Saturday, July 16, 2011

On the Road - Aspen I

Apologies for not being a timely blogger. I've been getting back to my hotels late and too tired to do anything but go to bed, and getting up and out early in the mornings.


Sunday morning my mom, uncle, aunt and I went to an event at the Snowmass Rodeo grounds. It wasn't a clearly-defined event; sort of a western show/history of the valley combination. There were few vendors, and a very small crowd. It seems it was to profit some local animal charity, so we convinced ourselves that we didn't feel too bad about the $18 admission.


The food vendor had good ribs, and we ate our lunch to the non-stop barking of a Lab. He was tied up near the food vendor, and we assumed he belonged to one of them. We were suprised to see later that he belonged to a visitor. How nice of him to take his dog on an "outing," but leave him tied up for everyone else to enjoy. (Ugh.)


Several demos were presented to illustrate various periods of the area's history, beginning with representatives from the (southern?) Ute tribe.

This woman gave an introduction and some information about her tribe, then performed one of the women's dances.



Men's grass dance, I think.


I don't remember what men's dance this was, but this was definitely my favorite ceremonial outfit. As he moved, the large feathers attached to him seemed to open and close, which I assume was intentional. They reminded me of butterfly wings.


Mom, uncle, aunt conferring on something.


Trappers, I think.

 

Stagecoach robbery, with guns going off and guys jumping on the stagecoach from their horses, and falling from the stagecoach after being killed. My favorite part of the show.
 


On Monday seven of us hiked in the Maroon Bells area. It is a spectacular area, in fact so beautiful and so popular that driving up is limited (something like before 8 am and after 5 pm). Between those hours, visitors have to take a bus up. We'd thought dogs were allowed on the bus as there are often dogs there, but we were disappointed to find out that they were not, so my guys hung out at my aunt and uncle's place for the day.


The Bells is such a beautiful area that I got many, many photos. It seemed that every view was awesome and every wildflower gorgeous. It's hard to narrow it down to make a reasonable blog post, but here are a few.


My mom dissing the Mayor of Aspen (her brother/my uncle).



Classic family photo hijinks. :)



Mule train.


Columbine.



One of the many beautiful views.



The view from our pic-a-nic log.



Some kind of rare orchid.



The river we crossed. It wasn't very deep or very wide, but the current was strong and it was very cold.



Shooting Star Columbine, I think.



An aspen grove.


"The Deadly Bells."



Almost classic photo of the Bells. (I should've been further to the left, at the end of the lake.)


What you see from here...


Next: Aspen II (of II)

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