Aspen & Denver

29.05.2011 / Sunday / Aspen-Denver

A great breakfast awaits us at the hotel after all! Even with dark bread, real cheese, and even cold cuts. Unfortunately, I'm not hungry at all and content myself with a banana and a coffee. We leave the car at the hotel and quickly hop on the free downtown bus, which stops across from the hotel and ride to the gondola.

A sign in front of the gondola informs us that the gondola may be running slower than usual due to strong winds of up to 45 miles per hour (72 km per hour). The ride is also significantly longer than normal, taking more than 30 minutes. The wind causes our small gondola (seats 4 people in 6 seats) to sway violently, and we hang for minutes on end in one spot several meters above the ground, as the ride is interrupted due to the wind until the gondolas sway less. On the descending side, the steel cable swings up high, probably because there are no people in the gondolas to weigh it down. I don't want to be transported like this. Our fellow passengers change color several times.

The view from the top is not as spectacular as some have said. You can see some peaks, but it's not really gigantic. We photograph people starting their descent in the most peculiar clothes, really funny.

After about 1 hour, we start the return journey. G. treats himself to a calming whiskey, but the ride down to the valley is much smoother than the ride up.

We stroll through the town and back to the hotel, pick up our car, and drive past Jack Nicholson's house and go to the John Denver Memorial. John Denver spent a large part of his life in Denver (hence the name, because his real name was Deutschendorf).

Jack Nicholson's House

At around 1:00 PM, we leave Denver and head towards Highway 82, which steadily climbs upwards. Since Aspen is already at an altitude of 2,400 meters, we soon reach 3,000 meters and look out over the wild Arkansas River, which runs deep in a canyon next to the road. We continue to climb higher and the snow next to the road gets deeper. At almost 3,800 meters above sea level, we reach the Continental Divide, the continental divide.

We encounter cyclists, including unicyclists, or we overtake them. One person I ask took 1 hour and 45 minutes for the approximately 16 miles from Aspen up here. Hats off!

We descend with a 5-6% slope and a while later we reach Leadville, the highest city in the USA at an altitude of 3,300 meters above sea level. The city once had rich silver and gold deposits, and therefore some mines. It is located in the source area of the Arkansas River and likes to call itself the "Two Mile High City." We get a not very tasty coffee on Main Street, which looks like a film set with buildings over 130 years old.

Leadville

Leadville / 3,300 meters above sea level

The story of Baby Doe is touching and we take a detour to the Matchless Mine.

Horace Tabor, known as the 'Silver King', was one of the richest men in America and married Elizabeth McCourt Doe in 1883. He became extremely wealthy at lightning speed through the silver finds in his Matchless Mine around 1875 and led an extravagant lifestyle. After the silver crash (1893), he practically lost everything and started hauling slag from the silver mines for $3 a day. He practically died bankrupt in 1899, leaving his wife and two daughters penniless.

Matchless Mine Cabin

His wife tried to revive the old Matchless Mine, which they owned, until her death, firmly believing in her late husband's conviction that there must still be silver deposits here. Baby Doe lived in complete poverty in the Matchless Mine Cabin, a small miserable log cabin near the mine entrance, for 36 years. She was found starved and frozen to death in 1935 in that very cabin, which is now a small museum. Sad story.

A toothless woman with braids wants to charge us $7 per person for a 30-45 minute tour. The cabin is about 20 square meters, what is there to explain for so long? So we continue driving on Highway 91 and head towards our destination for today: Denver.

We pass by a place called Silverthorne just before Denver, where an outlet is located. While G. shops, I watch the rescue of a raft from the wild river, which also cuts through the shopping center here. Only the raft is recovered, which got stuck on a bridge pier, and the two drivers were pulled out of the river half a mile further.

 I really wonder what condition they were in, considering that the river is extremely wild and rushes over rocks, and the height of the bridge is relatively low compared to the river.

At 7:30 PM, we reach our hotel for the next 3 nights. We have rented a vacation apartment, which turns out to be a spacious two-story apartment. Each of us has their own room and bathroom. We have a fully equipped kitchen, a living room, and even the opportunity to do laundry.

At 8:00 PM, we take the free hotel shuttle to downtown and walk along the car-free shopping street 16th Street Mall, looking for a restaurant where we could possibly eat outside. We haven't eaten since breakfast. We pass several restaurants, all of which are packed or we don't like. We take one of the free buses that run on this street and ride down the street.

Denver

Shortly after 9:00 PM, we finally managed to get a table at a brewery. Denver is the hub of beer breweries. The food is good, but the beer isn't quite to my taste. Maybe I should have chosen "Kolsch" after all?

Bookstore with café in Denver

We quickly take a taxi back to the hotel for $9. The driver is a funny guy who plays Hard Rock for us and kindly checks online on his Blackberry whether the Colorado Rockies, the local baseball team, are playing in Denver in the next few days. Unfortunately, they are in Los Angeles.

A huge fireworks display starts somewhere at 10:00 PM. Pretty awesome - but we're exhausted and in bed by 11:00 PM.