Aspen

 Our hostess was from Croatia and had come to work the summer, she had friends who came to the Jersey Shore to work as well. It was her last day and she was headed to travel the US for a month before returning home. 

The only thing that wasn’t small were the huge coffee cups which were also really pretty.

We headed out of Vail and towards Aspen trying to make it in time to hike at Maroon Bells which are just outside of Aspen in a park area that we needed to reach by bus. Along the road to Aspen we passed through Glenwood Canyon which is a 4 lane highway on 2 levels passing through a canyon. We had read about flooding in Glenwood canyon that had reached the higher level of the road, the side that we were on and although it was open we did see evidence of damage and even mud hanging from the guardrails. It was quite high above the river so it was hard to imagine what it might have been like when it was flooded that high. Motorists were stuck on that stretch of road and sought shelter in a tunnel over night. 

We reached Aspen – and it was quite residential except for a few blocks of businesses in the center of town. We went to our hotel The Gant to see if our room was ready and it was. The Gant is made up of a series of buildings full of townhouse like residences surrounding a pool and restaurant area. We had a 2 bedroom unit just near the pool. 

We dropped our luggage and took a shuttle from the hotel to the main transportation center downtown. From there we caught a bus to a transfer area where we could then catch the shuttle bus into Maroon Bells. We had reservations for the bus but got there early and they were able to take us on an earlier bus. It was not crowded at all. 

We headed into the park and were dropped at a parking area that led to the hiking paths. We decided to take an easy hike that would give us views of the mountains and the twin mountains called the Maroon Bells because of the way that the light can make them look at certain times of the day. There was also a small lake and a river with a bridge. It was very scenic. 

First view of Maroon Bells in the distance

Walking down the hiking trail towards Maroon Bells

Along the way we ran into other hikers. There was one trail that people use to hike to all of the peaks and it can take them days, where they hike during the day and camp at night. One was a young guy who had been hiking for 3 days and was just back from making it to 12000 feet. He had hoped to do more but he realized that he didn’t have the energy and wasn’t feeling well enough so he came back. He was in good spirits just resting on a bench. 

We were planning to do a shorter trail – the lower trail but we ran into some folks who said it was worth taking an additional loop. The trail that we had been on was relatively hikable in sneakers but the trail that we turned off to was full of rocks sticking out of the trail all over the place and it was more difficult. It was a short loop that took us back to our original trail so it wasn’t too bad, but it didn’t add much from a scenery perspective and it was definitely harder to walk on without boots. We got back on our original loop and made it back to the lake near the start of the trail. It was really pretty. The bridge pictured here went over a shallow river area with very clear water that was filled with fish. 

Maroon Bells in the distance

Maroon Lake in the foreground and Maroon Bells in the background

We took the two busses to get back to the center of downtown Aspen and then walked around a bit to see the town and check where our restaurant for dinner was. Then we walked the 4 blocks back to the hotel. 
We were able to get a little rest, do some laundry and get showered before dinner. 
We decided to take the hotel shuttle into the restaurant which was called the Ajax Tavern. We sat at a table outside at the bottom of the ski lift and had a very nice dinner. 

View from the Ajax Tavern

We walked back to the hotel and decided to soak our legs in the hot tub after our long day of hiking. 

Hot tub selfie

We got a good night sleep and got up early to grab some breakfast sandwiches at the little cafe by the pool and get on the road. We enjoyed Aspen and The Gant was a very nice hotel with lots of room and quite quiet.