We finally got to Aspen around 3:30 or so. Because we still had a journey remaining, and we figured we would be stopping more, we merely parked the car and walked the village for a while. We did see lots of people enjoying the place, though, so we got a good feel of what Aspen was all about. We continued on, but merely drove until we were home again.

 

 

The road began getting more switchbacks, and we continued to climb until we reached the Continental Divide at Independence Pass. We were now above 12,000’, but we got out and did a quick walk over to the scenic overlook. Of course, we had to walk through the snow in our shorts and Madeline’s flip-flops before we got there. It was still very warm out, despite the snow, and the sun was actually hot. We played around before we got in the car to start heading down the other direction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We only stopped in Twin Lakes for a short period of time. The lakes were interesting up in the mountains, and the creek was nice, but we needed to move on.

The National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum contained samples of about anything you can think of that is mined out of the ground. It had precious metals, ores, gems, and other things. It taught us about the local mine’s history, showed us some of the tools that are used, and even gave us an eerie example of what it feels like to work in a mine. The third floor porch gave us a great view of Leadville.

 

After the museum, we drove up to see the mines. A half marathon was in process, which helps give us a perspective of how large the mining operations were. A large portion of the mountain was gone from mining.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shortly after we got off of the Interstate, we encountered this buck on the road in front of us. At one of the stops down the road, we saw this groundhog, apparently vacationing from Punxsutawney, PA. Near Tennessee Pass and the Continental Divide, we encountered the beautiful picture to the right of the railroad, a lake, and the snow-capped mountains.

The Concierge at the Westin told us that we should take a drive to Independence Pass. She mapped it out for us by saying we should head east to Minturn, then south to Tennessee Pass and Leadville. We should continue on through Twin Lakes, Independence Pass, and end up in Aspen for lunch. Continuing on south, we would go through Carbondale and then possibly stop in Glenwood Springs and hit the hot springs. Well, she doesn’t know us very well, because even though we started early, we stopped at lots of scenic places and didn’t get to Leadville until mid-morning. We looked to see what there was to do in the highest incorporated city in America and found the Mining Museum. We didn’t think it would be much of anything, but were actually pleasantly surprised at how large and fascinating it was. We ate lunch in Leadville and it was about 3:30 when we got to Aspen. Needless to say, we never visited any hot springs.

Leadville/Independence Pass

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6/15/16—6/22/16

Shortly after Twin Lakes, we began to climb more and more. We crossed the 10,000’ mark and then 11,000’. We ran into our first snowbank, so naturally we got out and had a little fun.

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