Day in Denver

Today is yet another warm day in Colorado. There is an interesting sculpture along the 16th Street Mall.

Even though it's not on the menu, we enjoy uni and seafood and Stoic & Genuine for lunch. By the time we've left, two other couples have ordered uni. Following our appetizer, we lunched on diver scallops and a great fish and chips.

 

 

Following lunch we pass by Coors Field on the way to Epic Brewing.

After chatting with locals, we pass by Ratio where no beer catches our fancy and on to Our Mutual Friend where we find one brew acceptable.

 

 After an afternoon of walking and beer tasting, we summon the Renaissance limo for a return lift.

This Renaissance is the old Colorado National Bank building.  Carol discovered old vaults in the basement. There is also one on the main floor.  Some are now conference rooms.

 

 

 

Hanging in the halls of the hotel are photographs of the history of the hotel. Pictured are a couple of them depicting the heyday of gold.

 



Tomorrow we return home.

Snowmass and the Descent

Nearly 30 years ago we skied Snowmass and vowed to return the next year. Today CJ returns for the first time. The Aspen mountain complex has a great free bus system between their four mountains.  CJ's at the top of the mountain by 1030; no need to hurry with the way he's been worked this week.

The wide open slopes are just as beautiful as he remembered. The second picture is his practice bump run.

 

By early afternoon he's ready to return to the condo.  Back in Aspen, Carol has packed and loaded the car. Aspen sits at 7, 890 feet. The huge jumps used by Aspen X-Games conducted at Buttermilk mountain are visible during the drive.

After the descent from Aspen to I-70, the eastbound route enters Glenwood Canyon (5,700 feet), a rugged scenic 12.5 mile canyon cut by the Colorado River. It's considered one of the most picturesque parts of the entire US Interstate highway system with sheer cliffs rising straight up to as much as 1,300 feet.

 

 

I-70 runs through the high hills (6,600 feet) past Beaver Creek and Vail Ski resorts before climbing again to Vail Pass. Vail Pass is at an elevation of 10, 662 feet.

 

It drops again past Copper Mountain, to about 9,100 feet to the exit to Breckenridge and the exit to Arapahoe Basin and Keystone before climbing once again to the tunnel that runs beneath the Continental Divide.

Eisenhower Tunnel is located at 11,158 feet around 60 miles from Denver.  That's 1000 feet of vertical drop every 10 miles the rest of the way.  It's a lot of braking.  It didn't seem that bad when we made the climb on the way to Aspen.

We drive directly to the hotel without GPS assistance and have a marvelous dinner in the hotel restaurant.

Final Day of Class Skiing

Today is CJ's final day of class.  It's a beautiful day.  We take pictures from the summit of Aspen Highlands and the mountains toward Snowmass.

 

 

 

He's finally getting the concept and realizes that it's the same motion he uses on very steep groomed runs.  The woman who's been dragging down the class decides to quit just before lunch giving CJ three private runs with Alan.

 

At day's end he returns his class skis for more normal skis.  This shop is incredible.  They will have his skis waiting for him over at the gondola at Snowmass tomorrow morning.

The "Graduation party" takes place at a restaurant directly across the street from our condo. It's a fun affair of ski stories, pizza and the drinks of our choice.

After the party Alan returned to the condo to sample the Avery Vanilla Bean Stout and review CJ's skiing videos. 

For a mountain with few people on the slopes, finding a place to eat in Aspen is extremely difficult. Our first selection has an hour wait so we end up at the bar at Jimmy's; and even then CJ's bar stool came compliments of a very nice young lady who made sure she blocked out the other vultures.

Bumps for Boomers Day 3

Today we begin on "normal" length skis; actually a bit shorter than CJ's usual selection but much longer than the first two days of class. We have a few minutes at times to take photographs. The lodge at the peak of Aspen (11,200 feet) has a fantastic fireplace and great views of Aspen Highlands and a peak of Snowmass.  There is almost no one here today.

 

He and his classmate continue to struggle with unlearning years of bad ski habits.

Meanwhile back in town, Carol's had more time to walkabout town and shop a bit.

With the gondola closed due to strong winds we must ski down at the end of the day.

 

We have a drink in the condo while conducting the afternoon Skype session with CJ's mom.  With all the high priced clothing walking around this town, Carol has been getting quite a few unsolicited compliments on her sweater coat.

 

 

 

Following class we walk downtown Aspen which is a quaint old Victorian mining town.  At the height of the silver mining boom, Aspen had 30, 000 residents.  When the US went of the silver standard, the population plummeted to around 100.

 

 

 

 

The ski village was established once the 10th Mountain Division completed training for the invasion of Italy in WWII. It's now one of the highest cost of living cities in the US when it comes to housing prices.

Bumps Day 2

The mountain looks inviting from our room; and from the block adjacent to our condo.

 

We forgot to show you the mini skis, CJ is on for the first two days.

Day two of CJ's bump class goes much better and miraculously he ends the day in far better physical shape than the previous day.  The bar immediately adjacent to the gondola should be of particular interest to our Aussie friends.

Carol has a good day wandering Aspen.  We have reservations at the best Mexican restaurant in town.

Following drinks in the room, we introduce the Australian couple to Mexican food.  The restaurant is a fine selection. In order pictured are an octopus salad, house potatoes, pork taco, pasilla de oazaco reliant (house specialty), and a tamale.  CJ was disappointed in the tamale but otherwise dinner was very good and a treat for the Aussies.