Enjoying Rita's Room with a View

After a wonderful day walking around downtown Aspen, shopping in Explore Booksellers (a unique and fabulous bookstore), and having lunch on the outside patio of the historic Hotel Jerome, we headed to Maroon Bells for a mellow hike and then to dinner at Rita's house.

This photograph captures just one view from her outrageous wraparound deck. The fact that her house overlooks a horse ranch entranced Maddie as much as Rita's dog, Chester, entranced Daniel. I'll enclose photos of both below :-)

Maroon Bells is one of the most photographed spots in Aspen (if not the country), and it's easy to understand why. Gorgeous mountains surround a crystal clear lake (trite, I know, but it was). The fact that the only way to get there is to deal with a monotonous bus driver explaining the history of avalanches in the area (which sounds intriguing, and is intriguing, but was not made intriguing by this guy) was just a minor bump in the road (figuratively; he was not driving fast enough for it to be literal).

Meanwhile, Rita is a gourmet chef. She candied walnuts, for crying out loud. And her friend Gaard entertained us with stories of his many Aspen adventures (including one about being the first person ever to have skiied the very Maroon Bells we visited today). The day ended with the children watching the world premiere of CAMP ROCK! It was amazing how well we knew all of the songs, having heard them over and over and over again during the past two weeks :-) I'm sure the breathtaking drive from Aspen to Denver tomorrow will be set to the Camp Rock soundtrack. So, until then, I'll leave you with these profound words sung by the Jonas Brothers: "We rock. We rock on. We rock. We rock on."