Aspen - Part 2 : Glenwood Springs & Window Shopping

So, on our first full day in Colorado, we took a 45 minute drive through the Canyon from Aspen to Glenwood Springs. It is beautiful town with lots of fun things to do. We headed towards Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park. There was a gondola to take us up to the top of the mountain where the park was located, but it was too windy and they were shuttling people up on a school bus instead. We were disappointed - ya, I've ridden a school bus before; nothing adventurous about it. :( Well, we were wrong. It was the craziest bus ride we've ever been on! We went on a dirt road that zig-zagged up the mountain; no guard rails but plenty of sharp drop offs. The bus driver didn't even slow down for the sharp curves. Ian and I sat at the back of the bus, where we really felt the back tires sliding over the dirt. We laughed (and clung to our seats) the whole way up the mountain. I was sure we were going to slide right off one of the edges. We got to the top safe and sound, feeling like we had a much more adventurous ride than the gondola would've given us!

We had about 45 minutes to spend before our cave tour, so we went on the Alpine coaster - of course, with Ian in control, we flew down that mountain at top speed and felt - for the second time that day - like we were going to fly off of it. We laughed and I screamed the whole way down. It was so much fun! We went a couple of times throughout the day.

Next, we went through a giant maze and raced to see who could find each of the 4 towers and punch their cards with the letters "M", "A", "Z", "E" first. If you could do it in under 8 minutes, you won a prize. Ian was just under 8 minutes and won a sticky climbing guy for Shaylor. I made it in 9 minutes. Darn. :(

Next, we went on an hour long cave tour. It is such a bizarre reality to be so deep INSIDE of a mountain. Do you know that the inside of a cave stays the same temperature all year round? And that the temperature of a cave is the average yearly temperature of the surrounding area? So, the inside of the cave we were touring, called the "Fairy Cave", was 52 degrees. We saw stalactites and stalagmites and found out that for a formation to grow 1 cubic inch, it takes 1,000 years. So, in these pictures, the stalactites you see - even the small ones - took thousands of years to form. We saw some that were estimated to have been forming for 30,000 years. It was sad to see that some of them had been broken off by careless people. After the formations are so much as touched, it won't grow any more because the oil from the person's hands won't allow the water to touch the rest of the stone and leave the limestone deposit which is what they are made of. (See, I paid attention to the tour guide!) It was a very cool tour! (If you are getting this by e-mail, you should really go to our actual blog so you can click on the pictures to see them better! www.thejacksblog.blogspot.com no user name or password required.)

After the tour, we took a ride on a giant swing called the "SwingShot." It pulled us backward until we were about 20 feet above the ground, and when it let us go, we swung out over a cliff and were 1,200 feet above the Colorado River. It was so fun! The initial drop and first couple of swings were intense. After that it was like a mellow swing until it gradually came to a stop. We went on it 3 times! We went at the absolute slowest time of the year and so there was no line and we could do whatever we wanted, as many times as we wanted with no wait. It was so great!

Ready to go

Pulling us back

AHHHHHHH!!!

After the Swing Shot, we went and did "Doc's Climbing Wall." I have to admit that I really worked out my fear of heights on this trip! Believe it or not, this was the freakiest thing I encountered. On my first try, I chickened out halfway up. Thanks to Ian's encouragement, I tried again and made it all the way to the top. I don't know why it freaked me out so bad, but I was proud of myself for doing it regardless of being scared! Ian went up two or three different times and did the hardest levels and aced them all. He's so awesome!

Next, we went and had lunch in a restaurant that overlooked the Glenwood Springs valley. There were great views of the canyon and the Colorado River. It was so beautiful!

After lunch, we went and played laser tag. That was a blast and we played 3 different rounds with lots of other people. It was a good time!

It was about 3:00pm at this point and we felt we had done all we wanted to. The wind had calmed down so we could ride the gondola down, and it was a peaceful ride with fantastic views.

We drove back to Aspen and enjoyed the Hotel the rest of the afternoon and evening. A fun-filled first day, for sure!

The next day, we were very lazy and eventually made our way out into town to do some window shopping. The streets were practically deserted and many of the shops were closed down until after Memorial Day. We like it that way, though. It felt like the whole world was just ours. We were able to go in a bunch of shops and were SHOCKED at the prices. We saw a sculpture for $275,000, a throw pillow for $800, a pair of jeans that were on sale for $100 - marked down from $275 - what a screamin' deal! Even if we had the money to throw around, I could never spend $800 on a throw pillow. There is something very wrong with that.

We had a nice stroll and ended up at a Barbecue place called Hickory House and enjoyed a yummy lunch. We then headed back to the hotel (courtesy of our very funny 'smart car'-like shuttle), where we relaxed in the hot tub.

A very mellow day! It was so great to not have a schedule; to do what we wanted, when we wanted. The stress we feel on a daily basis, along with the pressure of constantly shouldering various responsibilities, slowly melted away. It felt awesome.

Stay tuned for more Aspen adventures...