We’ve got a lot to share from our trip out West, so we’ve decided to break up the posts a bit. I love looking at vacation photos, but that doesn’t mean YOU love looking at vacation photos.
We arrived in Aspen via Chicago on Sunday morning and were greeted with a spectacular day. The sun was warm, the air was cool and we made a beeline for the Aspen gondola for people watching and to sample the “best cheeseburger in town” at Ajax Tavern. It lived up to the hype. Derek forgot to pack his sunglasses, but lucky for us Veuve Clicquot was doing an aprés event at the restaurant and we managed to finagle a pair of champagne sunglasses from a waiter. I guess you’re supposed to buy a bottle of Veuve, but he took pity on us. Which prompted me to photograph Derek in his cool shades all over town.
After a lovely day of sightseeing, we made a quick dinner and settled in for the night. We needed our sleep in order to tackle the mountain the next day.
We went to Snowmass on Monday, which is a huge mountain. Sure, most of the mountains/ski resorts out West are bigger than the ones around NH, but Snowmass is particularly enormous. Conditions were less than stellar, but pretty nice where they had groomed. We were thankful that we’d sharpened my skis and Derek’s board before the trip.
More photos below (click on any photo to launch a slideshow) and we’ll continue the recap over the next couple of days.
The Derek Janiak Hepatobiliary Forum 
I can’t believe those trails! I’ve never skied out West. It’s like the Mario Level where everything is super sized
I skied out West when I was a kid, but I don’t remember the mountains being so crazy big! It was exhausting.
Love Snowmass too..winter and summer. Wondering if the Huskies training area still exists? Congrats on timing of your holiday and destinations. Interesting how that worked out. I think you touched down there in Dec, as well. LOL
So pretty! Everyone kept telling us to come back in the summer. We flew directly into Aspen this time. Nice little airport, we were told they added 1000′ to the runway, but winds are still a big problem there.