Aspen Trip - Day 7 - Tues

Headed back today - stopped in Frisco for a late breakfast.  Almost got bumped for $300 and a free ticket, but someone else got to the counter first.  Boy, was it ever hot when we got home.  Thanks for picking me up, Matt.

Aspen Trip - Day 6 - Mon

Our last day here and we took it easy.  Carol Lee and Marie walked down to the bakery for breakfast and saw Ken Burns (positive it was him) and Greg Kinnear (maybe it was him). We took a walk on a trail near the condo and found a geocache. Then we ate a late lunch at a fancy old hotel.  Took a drive out to Snowmass this afternoon.  Will try to eat up all our food tonight - leave early in the morning for the drive to Denver.

Aspen Trip - Day 5 - Sun

Went to another orchestra concert this morning. They had a percussion soloist who was really good.  This afternoon we drove up to Independence Pass and hiked around and threw snowballs! Anyone there in Texas jealous? I also hiked up a pretty big hill at 12,000 feet to find a geocache. Tonight we went to a brass and percussion competition at the Aspen school of music.

Aspen Trip - Day 4 - Sat

This morning we went to the Farmer's Market downtown and walked around and shopped and sampled stuff. Then we rode the gondola up to the top of the mountain and had lunch at the restaurant there. After lunch we hiked a little ways up the ski trail and sat down in the grass to listen to a concert in the meadow. It was a tuba and euphonium quartet and they were really good.

Aspen Trip - Day 3 - Fri

We went to a wonderful orchestra concert this morning, then drove up to Ashcroft for lunch at the Pine Creek Cookhouse (Lance's favorite place). Beautiful mountain scenery and fancy food. We had a trout appetizer and then I had the Rainbow Trout melt on toast, with a pine nut / cranberry / kale salad. Not my usual fare, that's for sure.  Going to town this pm to walk around.

Aspen Trip - Day 2 - Thurs

Today we got up really early and drove up to the top of Maroon Bells, which is a very cool (temperature-wise and neat-o-wise) place, although it did warm up a lot as we hiked.  Lots of pretty views of the mountains and river and lake.

Aspen Trip - Day 1 - Wed

We went hiking at the Aspen nature center and the John Denver preserve area today. Then attended a wonderful concert at the music festival tonight.  The condo we're staying at is really nice and the weather is so great.

Universal and Harry Potter

Went to Universal Studios today and got to do the Harry Potter world. It was really neat and the butter beer was great.

Fun in paradise

Got out in the kayak today and saw some dolphins.

Spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool. I could really get used to this pampered life.

Our room

Wow, this is the fanciest room ever. 6 burner wolf stove, huge sub zero fridge, 3 different espresso/coffee machines, a study. It's bigger than my first house. Oh, and the toilet is lighted too.

Our condo on the beach

Lunch on Siesta Key

We drove to Siesta Key to have lunch today and are sitting out on Little Sarasota Bay.

On the road to Florida

Katy, Texas. Ahh, that tasted good.



It's taking me a while to get to the end of Texas, but that's because I've been stopping in each county along the way to find a cache. Am not going the most direct way either. Have gotten 7 new counties so far, 8 more to go.

Breckendridge Ski Trip - March 2011

This trip I invited Gene Dickey and his family to join me in the condo.  Tracy, Brandon, Matt and Drew.  I drove up by myself and did my usual sleep in the car thing.  They drove up in their car and didn't get there until Sunday and left on Friday.  We had a lot of fun.

Here's the whole group:

The snow this week was some of the best I've ever seen up there.  There was so much of it and it wasn't icy or too hard or too soft.  This is a view of a run on Peak 7 - there was so much powder that day it was hard to ski, but most days it was just perfect.  No lift lines either, and the weather was beautiful, sunny but not hot.  It was just about perfect. 

Sally and Tommy Hartley were there at their condo the same week, so I met them for skiing a couple of days and they had me over for dinner one night.  It was great to get to see them.  Tommy took me up on top of Imperial lift because I thought I was ready for it, but I almost didn't make it down.  My ski track for that run is really funny.  I was going back and forth very slowly allllll the way across and then allll the way back, and then I fell.  I went straight down for a very long way before Tommy caught me.  I knocked him down too, but he was able to stop me before we skidded all the way down.  That was fun!

Here's a google maps link to my ski track for the week:    2011 Trail Map