us in the dust, a very fit and pretty looking mother & daughter duo came along and the beautiful mother with perfectly sculpted arms said, "Did you see who that was?  That was Lance".  Both my husband and I just about dropped and lost our jaws.  We were so giddy and instantly encouraged to make our way to the top. Hubs did tell me afterwards that he saw Lance checking out the Hubs' yellow and black Live Strong sneakers. Funny, huh.  The other picture is the top of Aspen Mountain.

On our first day, we treated ourselves to a live concert by Ben Harper at the Aspen Music Tent. We had always wanted to see him live and boy, he was no disappointment.  The event started out with an outdoor musical event with food vendors and people, who were about to set up a night picnic and listen to the concert free outside the actual stadium where the concert would be. Let's just say those folks were enjoying Ben Harper's grass music with lots of grass.  

Ok, before I go, one more picture!

One of the landmark places in Aspen is the Wheeler Opera House.  There's this cool little area with a water fountain that shoots up water at random speeds and times. I took this picture of these boys clearly having the time of their lives all because of a simple water fountain and a couple of beach balls.  Ahh... so good to be a child! 

More to come of my vacation in Aspen~~