Colorado Springs

Our day in Colorado Springs started with a visit to the Garden of the Gods.  It had been over 20 years since we had visited this treasure and we truly enjoyed being there again.  Arriving early on a Monday, we had few other visitors to contend with so we could stop or slow down during the drive around the park to take pictures.  Please click on the one on the right to enlarge and appreciate this vista from the Visitor Center.

The most famous formation is the Balanced Rock.  I'm standing by it so you can have some perspective of how large it really is!



Our next stop was the Air force Academy.  After touring the visitor center we headed for the Air force Chapel.    Check out the fleet of WWII Aircraft models in front of the chapel:  B-17, B-24, B-29, P38, P51 and many more!

Here some views of the chapel interior. Beautiful! If you enlarge the one of the left you can see the crossbar on the large cross looks like wings.  And when looking to the west you see the mountains beside the academy.  What a wonderful place!

Our last stop was the US Olympic facility where we toured their Hall of Fame and I was able to crouch inside a bobsled model.  Very cool!

Independence Pass Enroute to Colorado Springs

After eating a hearty brunch at the Main Street Cafe in Aspen we headed south on CO-82 across Independence Pass to connect to US-24 that took us to Colorado Springs.  Had to post the classic photo at the sign post!  The temperature was 72 when we left Aspen, but dropped to 64 at the summit so we did not stay outside very long.

It was a beautiful drive as you can tell from these pictures which Mary took as we climbed up to the pass.

We made good time and arrived at our motel around 3:00 pm after an uneventful drive. The 95 degree temperature is quite a contrast from when we left this morning!

Friday Concert Supplemental Post

During Friday's Mack,  Pete and Chris concert, Pete and Chris played this number and a friend of Mary's capture this video.
Check out the guy in the bottom left corner (it's me!), then enjoy watching the sign language girl imitate the artists!  She was very entertaining!

Deaf Camp Concert

Tonight was the concert in support of the Aspen Deaf Camp. It was a bit scaled back from last year with only two groups that played before the John Denver Tribute band.  The band consisted of many members who played with John at some point in his career.  Jim Horn, Richie Garcia, Ken Roberts, Alan Deremo, Chris Note, Pete Huttlinger, and Mollie Weaver joined Mack on the stage for this tribute concert.  Once the band came on, they played many of John's biggest hits which thrilled the audience.
It was nice meeting and sitting with many other John Denver fans that Mary knows from Facebook.

Before the concert I snapped this picture of Mack and Mary.  Later, Mary took this picture of me with Pete and Erin Huttlinger. We also chatted with Mack and Chris before the concert.
Sure is special knowing the artists on a first name basis!

Maroon Belles

How can you visit this area and skip the Belles?  Well we sure could not!  Had nice weather as we arrived, but then it started to cloud up and even had some light rain before we left.
It was nice to see the water in the lake had returned to traditional high levels. We had been there in the past when you could walk 50' out from the current banks.

We caught a great reflection shot before the wind came up and the rain started.  I was also able to get this different perspective on the Belles.  We were there for only 1 hour or so and we each snapped at least 3 dozen pictures!
Enjoy!!

Mack, Pete and Chris Concert

Tonight was the free concert that precedes the main Aspen Deaf Camp Benefit Concert which is tomorrow. The concert by these three musicians was excellent! They played several of their own numbers as well as some familiar John Denver songs.

Before the concert we talked with Chris, Pete and Mack and their wives. Here's a candid photo of me talking with Chris Nole.  I told him how much I enjoyed his playing and ability to ad lib and add special touches to the songs that are not written in the music.  All three were very friendly as we caught up on whats going on in their lives.

Here are some close-ups of the guys in action.  They were obviously having a lot of fun while on stage and performing.
The highlight of the evening came during their encore.  I had tipped off Mack that today was Mary's Birthday.  He said he'd do something special, but I was not quite sure what how it would work out.  Well, he dedicated the encore to Mary, and then they broke into a chorus of "Happy Birthday"!!  She was thrilled and overwhelmed and it clearly made a special day even better. 

John Denver Sanctuary and Nature's Filter

This morning we went to the John Denver Sanctuary in Aspen. The weather was beautiful!  They are doing even more construction and expanding the area so getting to the Sanctuary was rather difficult.  For those who have been to Aspen, you can understand that once completed it will extend nearly all the way to Mill Street!

The new area behind the original John Denver Sanctuary has now been named "Nature's Filter" and demonstrates how water running through a wetland gets purified.  Since it has been in place for a couple of years now, the plants have grown up nicely as you can see from these pictures.

They have also added a lot of quotation rock containing quotes from Da Vinci, Emerson, John Muir, Jacques Cousteau and others as well as more John Denver quotes.  It is a very peaceful and restful area with the sound of running water in the brooks and other nature sounds.  

A Day in Rocky Mountain National Park

After all the rain last night, we woke up this morning to *sunshine*!! Well, at first we saw sun, then a lot of fog.  But by waiting a while to head out, the fog dissipated and we had a beautiful day for our journey to Glenwood Springs via Rocky Mt National Park.

 Everywhere we looked was another picture waiting to be taken.  Here are two of the many pictures that Mary and I took today. It was hard to pick just two out of dozens.  Such beautiful scenery!!!

While we were at the visitor center we spotted a small herd of elk in the valley below.  Mary snapped this close-up of 3 bulls with her super zoom camera.  We also spotted a small marmot but did not get a real clear picture of it to use.

While driving into Silverthorne after leaving the park we spotted this eagle nest with two chicks in it!  Mary got this cool photo of the two peeking out of the nest.
We got into Glenwood Springs around 4:30, took a dip in their pool, then headed to our favorite area restaurant, Glenwood Canyon Brewing Company, for some great food and our favorite beer, Hanging Lake Honey Ale.  It was a good as expected.  Sure wish I could figure out a way to have some shipped home!


On to Aspen tomorrow morning, then to Snowmass for an evening concert by Mack, Chris and Pete.  

Heading West

Today we flew to Denver for a Colorado vacation for a planned three concerts and lots of sightseeing.  After landing and picking up our car we headed to Estes Park over some back roads rather than the main highways due to lots of road construction.  It was neat to drive through these newly developed areas north of Denver.

Unfortunately the weather is not cooperating - it's cool, cloudy, and rainy.  Mary shot this picture as we drove up US-36 to Estes Park. They are working on the road, blasting rock to widen the roadway but fortunately only at night so we did not hit any delays.
Once there we found our hotel and with the time changed headed out for supper.

I found a great restaurant, the Estes Park Brewhouse.  They have a cool feature - when you walk in you can get 4 free beer tasking samples!  It tried 2, including a Blueberry beer!  It was actually quite good so I ordered one when we reached the restaurant.  If you look careful you can see a couple of blueberries floating in the beer.  They had typical brewhouse fare - I had pulled pork and Mary, fish and chips, and we shared a chocolate, brownie sundae for dessert.
Our plans called for us to head to a Brad Fitch concert, at an outdoor amphitheater but it was raining so we decided to skip it. Hopefully this rain gets out of its system tonight so we can enjoy driving through rocky mountain national park tomorrow as we head on to Glenwood Springs.