Day 2: Colorado Springs & Aspen

After a much needed night's sleep and a big breakfast at King's Chef Diner, where we both joined the "clean plate club", the journey towards our next destination began.
While I really wish I could go on runs everyday to discover the inner beauty of places we will visit, I must settle for drive-by's until the hikes begin later in the week.

First stop was The Garden of the Gods.


Quite beautiful in there, buy was a bit turned off by the amount f tourists. I can't help but think it would have been a better place to discover as a trail run with JT since this is quite literally his backyard.






After the GOFTG, we hopped on the road to Aspen, via several small towns including Buena Vista.









While these aren't the greatest photos around, they give you a sense of what the terrain was like for first mountain pass. We then drove through mug flatter grounds towards the next mountain pass that would lead us to Aspen.



Past Buena Vista, CO., we took a hard left and past Twin Lakes which then led us up and over Independence pass and the continental divide.



As you can see, there was still a little bit of snow at the top.


I believe this is the highest point I've ever been to.



Here's what the top looked like.
I would show you the views looking down, but I have better views to show from later in the day.
We finally arrived in Aspen about 4 hrs after leaving CS. This could easily have been a 3:20-3:30 drive had we not stopped for gas, twin lakes and at the top of the pass.
Aspen is a nice little town at the foot of a steep mountain. With all the hoopla I've heard, I guess I imagined a little more than this. Aspen downtown "proper" itself is probably 5 by 5 streets. Is littered by high end stores like Gucci and YSL, and restaurants that charge you $17 for a hamburger. AJ (my travel friend) had some friends in town for a wedding, and meeting up with them was the main reason for choosing Aspen.



We took the Gondola to the top of the ski mountain and hung out with Amy and Rick for a couple of hours before their flights back to San Francisco



The temperature at the top was a nice 70 or so, which was quite different than the scorching sun we were feeling at the bottom.

Here's one of the views from the top, which as I mentioned earlier, in my opinion. was much better than any Independence pass view.


After a visit to a few different bars down at the bottom, and an obligatory swim in the hotel pool pool, AJ and I went to dinner which was "Average" at best.

Both of us agreed that while Aspen is certainly a nice and clean looking town, very pedestrian friendly, it really felt quite soul-less and very artificial.
Aspen caters perfectly to those who want to spend $11,750,000 on a house on the opposite mountain and buy $1,850 ski jackets. Unfortunately, I can't say I qualify for that just yet, but it was fun to visit and check off the "Been there, no need to return list". Colorado Springs on the other hand had a soul, and I will return to soak it all in sooner than later.

Day 3 will take us up to Jackson Hole, Wyoming here we will spend 3 nights, so two full days of hiking in the Grand Tetons. I don't know what Internet will be like up there, since nights 2&3 of the stay will be in some tent like setting inside the actual park.
Back to sleep I go, as a scenic 9-hour drive awaits later this morning.






(a great looking pig)