Day 2 in Aspen

 We had our first full day in Aspen today.  In the morning we walked to Main Street and Mary bought some post cards and Aspen lip balm (it's the best!). We then headed to the Grateful Deli to buy a sandwich for supper...Yes, just one since they are huge! The Grateful Deli is an interesting place, as tiny as they come, but they make great sandwiches.

Meet and Greet was at 2:30 pm in the John Denver Sanctuary so we walked over and arrived a bit early to get some pictures.  It was nice to see old friends.  After we got back to our condo and relaxed a bit, we had supper and  then headed to the Maroon Belles for the campfire.

Getting to the campfire turned out to be quite a challenge since the bridge that leads into Aspen is under construction, with flagmen alternating the north - south traffic.The backup was horrendous so I followed some other cars and we ended up on a small road that goes under the bridge. It still took quite a while, but we arrived on time. 

Hot dogs, marshmallows, and snacks were provided, so I cooked a hot dog over the campfire. and then we settled in as the musicians started playing.  It had been a few years since they held a campfire and this one was well attended, with close to 200 people there.  We ended up have super good seats as guitarists Chris Collins and Ron Matthews stood, and then later Chris sat next to me.  

Tomorrow we have the Maroon Belles in the morning and a concert in the evening.

Heading to Aspen in October 2022

 On Monday, we caught a late flight out of Detroit and stayed at a Fairfield Inn in Denver.  So nothing too exciting about that. No travel issues, which is a very good thing.  But I learned again to never rent a Toyota car if you want to use Android Auto since they do not support it.  But we were able to listen to music from my iPad on the drive to Aspen today.  

We had a beautiful day for the drive from Denver to Aspen.  Partly sunny and little traffic.  The picture on the left shows the aspen trees in full golden color amidst the pine forest. The one on the right shows the beautiful scenery as we approached Leadville. We took the curvy drive across Independence Pass since there was rock clearing work going on in Glenwood Canyon with  several 20-30 minute road closures in each direction. This gave us a different perspective on the mountain scenery since we normally do not see them from this direction.  We did have some snow in the distance at Independence Pass, but not much.  The picture on the right shows the road and beautiful mountain scenery as we descended toward Aspen.

Tonight, as a surprise for Mary, I arranged for dinner with her favorite musician Mack Bailey and his wife Rachel at Aspen's Hickory House restaurant. Mary knew that something was up when I asked for a table for 4.  We had a great conversation and it was fun catching up with them.  

Aspen in October festivities start tomorrow with Meet and Greet in the afternoon.  Overall the schedule is a lot lighter than in the past, with only 1 concert per day.  But I expect it will still be a wonderful time.

Rocky Mountain National Park

We had a pleasant drive to and though Rocky Mountain National Park today.  In the past we had driven through the park east to west, but this time we went west to east so we could end up in the city of Estes Park, and that way we'd be just 2 hours from the Denver airport.   The picture on the right is a scene as we approached the park on US-40.  As you can see we had beautiful weather.

We enjoyed a Subway lunch at a picnic table just inside the park.  We hoped to have nice scenery while we ate, but a forest fire came through this area in 2020 as you can see in this picture so that is what we got to look at.  

The big thrill of the day was spotting a herd of Elk as we headed out just after lunch.   Check out the rack on this one!  The elks were hard to count, but I estimate it was well over a dozen.  On the right is a picture of 3 crossing the road.  We've got more pictures of the herd in the woods, but they are very hard to spot among the trees.

Our next stop was the Alpine Visitor Center. As you can see we are at a pretty high altitude.  Mary went in to shop and I decided to give the path in the picture on the right a try. (I recalled walking it in the past.)  I got close to the first step when I realized I was already short of breath so I decided it was not a wise choice, and headed back to the gift shop.  

Mary took the photo on the left showing that we were above the clouds.  Little did we know that our drive to Estes Park would take us down through that cloud.  

We made a few more stops at pull-outs on our drive, but most views were obscured by the clouds.  I took only this one picture.  I tried to take a larger panorama, but had some issues with my new new camera.  Guess I need some practice! 

I expect this to be my last blog from this short trip.  Adios until we begin our trip to Aspen in October on October 1st.  

JD Celebration Concert

 WHAT A CONCERT!!

We had a super night and the concert was fabulous.  Mack Bailey, Chris Nole and Alan Deremo were supplemented by a lead guitar and drummer in front of the Colorado Symphony.  They played the entire Rocky Mountain High album before the intermission with a few of the songs being recordings of John, with the rest sung by Mack.    But after the intermission, the concert really took off.  The songs were mostly recordings of John Denver "classics", including Chris Nole playing For You with John Denver singing.  When they got to This Old Guitar I thought they would be done, but they continued with another two songs, sung by Mack.   The band left the stage, but quickly came back and played two encores, Country Roads and Calypso, after which they left the stage again.  But the audience applause was resounding and they came back again!  Mack said they had not prepared anything, then began singing Eagles and the Hawk!!  The audience went wild! 

After the concert, we talked to a few other JD fans, then headed to the meet and greet area.  While waiting in line, Mary felt an arm on her shoulder.  She turned around and it was Mack, giving her a big hug!  He had to go greet other fans so it was a brief encounter.  Later we had a longer conversation with him and got a good photo.

I briefly talked to Chris Nole after the concert, but he was busy signing CDs so it was a short chat.  

Georgetown Visit

 Today we headed to Georgetown, where the John Denver film "The Christmas Gift" was filmed.  

On the way to Georgetown we had extra time, so we stopped by Red Rocks where John frequently performed, and where the John Denver Spirit statue is on display.  The heat was rather oppressive with temps in the 90s and heat index over 100, but we were not outside too long. We walked around the Colorado Hall of Fame Music Museum while we were there, especially the room that is devoted to John Denver.  They had a recording there that said how the song Rocky Mountain High was first played by John during his initial appearance at Red Rocks, and several months before the song was released.  This is especially relevant since we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of its release at the concert tonight.   

These two pictures are from the John Denver exhibit.  The one on the left is one of John's guitars, while the one on the right celebrates the song Rocky Mountain High. 

(You can click on each picture to see larger version of it)

We spent a couple of hours at Georgetown.  We planned to eat at The Happy Cooker, but found out it closes on Thursdays, disappointing.  We visited a few of the regular stores that we shop at each time, before heading home.  

On the way home I choose to take a back roads route to Golden rather than stay on I-70.  We enjoyed even more canyon scenery on this path.  

More to cone about the concert later!

Quick Trip to Denver

Today we flew to Denver to attend the John Denver Rocky Mountain High Celebration Concert with the Colorado Symphony tomorrow evening. I was watching flight status on the plane and was amazed that the temperature in Denver was 102! I was prepared for warm weather but not that HOT!! Fortunately we were not out of doors a lot once we arrived, since the shuttle bus to the rental agency pulled up just as we got to the pickup point.

In general, our trip was uneventful (a direct fight on SouthWest) with the rental car and hotel working out well.   It was hazy when we flew in, as we could barely see the Denver Skyline.  After getting settled, we had dinner at a favorite restaurant in Golden (pulled pork for me and a burger for Mary).  Of course I head to have a Coors since it is brewed here.

We're planning to visit Georgetown tomorrow before we get ready for the concert.  More on that in the next edition!

A Driving Day

Our activity of the day consisted of ---- Driving!  

We were going to just head back to our hotel, but then decided that it would be nice to visit the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, to see the famous floating circular staircase, one of our planned activities before we shortened our trip.  It would add up to 1 hour to our driving time so it seemed to be worth it.  And we'd see different parts of New Mexico. While the grasslands were green due to recent rains, we were amazed at how desolate this part of the state was! We drove miles without seeing any buildings. and often, with visibility of several miles, we could not even see another car on our road!  

The driving part went well, but things got interesting when we arrived at Santa Fe.  The area near the chapel was swarming with cars and people.  A large street market was in progress near the chapel, and to say parking was at a premium would be putting it mildly.  We drove around for 20+minutes, then found a semi-legal parking spot.  It turned out to be quite a ways from the chapel, so after fighting crowds for a few blocks we gave up and headed out of town.  

So now we are settled into our Fairfield Inn and will be taking it easy this evening.   We have a fairly early flight tomorrow morning and get back to DTW around 6:30 pm.