Aspen

We had a birthday celebration for me (Linda) this week. My family is really great at spoiling me! The boys had some terrific cards and sweet wishes first thing, and Craig had put his artist skills to work on a beautiful sketch of one of my favorite subjects - the brown pelicans! Isn't that terrific? Then Craig made some scrumptious french toast for breakfast - see what I mean about spoiling? After breakfast, we declared it to be a holiday from school work and the boys worked outside to create some artwork of their own - inspired by their dad, no doubt! Cory began a detailed sketch of the nearby mountain and Will worked on some bird sketches in one of his books. We then loaded up in the truck and went for a drive toward nearby Leadville, with a planned stop at Twin Lakes along the way. The glacier formed lakes are a beautiful deep blue and framed beautifully by some of the tallest mountains in Colorado.

Seeing the route continued on to Aspen, we changed our plans and continued on the 38 mile trek. Along the way is Independence Pass at elevation 12, 095. Within view along the way is Mt. Elbert, the tallest mountain in Colorado at elevation 14,433.
We descended from that point to Aspen, which boasted valleys full of the trees by which the community gained its name. Not having planned the stop in the village, we stopped only long enough to get a drink from the fanciest McDonald's we've ever seen and drove through the narrow roads to see the various condos, shops and the ski resort.
We then travelled back the way we came, over the mountains on narrow two and sometimes one lane roadways. Unfortunately, we witnessed an accident site manned by the sheriff's department where we got a brief glimpse of a vehicle that had somehow slipped off of one of the steep slopes and was wrecked in the trees not far from the roadway, but probably dropped at least 50 feet vertically. We hope and pray the occupants made it safely from the vehicle!

We drove on to Leadville and had a nice dinner at Quincy's. When seated, the waiter advised that only one entree was available - rib eye. We all chose the smallest cut - 8 oz. and were served salad, baked potatoes and bread for a very reasonable price. The dinner was delicious and too generous of servings for one sitting. We gathered our doggie bags and contentedly headed back to the RV park. After dinner settled, we closed the day with birthday cake and turned in - having had a great day!