So, the fabulous man and my mom came to visit for the weekend, and it was tons of fun! I can’t get away often enough to go up to SLC to see them, so it’s nice when people can make the trip and visit me in Aspen.

Fortunately, we had a jam-packed weekend planned, and it was great! They were able to come visit me at work and see where I spend my days. I packed up a picnic and we went to the Friday evening concert, Brahms piano concerto and Beethoven symphony, so it was a great evening. Went on a quick hike looking for Doc Holliday’s grave, and had a nice dinner in Glenwood Springs.

But the real reason they came into town was for the Condoleezza Rice event. Because of the Aspen Institute, whose history is closely tied to the Festival, politicians, philosophers, dignitaries, scientists, etc. come into town all year long for think-tanks and summits, and all sorts of fancy “people sitting around talking and thinking” sort of things. So far this year we’ve had Bill Clinton, Colin Powell, the Dalai Lama, Sandra Day O’Conner, Madeline Albright, King Abdullah II of Jordan, etc. There’s a lot of people coming and going, but this event was a collaboration between the Institute and the AMFS. Rice attended the AMFS when she was 17, as a piano student, and this was her first public performance since she was a teenager. So it was a cool big deal. She’s very eloquent, played well, and is a very snappy dresser. I don’t know how long these links will be good, but you can read the transcript here, listen to an mp3 here, and watch a video here.