Aspen - June 30, 2008

Well we have to leave to catch a plane tomorrow morning in Denver. We are planning to drive through Independence pass and spend the night in Lakewood (west Denver) and then catch a flight home. Turns out that it is a light travel day on July 1st so both Lisa and I get upgraded to First Class.

Events before we get home:
- Search for breakfast finds bagels and coffee at ink!
- Quick walk through Hotel Jerome and then go to the Public Library to find a bathroom. Lisa finds a book in their book sale.
- On the way to Independence Pass
Wheeler Lake: a short walk off of Rt 82 along a stream. Mostly pine trees with some Aspen. We don't stay long but there are plenty of rocks to climb and sit on.

Ice Caves just off a stream with huge cascades. Pretty cool rock formations that she finds nicer than the Buttermilk Cascades in Ithaca, NY









Independence Ghost Town - A young kid greets us right on the road after we park the car. Turns out that Ben White works for the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies just like Hannah's friend Jeff. Turns out that he met Hannah on her first day in Aspen. He gives us a 20 minute tour/talk on the site and shows us the artifacts that are stored in the original store.



We finally reach the pass/continental divide. Beautiful drive and a good way to spend the day.

We head down the east side and it starts to look like rain. We take 30 minutes to sit along a creek and read our magazines.




We hit Leadville just before 5PM. We had not had much to eat since our bagel breakfast so we start walking down mainstreet and I find Rosie's Brewpub where we take part in all of the happy hour specials. I get a pint of summer wheat and list has a taste of the RAM. We get an order of the wings with jerk sauce and baked potatoe skins stuffed with a corn and black bean relish. All very filling and tasty for just over $20. Much better than Aspen prices!!! On the way back to the car, I buy an Ugly Cookie made with cranberry, raisins, oatmeal while Lisa checks out the shirts at Melanzana. The make the clothes right there using the standard high tech materials. She ends up buying 2 shirts and I get one from the reject bin. Lisa gets the sleeves shortened but I forget to have them add a bike pocket for my shirt.

We head to Denver in light showers and have a nice quiet night before heading to the airport in the morning.