Aspen Day 2

Today we had reservations to go to the Maroon Bells.  When we looked out this morning, the sky was covered with clouds - not a good sign. We got ready and headed to the Maroon Bells Shuttle to arrive by 9am.  The sky was starting to clear which was a good sign.  By the time we arrived at the Bells, the sky was solid blue!   The wind was calm and the temperature quite moderate. 

The one disappointment was the water level in the lake.  With the the rain and snowfall last winter I hoped it would have recovered, but it seemed to be lower than ever.   The old beaver lodge is now high and dry, but the industrious creatures have built a new one well out into the lake. Mary and I walked around past the old beaver lodge, then back to the log jam where we took a break to enjoy the sunshine and the view.  As we waited for the bus, I took the bottom right photo, our last view this year of these magnificent mountains.

This evening we had a Ron Matthews concert. Ron opened with a lengthy medley of at least seven John Denver songs strung together, starting and ending with Mary's favorite Heart to Heart, which he has sung for her every year.  The medly was very impressive.  Ron was accompanied by Paul Swanton.  Ron did a full 1 1/2 hour first set. Near the end of that set he had his brother Dave come up and play; first Dave and his wife, Sarah, gave a quick preview of their Saturday guitar and cello concert, then Dave sang a song with Ron.  Ron sang all of John Denver's Alaska songs and included many from some of John's specials that had not been performed before at Aspen.  

Tomorrow we have a concert by Ellen Stapenhorst in the afternoon and a Mack Bailey/Chris Nole concert in the evening at the Wheeler Opera House.