Snowmass to Denver via Aspen

Monday was a great travel day.  We got some great pictures of the JD Sanctuary in Aspen before heading to Independence Pass, lunch at Leadville, crossing the continental divide at Loveland pass, then on to Denver for our flight back to Detroit.  Two 12,000 ft passes in one day!

I took a 1 minute video tour of the new part of the JD Sanctuary. Click the Play button to see it. (Please ignore the shakiness and the sounds from the workmen for the first 10 seconds)

We had blue skies and bright sun today as you can see from these pictures. The place is just amazing in the summer as you can see.   I found out the water for the new section comes from Aspen storm drain which means that the water entering the river will be much cleaner having passed through this wetlands.

We took a walk long this path at Independence Pass.  It was chilly - just 49 degrees (10 Celsius) so we were decked out in long pants and coats.


Later we enjoyed a nice brunch at the Golden Burro in Leadville.  It was brunch because they only serve breakfast until 11:30, but omelettes work well for lunch.  They even played the John Denver song "Some Days are Diamonds" while we waited! Since weather in Denver and Detroit was forecast to be pretty warm we changed into shorts before leaving.

Once on I-70 east we saw construction warnings before the Eisenhower Tunnel and we had not driven Loveland Pass for quite some time so we opted for that route and were very glad we did as we saw very long backups as the tunnel was down to 1 lane. It was neat seeing the A-Basin ski area which Mary and I skied in our younger years.  Looking at it today we could not believe we actually skied that steep hill!
So now we are back home.  It was a great trip, with super music and fabulous scenery.