Today we marked the anniversary of this blog (well, Colleen's soon-to-be birthday) anyway, with an overnight trip to Aspen with Colleen's dog Shannon. Aspen is 3 1/2 hours from Denver so something that COULD be done in a day but it would be a very long day with most of it in the car which is why a trip had not been made before then.
The day began by checking in with our soon to be buddy, Kyle, working at the desk at the Hotel Aspen. Although Denver's meteorologists were calling for snow (and a lot of it), Kyle told us (in an insert surfer dude voice), it was just partly cloudy there.
Things were fine other than the Stratus' usual struggles up the hill to I-70 until the decline into Vail, which, although it was quite slushy and slippery, apparently it was good enough for everyone else to go 70. After a few tense moments, we finally hit some sunshine and after that it was just flurries. (The sun seemed to be around the resorts; once we cleared them, it would start to flurry.)
At about the 2 3/4 hour point we took the Glenwood Springs exit to get down to Aspen, and soon found a Wendy's to appease our grumbling tummies. As were now less than an hour out, we called Kyle to see if an early check-in was possible he said since they weren't full, it would be "no problem, man."
Other than that great New England confection, the roundabout, the rest of the trip was smooth, and although the speed limit was lower on this stretch of road seemed to go faster.
When we checked in and asked if our car was OK where it was parked, Kyle, ever the sharp one, said, "Oh, you brought a car?" Apparently a lot of people just teleport themselves there, or, probably more accurately, just fire up the private jets. There were a lot of menus that didn't include anything after the dollar amount (eg: $26). Our car pass in hand, we soon went to our room, which had its own exterior entrance. Shannon was soon in her bed, brought from Denver and we were off for one of the Visitor's Centers - the one in the Opera House.
After the woman there got over the fact we weren't there to ski, just take in the sights, she told us about a $26 ride we could take up the ski lift to the top and a private history coach/museum tour we could take in an electric car for $25 a piece. (We opted for the latter and called to set it up after we left.) She also told us about the John Denver Sanctuary, a collection of rocks with John Denver lyrics on them (which she admitted may be covered up because of the snow) and when we asked about ice skating said, oh, to look at it? (Apparently the ice rink in town is the equivalent to being condemned.) She told about a place on the way out of town that also was an indoor water park - Colleen never could get through to a human to get hours.
We then walked around the 2 block by 2 block pedestrian mall and couldn't help but notice all the dogs about, including a Golden inside a store that looked to be begging for someone to relieve him from his misery (although after we turned away, he was away from the door, wagging his tail.) The stores themselves were scary - with hardly anyone in them, an innocent looking souvenir shop turned into a Western shop with cowboy boots, four employees with nothing to do and returned mail lying on the countertops.
We then walked to the John Denver Sanctuary (much of the town is on a 4 block by 4 block grid so the pedestrian map is deceiving in that it's not all that big.) At first we had a "That's it?" reaction when we came across some covered up stones that were kind of peaking out. It was so disappointing we didn't even take a picture of it, something we wish now we had since that WASN'T it (in fact, we're not sure what the random stones were all about.) The actual John Denver Sanctuary was kinda cheesy (lyrics on rocks?) but kind of cool too.
Jon was the first to see a Stonehenge quality to it - which of course set Colleen into hysterics thinking about that
scene from Spinal Tap.
After a walk along the river where all the fancy homes were and a celebrity lookalike sighting we couldn't confirm because Jon didn't get his camera out in time, we went back to the hotel for Apres Ski, a fancy way to say, "Let's have alcohol after we're done skiing." It actually turned out to be more than just wine and cheese though, as described on the phone. There was beer, lemonade, crackers, bread, veggies and dip and some sort of gazpacho.
After watching "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel" on the Denver TV stations, we watched a little of "Dancing With the Stars" and then headed out to the "Isis" for what we would soon know was the worst movie ever, "Knowing."
Colleen knew it was about numbers showing the end of the world, but had no idea she'd actually SEE the end of the world.
As for the theater experience itself, Colleen was disappointed the marquee on the dead movie theater sites wasn't there. She was the first to note that wearing a wool ski hat was a prerequisite for working there, something that went way over the heads of the three guys working the concession stand. It took about five hours to make the descent to the theater, although it was much faster on the way up. Apparently there's nothing else to do in Aspen on a Monday night either because soon all the teenyboppers had shown up to check their blackberries with the big screen in front of them. And someone needs to tell the advertisers they're not getting their money's worth. Ads were playing, but there wasn't any sound.
Fortunately it was Headlines night on Leno so the night was partially redeemed.
"Knowing:" F-. (That may not exist as a grade, but an F just isn't low enough.)
The day began by checking in with our soon to be buddy, Kyle, working at the desk at the Hotel Aspen. Although Denver's meteorologists were calling for snow (and a lot of it), Kyle told us (in an insert surfer dude voice), it was just partly cloudy there.
Things were fine other than the Stratus' usual struggles up the hill to I-70 until the decline into Vail, which, although it was quite slushy and slippery, apparently it was good enough for everyone else to go 70. After a few tense moments, we finally hit some sunshine and after that it was just flurries. (The sun seemed to be around the resorts; once we cleared them, it would start to flurry.)
At about the 2 3/4 hour point we took the Glenwood Springs exit to get down to Aspen, and soon found a Wendy's to appease our grumbling tummies. As were now less than an hour out, we called Kyle to see if an early check-in was possible he said since they weren't full, it would be "no problem, man."
Other than that great New England confection, the roundabout, the rest of the trip was smooth, and although the speed limit was lower on this stretch of road seemed to go faster.
When we checked in and asked if our car was OK where it was parked, Kyle, ever the sharp one, said, "Oh, you brought a car?" Apparently a lot of people just teleport themselves there, or, probably more accurately, just fire up the private jets. There were a lot of menus that didn't include anything after the dollar amount (eg: $26). Our car pass in hand, we soon went to our room, which had its own exterior entrance. Shannon was soon in her bed, brought from Denver and we were off for one of the Visitor's Centers - the one in the Opera House.
After the woman there got over the fact we weren't there to ski, just take in the sights, she told us about a $26 ride we could take up the ski lift to the top and a private history coach/museum tour we could take in an electric car for $25 a piece. (We opted for the latter and called to set it up after we left.) She also told us about the John Denver Sanctuary, a collection of rocks with John Denver lyrics on them (which she admitted may be covered up because of the snow) and when we asked about ice skating said, oh, to look at it? (Apparently the ice rink in town is the equivalent to being condemned.) She told about a place on the way out of town that also was an indoor water park - Colleen never could get through to a human to get hours.
We then walked around the 2 block by 2 block pedestrian mall and couldn't help but notice all the dogs about, including a Golden inside a store that looked to be begging for someone to relieve him from his misery (although after we turned away, he was away from the door, wagging his tail.) The stores themselves were scary - with hardly anyone in them, an innocent looking souvenir shop turned into a Western shop with cowboy boots, four employees with nothing to do and returned mail lying on the countertops.
We then walked to the John Denver Sanctuary (much of the town is on a 4 block by 4 block grid so the pedestrian map is deceiving in that it's not all that big.) At first we had a "That's it?" reaction when we came across some covered up stones that were kind of peaking out. It was so disappointing we didn't even take a picture of it, something we wish now we had since that WASN'T it (in fact, we're not sure what the random stones were all about.) The actual John Denver Sanctuary was kinda cheesy (lyrics on rocks?) but kind of cool too.
Jon was the first to see a Stonehenge quality to it - which of course set Colleen into hysterics thinking about that
scene from Spinal Tap.After a walk along the river where all the fancy homes were and a celebrity lookalike sighting we couldn't confirm because Jon didn't get his camera out in time, we went back to the hotel for Apres Ski, a fancy way to say, "Let's have alcohol after we're done skiing." It actually turned out to be more than just wine and cheese though, as described on the phone. There was beer, lemonade, crackers, bread, veggies and dip and some sort of gazpacho.
After watching "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel" on the Denver TV stations, we watched a little of "Dancing With the Stars" and then headed out to the "Isis" for what we would soon know was the worst movie ever, "Knowing."
Colleen knew it was about numbers showing the end of the world, but had no idea she'd actually SEE the end of the world.
As for the theater experience itself, Colleen was disappointed the marquee on the dead movie theater sites wasn't there. She was the first to note that wearing a wool ski hat was a prerequisite for working there, something that went way over the heads of the three guys working the concession stand. It took about five hours to make the descent to the theater, although it was much faster on the way up. Apparently there's nothing else to do in Aspen on a Monday night either because soon all the teenyboppers had shown up to check their blackberries with the big screen in front of them. And someone needs to tell the advertisers they're not getting their money's worth. Ads were playing, but there wasn't any sound.
Fortunately it was Headlines night on Leno so the night was partially redeemed.
"Knowing:" F-. (That may not exist as a grade, but an F just isn't low enough.)
1 comment:
wow....F-.....I need to think of a grade lower than that. Let's go with N. From now on, if something just totally sucks, it gets an N.
I almost suggested T but remembered my friend Teresa and don't want anything negative associated with her.
Then I thought R, but obviously we can't degrade the good name of Robin, aka Robbie, aka R+
So N it is.
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