I had an absolutely *terrific* stay in Colorado. I left on Saturday, bright and early, and miraculously met Nate and Mom and Dad in Denver in time to drive the four hours to Aspen and see both Claire's chamber music intermission performance and orchestra concert (first chair!). We had a nice picnic outside of her dorm:



The next day, the four unAspened Chenettes went on a somewhat anticlimactic hike while Claire did her practicing and stuff, then we headed to Ouray in the San Juan range, where we saw lots of Kerns (Mom's side of the family). As always, it was wonderful to see them. On Monday, many of us went on a hike up to Chief Ouray Mine, a hike which started about a block from our relatives' house. Lots of highlights on this hike, including a nice waterfall:



It was a pretty nice view from the top, though I didn't get a good one of the mine itself:



Here are the select few who made it to the mine, minus Annje who must have been taking the picture--the Chenettes (minus Mom), Jeffrey, and Kerry--in front of what was presumably the miners' housing:



And another view of the same building, with more mountains in the background:



Tuesday was my last day, and I asked to do a really neat hike. So Nate, Dad, and I decided to head out early and aim for Twin Peaks (Sister Peak is the prominent peak that's not part of the twins):



This hike started farther away--we had to walk about four blocks to get there (terrible, I know). Obviously, these peaks were not the highest destination in the area, but the trail we headed up was probably the steepest I've ever been on. Dad estimated it was about an average 20% grade. That's including the places where it leveled out slightly. At one of those places, we saw this bird, sitting oddly not ten yards away, in the middle of the path:



After snapping the picture, we headed forwards (the slope was too steep and wooded to get around). The bird finally scampered a little ways up the slope, clucking at us and offering us a view of the treasure she was guarding:



Pretty cute! We stepped over them, and they scampered, but not too far, and we don't think we disrupted them too much. (And considering there had only been one other group on that trail in the entire previous 24 hours or more, they probably had time to regroup.)

The trail also wound through beautiful Aspen forests before climbing steeply again to the top. The views were spectacular, but I'll save those pictures for another post.