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.
