Aspen looks pretty much like any cute, upscale tourist town in a picturesque area. (Think Harbor Springs on steroids, all you Michiganders.) I didn't take many pictures there, except at the John Denver Sanctuary, which is actually one of the more interesting memorials I've ever seen. (Stop gagging and snorting, Jude!) There's no statue, just the lyrics to a few John Denver songs engraved on boulders arranged in a semi-circle near a fast-running river. Our friend Gayle, who's a music therapist, couldn't help singing a few bars here and there . . .


Actually, unless you're a photographer for People magazine during ski season or attending the Music Festival (Emanuel Ax was amazing), what's near Aspen is more interesting than what's in Aspen. Ashcroft is a tiny ghost town left over from Colorado's mining boom. The Historical Society has fine guided tours of this remote spot. The tour's cost ($3) is less than we paid for a gallon of gas ($5.30) in Aspen.


You can also designate a fearless driver to take you up to Independence Pass so that you can admire the Continental Divide. (Blood members of the Gillette family are handy to have around in such situations, since they were all born with teeny-tiny "No Fear" tattoos on their foreheads.) Parts of the two-lane road to the pass are so narrow that the highway department doesn't even bother painting a yellow line down the middle. If two big SUVS are facing off on this section of road, they have to treat it as one lane and take turns, because shoulders don't exist: Depending on which side of the road you're travelling, if you move a few inches to one side, you will either crash into the vertical cliff looming above you or fly off the mountainside.


More photos from the Aspen area: http://picasaweb.google.com/Katharine.Gillette/Aspen