Aspen 2012 Part I

Mary and I are enjoying our time in Aspen. Great concerts, good weather, and great companionship! Our trip out here on Tuesday was uneventful. Our plane trip was on schedule and we had a beautiful drive to Glenwood Springs. We checked in and headed to the Hot Springs for a relaxing dip. The pool was great and very relaxing. Wednesday morning we headed to Aspen for Meet and Great. When we arrived we also saw the expanded JD Sanctuary which was under construction last fall. It is amazing and very large, much larger than the original JD sanctuary. This picture only shows a small part of the new section. At Meet and Greet we met up with many friends as the traditional 3 openings songs were performed by a team of 8 guitars. We went to a noon concert, checked into the Limelight Hotel, bought groceries and went to an evening concert.

Thursday was a beautiful day with 2 more concerts and a trip to the Maroon Bells where I got this fabulous reflection shot! The lake level was very low, over a foot down from last year. I guess this is a symptom of the drought they experienced this past summer. There is a beaver lodge at the far end of the lake and this year, it was totally out of the water! I could even walk right up to it this year (which was kinda cool). As we walked back, the light breeze stopped again and I was able to get a few more cool reflection shots. Friday was our busy concert day, with 4 concerts plus a special treat - riding a chair lift part way up Aspen Mountain! We went to the chair lift first thing in the morning, then headed to our first concert. While the first three concerts were very good, the evening concert was absolutely fabulous! The JD band members told a short story about John then sang one of their favorite songs. Mary and I came back to our room on a spectacular high.