%$#$#" American roads....

I totally overslept and ended up checking out of my room almost 3 hours late. (They were nice about it though.) My plan had been to check out all the cool shops of Aspen and then head over to Vail which is around a 2 hour drive.

Aspen

I had a look around Aspen in daylight and did some shopping, but I was a bit pressed for time wanting to go to Vail, so I only had two hours of shopping and eating brunch before I had to leave.

My impression of Aspen is that it's a mix between a cool happenin' place with designer shops, cool shopping, beautiful scenery and good skiing. (I'm sure.) I found real estate advertised there for 13 million $ (any takers???) But in my view, Aspen is also a place with ridiculously kitschy shops boasting dreadful 'mountain inspired art' and furniture. The crash made me laugh sometimes..

Foliage near Aspen

After my little tour of the town I had great ice cream at Paradise Bakery and café before leaving Aspen behind. It was the best ice cream I've had in the States yet. (Not too sweet.)

My plan was to do a loop and go to Snowmass and Vail and see more of the mountains. But.... I ended up going back the way I came, because I am not good at understanding which way to go... (In my defense, it was dark when I got there the night before, and there are hardly any roadsigns, only signs which give you the road number, so if you don't know if you are going north, south, east or west, you are basically screwed!) I got a bit mad at myself for not realising my mistake quicker though. I had driven almost 45 minutes before I thought something was familiar with the place I got to, and it was too late to turn back. But I got to see the scenery along the road from the day before which was quite beautiful. Loads of birch trees with leaves that have turned yellow. Oh well, I can go and see Vail another time I guess...

Horse carriage

My plan was to spend the night in Breckenridge (35 mins from Vail) and I could still do that, so my wrong turn wasn't really a disaster.

I got to Breckenridge around 8pm and spent the night at Fireside inn bed & breakfast. It was rather quiet there on a Sunday night and I had the whole 4 bunk dorm to myself, what a luxury! The Fireside inn is hosted by a lovely British couple. They were very friendly and accommodating and thought it was fun to have a European visitor. I promised I'd come back this winter sometime to ski (and to check up on their cute puppy!)

I went to dinner and had a quick look around Breckenridge which is a cute little place, but I guess it's even more interesting in the skiing season as it appeared a bit dead now.

Smokey the bear

Trees