Friday, September 12, 2014
Aspen
This was the quest—the reason for Trek to Aspen. After a 44-mile ride up the mountain, we easily
found the John Denver Sanctuary.
  And what a sanctuary it is! How pleased I think he would be with this sanctuary/garden, honoring what he believed in. I loved being there—just loved it.

 

Serenity everywhere. Huge rocks inscribed with his songs and quotes from others. Lush flowers garnishing the rocks. A gurgling stream cascading over rocks.

 

 

Lots of rocks and flowers. My favorites were the hollyhocks—spindly with huge colorful blossoms swaying in the breeze.

This is a very special place—what a gift this day has been.

 

While there, we encountered two people with big cameras and other equipment, and we wondered what they were doing. Few others were around. Robin discovered that one, Cretia, was a film director, and the other, Bob, a videographer—they are making a PBS movie that will be out next year about John Denver and all of his humanitarian efforts.

And on the way out - a green hummingbird - a variety unknown to us on the east coast!

My childhood friend, Lillian, who lives near Denver and who we will see on Saturday, told us to consider taking Independence Pass (Route 82) out of Aspen as we headed back to Denver. She said to eat before we left because there was no place to eat on the way and that the curves in the road were challenging, but it would be spectacular scenery—the best in Colorado. Robin had about had his fill of curvy, mountainous roads and was reluctant to agree to this. I googled it and read what it said to him, and he said, “Let’s do it.”
Another adventure. Of course, we didn’t eat before we left Aspen. All the eateries looked so trendy,

parking was difficult, and we just were not ready to eat. We had apples with us, mixed nuts, and Cheetos—all of which we munched on along the way. As we started along this narrow, winding road with few guard rails and steep drops, we had no idea all that we would encounter.

But there are plenty of Aspens, also

Lodgepole Pines cover most of the mountainsides here

Up

and up and up

and up. The mountaintop in the distance reaches above the "tree line".

First of all, in about seven miles, Robin said he heard sirens. Sirens on this road? We pulled over at an overlook and watched as three or four Aspen sheriff SUVs went racing up the mountainside. We went a little further, heard more sirens, pulled over when we could find a place, and another sheriff truck and then a fire department vehicle went flying by.

Emergency vehicle! Siren blaring, lights flashing - in the rear-view mirrir

When we reached the turnoff where all vehicles sat with their flashing lights, we were able to pull over. Apparently, there is a swimming place below; people who came there to swim found a body. They thought he had drowned, although no one really knew anything. The people who told us were a young couple who jumped out of a 60s-vintage VW bus. He was dressed in a suit with a bow tie; she had on what looked like an ivory, lace wedding dress and was in her bare feet. How they knew this information, I don’t know. Soon the photographer from the local paper pulled in behind us, and we decided to leave—although not without thought of the victim and the circumstances that led to his death.

The Roaring Fork just getting started down its canyon toward Aspen

Gold was found here on July 4th. They built the road to get to the gold

And then the gold ran out - and this is all that's left - plus the road to Aspen

Lillian was right—this long drive at 35 mph (sometimes 10 mph!) took us through some of the most beautiful landscape of our trip. Colorado’s mountains are something with which to reckon! We crossed the Continental Divide again and, as we looked below, we saw the winding valley road we were approaching and could see the curvy road where we had just been in our rearview mirror.
Once we got into a valley near the end of this mountainous adventure, we found a delightful little community known as Twin Lakes, where we feasted on probably the best meal of our trip.
This little French restaurant tucked into a log lodge with lots of atmosphere was just what we needed—another oasis!
Soon after leaving Twin Lakes, we once again encountered the Arkansas River, just beginning its journey to the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico.

We had hotel reservations in Denver near the airport, so we made our way back here and welcomed being embraced by the Hampton Inn amenities—where we started the trip 15 days ago.

Leadville, CO - the highest industrialized city in the world