Surprise! I’m in Aspen.
I was a little disappointed to find that MapQuest was fairly accurate about the drive time to Aspen. 6 ½ hours. I left later than planned, so the weekday morning drive was nice and quiet. Since I wasn’t in a big hurry I was able to enjoy the drive along Route 6, rather than cursing people for going too slow. I-70 through Utah and the beginning of Colorado, however, is not the prettiest drive in the world. Just a lot of nothing and mesas.
I-70 meets up with the Colorado River for a while and snakes along through small towns. One of them, Palisade, is nothing but vineyards and wineries. I hit Glenwood Springs and turned up the canyon toward my new home, Snowmass Village, which is about 7 miles outside of Aspen. I’m staying in a vacation condo, and it’s quite nice. Two bedroom, two bath, and being the princess I commandeered the master suite. My roommate arrived from Maine last night, so we’ve spent a little bit of time hanging out so far.
I managed to unpack most of my stuff (there’s still a couple boxes in the car), and get settled in. I had a little bit of company while unloading… there’s a pine tree at the back property line of the condo, and a forest creature watched me move in. Its face looked like a fox, but it was pretty darn big, so it might have been a coyote. I have since learned that we have to be very careful about disposing of trash so that we don’t entice bears onto the property. Eek!
I’ve started my job at the Aspen Music Festival and School. The performance venues are all in town, but the campus for all the offices, classrooms, and rehearsal rooms is a couple miles out of town up a nice canyon. So although I’m not sure if I can find a bus that goes up here, it is a pretty drive. However, since it’s so far up the canyon, cell service is a little spotty, so if I don’t answer my phone in the middle of the day, that’s probably why. The campus is many old, rustic buildings, lots of paths and bridges over the creek, and a couple of little ponds with trout in them. I’m told that students canoe on the ponds during the summer. I think it must be a dare because they look pretty slimey on the bottom. ☺
Our building is an old converted house, and the marketing offices are on the second floor. My office is a little cubbyhole between the staircase and the end of the house, so I’ve got a sloping ceiling over my desk, and cute little trinkets and pictures from interns before. It is nice though, because I’ve got my own quiet space for conducting interviews and writing.
Right now the towns are between the Winter and Summer seasons, so it’s pretty quiet, especially in Snowmass where not everything is open yet, but in the next couple of weeks it should be a happening town again. Saturday I’m planning to explore Aspen and see what the town has to offer for shopping, food, and entertainment. I’ll let you know how that goes!
-Sara