Rocky Mountain Adventure in Aspen, Colorado

Aspen: Dining | Activities

Photos & story by: Denise Morrison

ASPEN, COLORADO -- Turning south on Highway 82 in Colorado, a languid drive takes one past rolling meadows, where ubiquitous Aspen trees sparkle in the spring sunlight. Snow-covered mountain peaks hover in the distance, wild flowers are in full bloom, and it is impossible not to roll down the car's windows or put the convertible top down. Cruising past the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport, a bright turquoise-colored insect I've never seen before flies onto my bright turquoise-blue clothing!

The area may be known for being home to some of North America's best skiing and winter sports, but the vibrant greenery reminds me that the Rockies are not just for skiing. I found that the hamlets of Aspen and Telluride come alive when the snow melts.

On Independence Day, July 4, 1979, two prospectors stuck gold in a remote, high alpine basin near the Continental Divide. They named their claim Independence and their camp, Ute City (after the Ute Indians). The town was later called Aspen, for the abundant trees covering the valley floor.

Aspen's many mines produced millions of dollars worth of silver annually and was the talk of mining camps throughout the West. But when the U.S. Treasury transitioned from silver to gold as the standard for currency, Aspen's boom turned to bust.

My travel companion and I decide to take in a bit of the area's mining history so we headed west from the airport, crossing the Maroon Creek Bridge, a 100+ year-old relic, toward Ashcroft - one of a number of ghost towns scattered across the region. At 9,500 feet, Ashcroft is where 130-year-old buildings of decaying lumber dot the outlying landscape.

We walk along a desolate pathway passing a number of collapsed, or semi-collapsed cabins, remnants from a brief period of mining prosperity. Not far away, downtown Aspen is bustling with activity.

I enjoy exploring the town on foot where ornate Victorian and Victorian style buildings are found on every block. Stately landmarks, such as Aspen's Wheeler Opera House, built in 1889, were restored by the city in recent decades. Now housing the Visitor Center in its foyer, the red brick building (named after Jerome B. Wheeler, an early investor in silver mines) is the home of summer operas by the Aspen Music Festival.

I visit the Wheeler/Stallard Museum, located in an elegant Queen Anne style home where period costume-clad guides, courtesy of the town's Historical Society, discuss aspects of Victorian life in Aspen. Because Aspen first came into prosperity during the height of the Victoria era, a number of homes and commercial buildings are protected by a strict Historic Preservation Committee. Many of these once neglected or abandoned Victorians with their pitch roofs, filigree and ornate detail are now worth millions.

The resort community we stroll through today is a testament to a few visionary Aspenites and the skiing tourism boom that began in the 1940s. We stop by a landmark property, the Hotel Jerome, originally built on a lavish scale in 1889, weathering plenty of ups and downs over the years. With period furnishings of soft fabrics, vintage mirrors, hand-carved wood beams and antler chandeliers, it's almost like stepping into a Sam Peckinpah movie. The hotel's J Bar is a venerable hangout blending Art Deco designs with flat-screen TVs. Patrons sample some of the famed local drink "Aspen Crud" made with Bourbon and the hotel's own freshly churned ice cream.

Exiting the hotel...read more>