Heading Home

Today our objective was simple:  Drive to a Denver airport hotel.  We left our Aspen hotel around 9am and headed to Independence Pass.  The drive was very pretty with a sunny day and a clear blue sky. 

For lunch, we stopped at our favorite place in Georgetown - The Happy Cooker.   The place is fairly small, even with some outdoor seating.  We arrived before 11:30 and were able to be seated right away. I recall having a 30-45 minute wait in the past.   We enjoyed  our brunch.

On the way to Denver we saw very few snow covered peaks due to the warm weather and the drought.  Here's one we spotted.

Supper was also at a traditional stop in Denver - the Moonlight Dinner which has been voted as the best diner in Colorado many times.

So now we are settled into our hotel so we will be ready for our 11:00 am flight to Detroit tomorrow morning.  It's been a great trip!

Last Day in Aspen

Chris asked about meeting at the Hickory House at 10:00 to which we promptly agreed.  We had a very nice conversation during brunch, then he had to head to Denver for his flight back to Nashville.  It was great to get to know him on a more personal basis.  

We were back at the Hickory House at 12:30 to meet a couple  from Denver that we only see at Mack Bailey events (our third time there in 25 hours).  It was quite the conversation about families and retirement issues.  Like us, they are still in heir house while being 10 years older than us. I'm sure we'll see them again in Denver for the next Mack and Chris concert in December. 

This afternoon was college football time as we watched Michigan lose (Boo!) and Ohio State win (Double BOO!)  After that we shared a huge slice of pizza for supper, then got ready for tonight's concert.

The Chris Collins concert was very good.  They are a professional troupe that tours all around he country.  They performed many different songs from last night's concert, but with a different dynamic.  

Tomorrow morning we head to Denver via Independence Pass to be ready for our Monday morning flight back to Detroit. 

Aspen Day 2

In my tiredness last night after a long day and a long concert, I neglected one significant detail.  As we got back to our motel and pulled into the parking lot we had a greeter - a sizable bear!   We waited a while  before parking and going to the front door, while the bear ambled to the back of the hotel.  When we went in, I told the attendant, and for some reason, she headed out with her flashlight to find it!  No picture due to it being at night 😁

Chris Nole had to cancel our breakfast due to altitude adjustment issues to be sure he got some good rest before the concert tonight.  Maybe tomorrow for breakfast.  

Our lunch with Mack Bailey fared much better. We enjoyed a lively conversation, hearing more about his son, their college related travel plans, and about Music Therapy Retreats.  We talked for about 1 1/2 hours. It was great to get caught up on how things are going.

Since we had time in the morning we headed to the Grotto's.  It was a very pleasant drive towards Independence Pass.  We took the short path to the cascades and there is a LOT less water flowing  over the rocks.

On our way back to the car we spotted a deer across the river, but it saw us and bolted before we could get a picture.  It' been a good trip for wildlife sightings!

We totally enjoyed the Mack Bailey and Chris Nole concert!  It was well designed, moved along nicely, and featured a lot of John Denver songs along with a couple of heir own songs. 

They were joined on stage by a bass player who also played a cello on a couple of numbers.  

Along with their songs, Chris told a story about going skiing with John Denver in Utah, and Mack  described how he appeared on stage with John, just 3 weeks before the plane crash.  

Mack called his family on stage for the Country Roads finale.  It was amazing to see how tall his son Heyden had grown!  

After the concert we talked with Mack's wife, Rachel, Heyden, Chris Nole and Mack.  

What a great ending to a wonderful day!

Tomorrow we just have the Chris Collins concert at night.  Chris Nole said how he is leaving town tomorrow so it's unclear if we'll catch up with him.   

Aspen Day 1

Our Best Western in Dillon proved to be a major flashback to an older time, before the major chain motels. Outside door and no elevator.  But it had a nice view of what is left of Dillon Lake, which is down about 20' from it's traditional depth due to the long term Colorado drought.

We had a smooth drive to Snowmass, driving though Glenwood Canyon as we do most years, and it was a spectacular as we remember. They had some construction, but traffic was light so we made good time.  We stopped at a rest area for a stretch break where I got this picture of the Colorado River.  It also shows how low the water level is.

What was really cool was seeing 5 big horn sheep walking by the side of the road as we passed by.  We'd heard of other people spotting them in the Canyon, but this was a first for us. 

We arrived in Snowmass at 11:45 just in time for the noon Singer-Songwriter concert, featuring Chris Collins, Brad Fitch, Chris Nole, Ed Stower, and Ron Matthews.  They each took three turns singing a song they wrote.  While all the songs were interesting, in my opinion Chris Nole stole the show by playing a song he wrote with a veteran at a recent Music Therapy Retreat, which helps veterans with PTSD. 

We had some time before we could check into our hotel so we headed to the John Denver Sanctuary for a picnic lunch. 

The aspen trees were so colorful that I could not resist taking this picture of one of the stones with them in the background.

And we took a traditional selfie by the John Denver stone.

This evening was a Ron Matthews concert that started at 6:00 pm.   He was joined on stage by Paul Swanton as he has done, for many years in the past.  Unfortunately this could be the last time that Paul makes it to the Aspen in October events due to a serious medical condition.

Ron played a lot of lesser known John Denver songs.  This year he added a new twist by making some medleys of John Denver's and his personal songs. 

Tomorrow we are having coffee and pastries with Chris Nole for breakfast, followed by lunch with Mack Bailey.  In the evening is Mack and Chris's Poems, Prayers and Promises concert.