Rocky Mountain Highhhhh......

Passing through Cripple Creek without loosing (or winning) a dime was....."a drunkards dream if I ever did see one....." Trivia question:  who wrote and sang Up on Cripple Creek ? (answer below)
Not too much to keep us in his gamblin' town, so we moseyed on across mid CO to begin our ascent up and over Independence Pass (12,095 ft--closed in the winter)...........wow, a Pass to shame all other passes....and then boom we landed another first for us = Aspen, CO.  

We were actually perpared to dislike this playground of the wealthy, but it surprised us with a friendly natural side too!  Most impressive was their dog friendliness.....Rusty was in heaven with so many other tethered pooches walking around...he received a huge amount of attention.




Sunday the 27th was Tim's 64th B-day....."will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64..." Trivia question:  ok, we know it was the Beatles----but which album? (answer below)

This special day full of sunshine found us floating UP the mountain in the Aspen Gondola
(yes, Rusty went along too---his first lift ride ever!











We were up for a round of disc golf at the worlds highest--11,212ft--DG course up on top.
and a personal best on a 931ft hole in 5 throws--yes! (nevermind that it was all downhill)








There also happened to be a local Blue Grass band.....high altitude fun in the sun.

    

Day complete with Tim's favorite meal of Fish and Chips in an Irish pub = happy boy :)

The next day resulted in a successful rendevous with our crazy nephew David, coming off a 4 day hike around the incredible Maroon Bell Wilderness outside of Aspen.

Answers:  The Band wrote Up on Cripple Creek----and Beatles Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band