Heading West...

We started my retirement celebration trip today by flying to San Francisco.  It was a long travel day but with a reward of a warmer climate  here (60 degrees compared to 11 when we left home).  We're at our hotel, and tomorrow we have a car picking us up for the ride to the Grand Princess for a 10-day Mexican Riviera cruise.
So more blog posts to come!

Heading back to Denver

We had a leisurely day today driving from Glenwood Springs to Denver.  It was cloudy most of the way, but Mary did find some blue sky as we approached the Eisenhower tunnel. It was interesting seeing Glenwood Canyon from west to east as we typically use Independence Pass to return from Aspen.

We found snow capped peaks after we left Silverthorne. But once we went through the tunnel we saw very little snow on the east side of that ridge. 
As we got close to Denver I decided to take the old road (US 6) to Golden. This is the original two lane road that everyone had to use before I-70 was constructed.  It has 6 tunnels and some neat scenery.  It was nice to se it again.

So now we're settled into our hotel and planning our wake up time for our  SWA flight home.  Its been a very relaxing and enjoyable trip and I am sure glad the Colorado weather cooperated! 

Back to Glenwood Springs

Today started out as a typical travel day, but ended on a very high note.
We got up early and headed to Snowmass Chapel for their 9:00AM church service.  They were including their Children's Christmas program which was very cute.  It was a nice liturgical service with a message that focused on Week 3 of Advent.

As we headed north to Glenwood Springs we decided to drive I-70 west for a while to take in the scenery.  While it would have been more impressive with snow, the hills were starkly beautiful.  I had a hard time picking out one picture from all the ones Mary took, but this one is a good example of what we saw.  After lunch in Rifle we headed back east, checked in around 1:00 pm and spent the afternoon catching up on emails and watching a couple of NFL games.  We were surprised to find a Culvers here so we headed there for supper.

We had seen the Christmas lights at the Hotel Colorado so we drove by to get a picture.  They are spectacular as you can see.  It was amazing to take in this display and watch the lights even change color.   What pretty Christmas decorations!

After supper it was time for the Messiah.  While we thought seeing it at the Wheeler opera house would be impressive, hearing it in the large Catholic church was even more inspiring.  Mack Bailey did a super job on his tenor solos as did the other soloists, choir, and orchestra. As we greeted Mack afterwards he invited us to the after-party at the Glenwood Springs Brewpub.

When we got to the Brewpub we found no one had told them this large of a group was coming, so Mack, Mary and I headed down the street to another restaurant where the three of us visited for over an hour.  Needless to day, Mary is flying high tonight!

Tomorrow we leave Glenwood Springs and head back to Denver for our fight home Tuesday.  The weather is clear so it should be a pretty drive on a stretch of road we are getting to know quite well!

Aspen - Day 2

On our second day in Aspen we did some shopping and had a nice relaxing day, spending close to 3 hours walking around the town and having lunch. We saw a few skiers and snowboarders walking around, but only one slope, where they had made snow, was open. Most of the mountain looked like this.  They hope to get some serious snow late next week so all the slopes can be open for the holiday season. The town did a great job of decorating as you can see, with many streets bordered with white lights while the Hyman Street walking mall had colored lights on its trees.  Having a few snowflakes in the air would have made for a perfect winter scene.

The main event of the day was the Aspen Choral Society's Messiah concert at the Wheeler.  Mack, who sang the tenor solos, looked exquisite decked out in his tuxedo and sang beautifully.  The orchestra, soloists, and choir all did a great job performing this intricate piece of music which never fails to be inspirational. 
We will hear it again tomorrow night when the same performers are at a church in Glenwood Springs.

Aspen, Day 1

Our day started out in Glenwood Springs with a ride in a gondola up to the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park.  We had seen the gondolas on prior visits and decided to check them out today.  It was a much longer ride that we expected, but did yield nice views of Glenwood Springs and the surrounding area.  Being a summer place, the rides were all closed so we walked around a bit, visited the gift shop, then headed back down for our drive to Aspen.

Upon arriving in Aspen we headed to the John Denver Sanctuary which had a lot less snow than it did last year. That made it much easier to walk around, and it was still very pretty as you can see.

The main event for today was the Rocky Mountain Christmas concert featuring Mack Bailey, Chris Nole and Molly Weaver. What a concert!  They included some traditional Christmas songs, a few of their favorites, and many from John Denver's Rocky Mountain Christmas album.  We enjoyed when Mack put on his shades and did his Elvis impression singing Blue Christmas, a favorite from his Hard Travelers' Christmas concerts in Annapolis.
Since the concert was a fundraiser for Challenge America, Mack had a group of female veterans sing a special Veterans edition of "Hallalujah" that was very moving.

After the concert we talked with both Mack and Chris Nole.  They invited us to the after-party with all the performers and many other guests, and we enjoyed our time there. 

Overall it was quite the way to end the day.

Glenwood Springs

We had a beautiful day to drive from Denver to Glenwood Springs.  It was very nice to see snow on the mountains, although not as much as we expected.   At Vail Pass the temperature dropped down to 21.  Check out some of these photos Mary took during the drive. 

We walked around Georgetown for a while today and did some shopping.  Later we enjoyed lunch at a very nice restaurant, The Happy Cooker. They have a daily quiche special (which we had) along with a good selection sandwiches and other items.   If you are ever in Georgetown around lunch or dinner time, I suggest you give it a try!  Georgetown always brings memories of John Denver's movie The Christmas Gift which was filmed there.  The Post Office, in the photo, played a big part in the movie, and a visit is a must for JD fans! 
On to the Glenwood Springs Brewing Company for dinner! 

Heading West!

Colorado has to be our most-visited state (besides Ohio!).  We flew here today (when making reservations months in advance you need to allow for bad travel days...) so we would be sure to make A Rocky Mountain Christmas Concert with Mack Bailey, Chris Nole and Mollie Weaver this Friday, as well as two performances of Handel's Messiah by the Aspen Choral Society (with Mack singing the tenor solos!) on Saturday and Sunday.  The Wheeler Opera House in Aspen is where we will see the Christmas concert and one performance of Messiah; we will go to Glenwood Springs for the second Messiah concert. 

Seems like we escaped Michigan just ahead of the first big snowstorm of the winter! We got to the airport as the snow was starting to accumulate.   By the time our plane was ready to leave the snowplows were out in force.  Fortunately, besides a short delay for de-icing, our flight was uneventful.

We planned a long layover at Chicago-Midway just in case we encountered any weather related delays.  As we were waiting at our gate, who showed up but this pair!  They posed for Mary and promised to be in Dearborn to deliver gifts Christmas Eve.  Isn't Santa's robe impressive!

Tomorrow we have all day to head to our next stop, Glenwood Springs, so we're planning a late start.