Dogs of Aspen

A hike at the Maroon Bells

I never thought I would really get into walking uphill in a big way, but who wouldn't, with all this breathtaking natural beauty around you to enliven the weary wayfarer? There's my sister amongst the mountain above!

Our entourage encountered this sight mid-hike:

I laughed for about a minute. I don't think the bandleader was quite as amused. Apparently hiking with llamas isn't a laughing matter.

Saturday Market Day

Gondola Day

Last Monday, our Aspen Music Festival IDs allowed us a free ride up Aspen Mountain on the gondola, where I learned that I'm actually not as good with heights as I thought, that the gondola carriages rock when you move around inside them, and that panic is contagious, particularly when 4 people are stuck in a confined space together for 10 minutes at a few dozen metres above ground. There was quite the view at the top though, as well as a restaurant and lots of hula hoops to play with. It was a fun time, particularly for the 3 of our company who are DSLR hobbyists. As we whipped out our Nikons, our remaining friend suddenly found himself surrounded by geeks and wasn't too chuffed about it. Sorry, mate!

Aspen's Town Centre

Aspen's beautiful city is surrounded by breathtakingly stunning mountains, and the town itself is brimming with ridiculous affluence. Check out this quite wonderful public toilet in the centre of town:

See that vase? Those are real, fresh cut flowers, featuring a perfect white rose, and near the door you will spy a weaved basket containing paper towels. To ride the bus is free within the central area of Aspen, and it's the only town in the world I've been in apart from New Zealand where walking around the city barefoot did not make me highly suspicious of the pavement's dried urine and spit gob content with every step. In fact, I have to say, Aspen is definitely winning here.

Vintage cars and other beautiful vehicles are aplenty, as are former or aspiring trophy wife-type women with leathery tanned skin, wearing rather minimal designer dresses and flamboyant heels in the middle of the day, some of which look so perfect that they confuse you as soon as they turn around to reveal their too-colourful, post-middle-aged faces. These slightly scary people explain the abundance of the Gucci, Christian Dior, etc. shops that line the storefronts, and also the difficulty I had in purchasing jandals anywhere in Aspen. All I needed were some cheap flip flops, but the seemly simple search proved to be quite the fruitless mission. Eventually I bought some vintage looking thrifted sandals for $2. Thank you, Thrift Store of Aspen, I love you! And thank you wealthy people of Aspen, continue giving away your sweet stuff.

4th of July in the USA

I suppose Aspen's Independence Day parade was probably not the most spectacular generally available to Americans on the 4th of July, as far as parades go. However, it was a gloriously beautiful day, and I very much enjoyed the novelty factor of celebrating amongst temporarily patriotic small town Americans, as well as learning what this 235 year old tradition is all about in 21st Century USA.

Yes, those are photographs of a 4 year old driving a minuscule car. They start em young! Also: obligatory tightly clad cowgirls.

"Shes 17!" An older cowgirl kept shouting at male members of the crowd, referring to the cute younger blonde cowgirl. I then realised that the age of consent in the USA is 18. Interesting. I guess they were quite aware of their 'slutty cowgirl' function in the parade.

A summer in Aspen, Colorado!

First impressions