Bach to Aspen...Just in Time

Prema made it Bach (back) to Aspen without a moment to spare in order to see a fabulous performance by Julia Fischer in the Benedict Music Tent (she played solo, unaccompanied, Bach Partitas 1-3).  Prema flew all the way to Aspen but as the aircraft was approaching the airport, wheels down and ready to land, the pilot had to pull up and return to Denver.  The issue, apparently common up here, was that even a minor tailwind of 10 mph requires the plane to land at a higher speed which then exceeded the ability to stop on the short runway.  So...she did come back on the next flight which was able to land safely.  In the news around Aspen this summer is that approval has been obtained to lengthen the runway.

I was able to pick Prema up and drive directly to the concert in time to get settled.  We didn't even wait for her checked bag.

Our day started as planned with a nice reunion with David Kim and his daughter Natalie.  David's other daughter Maggie was not feeling well so David's wife stayed in Vail with her.  We were all glad that Natalie and Maya were able to see each other again despite the slight change in plans.  We met at Aspen Highlands, the take off point for the bus "tour" up the canyon to the Maroon Bells area.  Here is a shot of the kids on the bus ride up the hill.

We (including Coral White) decided to take the walk up to Crater Lake and eat lunch there.  It was a beautiful day and the hike was quite nice though I will admit that it was a bit more strenuous than I anticipated.  The trail was quite rocky and uneven in parts, and was nearly four miles round trip with a substantial elevation gain.  We barely had enough water but in the end we all agreed it was a great day.  Conversation was continuous.  Really, I don't think there was more than 20 seconds of silence the entire day.

Here are a few shots of the day:

Maya and Natalie sculpted a turtle from mud from Crater lake.

...and the walk back.

After we said our goodbyes and made promises to reconnect soon, the B-Squad drove back to the condo for quick showers.  I went to the airport as described above.  As Prema and I were headed back into town Coral and the kids started walking to the tent.  We met them drove to the tent (none of us really felt like doing much more walking at that point). After the show we had a nice dinner out at a new favorite called Asie (I was told that's French for "Asian"). I dropped them off and since I couldn't find a place to park I just took the van back to the condo and walked the 5 blocks back to the restaurant.  While they had dessert I went out to the airport to get Prema's suitcase.  The condo finally went to sleep around 11 PM.