Aspen Bday Weekend - June 2012

Maroon Bells

Instead of buying each other gifts, every year we have treated each other to a birthday weekend away, always driving distance from where we live.  Since we were back in Colorado, we headed to Aspen for the weekend.

Accommodation: 

Sky Hotel

We stayed at the Sky Hotel, as this is a Kimpton Hotel where we get the $50 per night Friends and Family program courtesy of Keith's brother, Graham.  The hotel is immediately adjacent to the Little Nell, the famous Aspen hotel.  The Sky appears to be an old motel that was renovated to make it a lot more upscale and cool.  The rooms are quite sharp, and we were particularly impressed with the sheets.  In addition to the standard room, we were given a "raid the mini bar" card worth $10 - though that really only bought two diet cokes.  We were also treated with a bottle of Little Penguin wine which we consumed on the Saturday before dinner

Activities: 
In order to make our 9pm dinner reservation, we planned on leaving work at 3pm.  Not shockingly, we were not on the road until 3:30pm, but we had sandbagged a bit knowing we may be delayed.  With the top of the Audi down and gorgeous weather on our side, we headed out.  We hit some rough traffic heading up I-25, but once we were on I-70 it was pretty much smooth sailing all the way to Aspen.  This was the first time we had headed into the mountains since moving to Denver 6 months ago, and the first time ever in a convertible.  It was fantastic to see the amazing mountain scenery from a rag top.  We arrived at the hotel after 4.5 hours driving, so we had time for a quick shower, drinks at the hotel bar, then off to dinner at Elevation.

We slept in a bit on Saturday morning and then headed downstairs for breakfast before heading out to hike Maroon Bells.  Most of the year, hikers are required to park the car at the base and take a bus up, but we were one weekend early so got to drive the whole way to the park where the hike starts - and even got to skip the $10 entry fee (it was park appreciation day).  Even the drive up to the parking lot was gorgeous.  The parking lot was quite full - we were one of the last cars to get a space.  We took a few pictures of the Bells from Maroon Lake, then headed up 45 minutes to Crater Lake (1.7 miles one way).  A glance of the map indicated that Buckskin Pass was about the same distance again that we had hiked, so we headed up that route.  However, it was quickly apparent that this was a much steeper (and therefore slower) trail than we had initially thought!  After a few miles, we did get to the split in the trail (where you turn left for Buckskin pass and right for Willow pass) and then walked about another 30 minutes toward the pass.  We turned back what we would guess is 45-60 minutes before the top of the pass - the logic was that it was getting late but part of the reality is that we were pooped!  The return hike along the same trail was certainly a lot easier, though Keith got a blister from his brand new shoes.  In total, we hiked 9 miles which took us 5 hours.  It was an absolutely beautiful hike -- one that we would put in our top 5 favorite day hikes.  We ended up giving a ride to a couple we met in the Maroon Lake parking lot - they were staying in Aspen and had taken a taxi up to the lake - Shawna decided that they did not look like serial killers.  We got back to the hotel in time for a shower, a bit of relaxing, then over to Little Nell for a drink and Ute City for dinner.

Crater Lake

On Sunday we also slept in - how glorious to have curtains that are so dark that you don't know it is daylight!  Our first stop was Starbucks for a coffee, then we spent a bit of time walking up and down the various streets in town.  This weekend was two different events: Outside in Aspen and the Aspen Eco Fest - neither were too exciting for us, though we did walk through each of the tents that were set up.  A bit more exciting, but a week too early, was the Aspen Food and Wine Classic - too bad we missed that!  After checking out of the hotel, we first stopped for lunch at Hickory House, drove through the town of Basalt, stopped by the house in Vail that we are renting in a few weeks with Keith's family, and were home by 5pm.

Restaurants:
Elevation - This restaurant, on Hopkins, was about a 5 minute walk from our hotel.  We ate outside and shared several social plates / appetizers: Spicy Colorado Lamb Meatballs, Margarita Mussels, Pistachio Gnocci, Grilled Shrimp and Chorizo, and the Rock Shrimp and Pork Dumplings.  Some of the dishes were tasty and some were just OK.

39 Degrees Lounge - This is the bar/restaurant that is part of the Sky Hotel.  We had drinks here the first night (Keith a mojito and Shawna a glass of wine) and then breakfast the following morning.  Keith voted his breakfast tacos the best while Shawna was sure her Southwest Eggs Benedict was superior.

Montagna Bar - Before heading to dinner, we had a round of drinks at the bar at Little Nell.  We were surprised at how modern the hotel is - for some reason our expectations were a bit more traditional.  Keith had the Thaihito and Shawna a Moscow Mule.

Ute City - Our original plan was to eat at Syzygy but it was still closed for the season, as were several other places we were interested in.  We settled on Ute City, where we also ate outside.  Shawna started with the Lobster Cobb salad, Keith had the Chorizo soup, and we split the Braised Beef Short Rib, wrapping up with the Apple Crisp.   The food was tasty.

Hickory House - Since Keith would be away for his birthday (on the Monday), he opted for his birthday lunch at a BBQ joint on the way out of town.  We arrived at 11:30am to be told that the lunch menu on Sunday would not be served until noon.  We decided to wait so we could order BBQ ribs, Brisket, and Sweet Potato Tater Tots.

Buckskin Pass Hike