Sedona September 13

Red Rock Country!

 We loved the drive down through Oak Creek Canyon. Ruth has such fond memories of college weekends spent riding bikes down the switchbacks and finding a ride back up. We are staying at the Sedona Summit, a beautiful resort in West Sedona. Our view of the red rocks and juniper bushes is awesome! 

We golfed at Canyon Mesa Country Club. It is an executive course, but so pretty.

 After golf we had some Mexican food in Tlaquepaque and then did some window shopping. Ruth resisted purchasing a beautiful painted photograph entitled Desert Magic. Next was a drive on Schnebly Hill Road, which is the route all the jeeps take their clients on. It was very pretty up on the ridge looking down on the city and the red rocks.

 Dinner-pizza and chianti wine. Hot tub after in the infinity pool.

Sedona September 12

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Red Rock Country! We loved the drive down through Oak Creek Canyon. Ruth has such fond memories of college weekends spent riding bikes down the switchbacks and finding a ride back up. We are staying at the Sedona Summit, a beautiful resort in West Sedona. Our view of the red rocks and juniper bushes is awesome! We golfed at Canyon Mesa Country Club. It is an executive course, but so pretty. After golf we had some Mexican food in Tlaquepaque and then did some window shopping. Ruth resisted purchasing a beautiful painted photograph entitled Desert Magic. Next was a drive on Schnebly Hill Road, which is the route all the jeeps take their clients on. It was very pretty up on the ridge looking down on the city and the red rocks. Dinner-pizza and chianti wine. Hot tub after in the infinity pool.

Aspen September 11

Golf and  Oktoberfest! What a great combination. We met Dave and Ellen at the Glenwood Springs Golf Course and worked our way through that beautiful course. So many trees and the red mountain backdrop. 

 There was a pear tree at the first tee that was dropping all of its fruit. We all took a pear to eat and some to take home. A young deer wandered up to sample some, too. Yum!

After golf, we stopped at the Farmers Market and bought a box of Palisade peaches. Looking forward to a peach pie made by my Mom, who makes the best crust ever!

On to Oktoberfest in Snowmass. Loved the bratwurst, saurkraut and potato lunch while listening to an Oom-pa-pa band. Later the German folk dancers performed. We learned that the tassels on their hats cannot be touched as they want no oil on them. The tassels are from mountain goat beards and are very hard to come by. We saw two; one cost $500 and the other $1000. 

Moving on down Snowmass Mall, we found free ATV rides being offered by Harley Davidson. We had so much fun driving around their little course. All of us like the RZR, a dune buggy type machine. Very, very fun.

 

Next we took the gondola down to an area where they were staging a 12 hour bike race. More hardy souls!

Dinner was Takeh Sushi in Aspen. Great sushi. Loved it. In bed early so we can get up bright and early for our 7:00 am departure.

Aspen September 10

Yet another Fishing Day! Wanting to lake fish, we set out for Twin Lakes. Enjoyed the ride over Independence Pass again. It is amazing how much the aspens have turned since we drove from Denver over the pass on 9/5. They should be at peak within the week. Today there are pockets of brilliant gold interspersed with chartreuse green throughout the hills.

 

We stopped at the Continental Divide – very windy and cold. 

The Twin Lakes are full this year. We chose the upper lake and had it all to ourselves. No bites with lures, so we switched to bottom fishing. 

Rick came up the winner with a rainbow trout. He set him free since he was so small. 

It was a great day sitting by the lake, chatting and watching the clouds go by. Fishing is more than just catching dinner!

Aspen September 9

Fishing Day! We headed out of Aspen to Ruedi Reservoir. We drove through the little town of Basalt and found it to be full of character. Really a cute downtown. From Basalt we drove east along the Frying Pan River. Really beautiful country. Lots of red rocks, aspens already turning and the shining river.

We drove around Reudi, but did not find a good place to fish, so we went back to the Frying Pan River and tried a few spots.

Ruth caught a small pinecone, but Rick made the big catch of the day…a big, old branch. 

Even though we are not going to enjoy a trout dinner tonight, we had a great day!

Aspen September 8

The best laid plans…We got all set for a bike ride on the Ute bike path towards Independence Pass. Once we got the bikes unlocked, our helmets on and rode out of the garage, we found it was pouring rain! Back to the condo for a game of cards. Here is a view from our balcony of Wagner Park and Ajax Mountain.

 

In the late afternoon, the weather cleared. We rode our bikes on the Ute path and stopped at the Ute Cemetery.

We have riden by it a million times without stopping, but this time we did. There are as many unmarked graves as marked graves dating from the 1880’s. Not a bad resting place. So peaceful and beautiful. 

 We rode home, had a hot tub and some wine, then dinner. 

Aspen September 7

This morning we said goodbye to Barb and Bill, who were only with us for two days of volleyball viewing. They zipped back to town in Bill’s convertible Boxster. Ruth really wanted to somehow fit in the back for the ride.

Dave and Ellen came up from Glenwood Springs and we set off for a jeeping adventure to Grizzly Reservoir and the ghost town of Ruby on Lincoln Creek Road.

 We had a beer and peanuts at the reservoir and then set out for Ruby. Amazingly, people walked over the Continental Divide from Twin Lakes with their mining supplies every summer to mine at Ruby.

 The family still possesses 3 claims, which they still mine. We saw an old wagon train trail that headed over the divide.

 It is really difficult to imagine living and working like that. Hardy souls!

 Dave and Ellen had met some mushroom gatherers earlier in the month and wanted to find a certain type of mushroom, the King Bolete, that grows above 10,000 feet. They described them as golden hamburger buns. Well, we found tons of them. We all had fun gathering these big mushroom caps. The jeep smelled like stroganoff all the way home. Ellen, better cook them up!

We finished the day with a great rib dinner at The Hickory House in Aspen. Too much food…loved the ribs!