Maroon Belles

How can you visit this area and skip the Belles?  Well we sure could not!  Had nice weather as we arrived, but then it started to cloud up and even had some light rain before we left.
It was nice to see the water in the lake had returned to traditional high levels. We had been there in the past when you could walk 50' out from the current banks.

We caught a great reflection shot before the wind came up and the rain started.  I was also able to get this different perspective on the Belles.  We were there for only 1 hour or so and we each snapped at least 3 dozen pictures!
Enjoy!!

Maroon Bells Pictures

When we first went to the Maroon Bells on Friday they looked like this - grey sky and with a snowstorm across the mountains.  It was pleasant out and we took a walk to the far side of the lake, but definitely not very pretty.

Every now and then the snowstorm would clear and we could see the entire mountain.  But much of the time they were covered by a snowstorm.

When we went back on Sunday, we had a clear, blue sky and the mountains were much, much prettier!  Much nicer, altho it was also quite a bit colder.

Here's a closeup of the mountain.  You can clearly see the distinctive diagonal lines.  There was a sign stating how dangerous it was to climb these mountains.  It mentioned how the rock was "rotten"!  I never heard of rotten rock, but apparently it is quite unstable.  The sign went on to state that several experienced climbers had died on the Maroon Bells.  

Sure is pretty!  Enjoy!

Aspen, Day 2

Sorry, no pictures.  At our motel, we have a very intermittent wireless signal so uploading picture is problematic.  

This morning we headed out to the Maroon Bells.  Unfortunately there was a snow storm in progress on the mountains when we got there.  After a while it cleared and we got some pictures and we took a walk around the lake, which at this altitude caused slight shortness of breath.  And we did experience our first snow of the winter as we walked around.

After hanging out there for a while, waiting for the sun to come out we headed our for lunch at the Woody Creek Tavern, a place where John Denver liked to hang out.  Since it was JD weekend, they were playing his music, much to the chagrin of the staff and regulars.  We had a nice lunch, then headed back to Aspen.  As we got close to Aspen I thought I spotted some sun on the Maroon Bells so we headed back out there again, but it didn't last.  We hope to try again on Monday as we head out for Denver.

The afternoon concert could best be described as "interesting".  Little/no JD music and lots of folk music.  One guys claim to fame was a song he wrote in 1965.  

Tonight's concert was fabulous!  It started at 7:30 and ended at 11:15 with only one short intermission.  Lots of different artists and many, many songs --  a very enjoyable event even for a casual JD fan like me.

So we're at the Mountain Chalet sing-along now.  This even happens every night -- people gather, musicians play, and people sing along.  Last night we stayed until 11:30 and we heard it didn't break up until 1:30 am!  So who knows how long it will last tonight.  I brought a cup with Diet Dr Pepper to held tide me over....

So that's Day 2 - two more concerts tomorrow.