We Arrive in Aspen

Saturday was a long, hard day made tolerant by the scenic route through central and Eastern Utah. We were exhausted and beat. Our bodies, not used to the early morning call, began to show signs of wear and tear by 4:00. We hit a wall. Should we stop in Moab or push through? If we were to continue, we would arrive in Aspen just at sundown, but we were just so tired!! Stopping in Moab would probably be the logical stop, but knowing that time with our fried in Aspen was limited, I influenced Mapi to charge on. We turned up some music, downed some caffeine and let the slap happy giggles run their course.

We sang and took pictures and stopped for our usual lottery ticket breaks. We arrived in Aspen right as the sun gave its last wink of light. BED!!! All we wanted to know was, "Where is the bed????" Put us down before our last drops of tolerance turn into an angry burst of irritability. We napped and awoke to our friend tugging at our feet, insisting we get up straight away and meet her at the Caribou Club to catch the after festivities of an environmental convention in town. The moment was so quick and laden with grogginess, our surprise of Mapi's company fell flat and nearly ignored.

We would supplement the surprise and catch up the following night with our friend over dinner. She notified us that she was leaving town on Monday instead of Sunday, so we had another day to visit. Tonight, she was preoccupied with moguls and directors of Academy Award winning documentaries and nano technology experts. I had no idea she was so interested in the environment.

Her preoccupation continued into the next afternoon where Mapi and I enjoyed a Sunday brunch at the Little Nell and a ride on the gondola to the top of the mountain. I've never been to Aspen in the summer. It's a different view without the snow capped mountains.  The day sauntered by as we strolled though town meeting new people and shared a flirt with a couple of boys. We then relaxed until it was time for dinner at Il Mulino.

Il Mulino is my all time favorite Italian restaurant. The meal was beautiful, perfect and delicious. So much so, I savored half of my plate and wanted to save the other half for the following day. Unfortunately, the wine was as good as the meal and rendered me forgetful as I left the to go box at the restaurant. I wanted to cry!! An appetizer and two glasses of wine....$80 and I didn't even get to finish the meal. This is like a divorce I never agreed to and he kept all the money and left me with nothing.

The wine was a kickstart to the rest of the evening. More drinks were to follow and a late night ensued. We caught up and told stories of all of the craziness we knew to be LA people.  There was even some craziness and drama brewing amongst us. For some reason tonight, I don't feel like I have escaped LA just yet!