Great Concert!

The concert last night was amazing.  It opened with  Mack singing four songs, followed by Ellen singing four of hers. Mack's songs were deeper, while Ellen's were more lighthearted as is in keeping with her style.  After a short intermission, Mack and Ellen sat in front of us in the audience, while the choir sang ten of their songs.  The choir director did a fabulous job of creating choral arrangements of the music.  Afterwards both artists said how moving it was to hear their songs in this way.

After the show we returned to the BrewPub (with many Aspen Choral Society members) where Mack and Ellen sat with us.  We shared a few brews and talked about the concert.   It was great to visit with Mack and chat, hearing stories about how his life, family, and career are progressing.  It does not sound like he'll be touring again anytime soon.

Now to head for Denver for our flight home!

Colorado Drive

Yesterday we flew into Denver on a quick weekend jaunt so we could attend a concert of the Aspen Choral Society singing special arrangements of 6 of Mack Bailey's songs and 5 from Ellen Staplehorst.   Mack and Ellen are each doing a solo set too.

Today we drove from Denver to Glenwood Springs.  Since we had all day, we took a couple of side trips. The first one was to Red Rocks Amphitheater were we visited the Colorado Music Hall of Fame which has a John Denver exhibit.  It was nice to see it a second time, as well as the Spirit statue of John.  After that we headed west to Lookout Mountain.  Turns out you can't see any really good views from there without walking a 15+ minute trail, but you can get good views from the Buffalo Bill grave site.  It's a 5 mile drive from I-70 and nothing spectacular but we're glad we tried it.  At the buffalo viewing site the buffaloes were right next to the road!  So we stopped, and enjoyed seeing them close up.

As we headed west we were surprised by the lack of snow on the mountains.  While there was some, it was less than we expected. But they were still amazing to see and we enjoyed the drive.  We stopped at two rest stops in Glenwood Canyon which was spectacular as always!

Of course when in Glenwood Springs we have to eat at the Glenwood Canyon Brewpub so I could enjoy a pint (or two) of their Hanging Lake Honey Ale1  YUM!  And it was their 21st birthday today so they had free cupcakes.
As we left the Brewpub we saw Mack heading into the church where the concert will be, so we stopped and he came over to the car to say  "Hi"!   We are definitely looking forward to tonight's show!