Happy Independence Day! I’ve always loved the 4th of July but have really appreciated its significance since I started teaching ESOL and have seen the value my students place on American citizenship. Kristen and Rich have told us they have a great parade in Aspen every year, so we’re looking forward to that.
We spent last night at Difficult, a campground in the White River National Forest, about 5 miles outside of Aspen. It was great. The weather was in the 40’s—perfect sleeping weather. I thought I was going to be cold and dressed that way but started peeling layers off about 5 minutes after settling into bed last night. It’s a pretty basic campground—no electricity or showers. That’s where Kristen’s place comes in mighty handy. It’s hard to go to dinner at a nice restaurant if you haven’t had a shower.
Our campground host is a nice guy named Richard. He’s a math teacher at a community college in Illinois and has camped with his wife for many years. He started hosting a couple of years ago. He gave us some good suggestions for camping in Colorado, since we’ve never had to think about bears before. This campground has special food lockers where you can place any of your food supplies to keep them safe from the bears. These lockers have a special latch inside the handle that bears apparently can’t reach. Let’s hope they can’t anyway. There’s only been one bear at Difficult this summer and one is too many for Richard. He told us that bears can spot an ice chest at quite a distance. If we have it out anywhere, he said we should cover it with something like a towel to keep it safe from bears.
We woke up this morning, got in the car and drove into Aspen, stopping at the bakery to pick up a variety of goodies to add to our breakfast of eggs and buffalo sausage. K&R went to the Farmer’s Market yesterday and found all kinds of beautiful things for us to eat over the next few days. They bought some elk tenderloin that we’re going to try tonight.
Last night K&R treated us to a delicious dinner at a restaurant within a short walk of our condo. Afterwards, we walked to the park where I think everyone staying in Aspen was congregating. There was a tent set up with a great band playing rock music. Next to it is an area with equipment for kids to play on and a field filled with people running around playing with Frisbees, etc. I took some pictures and will post them if they turn out OK. Leuck was so tired he fell asleep on Rich’s shoulder before 8 p.m. when we said our goodnight to everybody and drove to Difficult.
I was just rereading this blog and it occurred to me that all we ever do is talk about eating, or eat. No wonder I have to go back to Weight Watchers every now and then!
Below are some pictures of a great 4th of July parade, Aspen style.
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