Back in Rapid City

Well, we're back in Rapid after a long day in the van.  Not one cubic inch was left unused, or so it seemed.  I think everyone was comfortable but there wasn't any room to spare.  I had packed the camera before I thought to take a shot of loaded vehicle.  The drive was uneventful but lively, highlighted by lots of conversation, music, games and a relatively few video shows.  We traveled about 11 hours.

Because our house was on the way to dropping off Taryn and because I packed so much stuff on top of her suitcase we decided to stop at home first.  After we unloaded a bunch of our stuff we pulled out her suitcase we were ready to run her into town.  I was so tired of sitting in the van and so anxious to fire up our new car that I took the extra couple of minutes to take off the car cover.   I started the car and pulled it up in front of the house only to realize that gasoline was gushing out from under the engine.  Oh well.  I suspect mice may have gnawed through the fuel line as there was other evidence under the hood that rodent damage had occurred.

So.....

BMW roadside assistance quickly arranged for transportation of the car back to Sioux Falls.  They are expecting the vehicle this afternoon and will get it fixed right away.  I'm not sure how I'll be getting it back but naturally I can't wait.

This may be the final post of the B-Squad Blog, at least until next summer.  Thanks for following along.

Blazing Adventures

I'm running out of time hence the abbreviated commentary.  The day started a bit later than usual due to extra sleeping after a late-start viewing of Avatar in the media room.  I made a ride to get some peaches this morning.  Abe had his last lesson with Ms. Whitney.  Taryn took the girls on a run down to the Rio Grande Park by the Roaring Fork River.  They did some yoga (so I'm told) then somehow the three of them all fell into the river.  Abe had a tennis lesson, I ran a couple of errands and then went to the airport to pick up Peter and Shalini and Baja.  Baja is a dog they rescued at an airport in Mexico many years ago.

So, back to yesterday's big adventure.  Here are a bunch of photos.

Here are a few shots before we hit the water.  To the left are Jamuna and Taryn, the two "adult" girls in our family unit.

To the right are Abe and Maya along with Gloria and Tamara.






Here's a shot of Abe as the guide was explaining all the various hazards and risks of the trip.  Once we hit the water and passed the first bend Abe was fearless. I don't have any good action shots of Abe because I couldn't keep up with him.







Here is Taryn.  Her main job yesterday was to make sure no one broke their violin hand, including her own.














Here is Jamuna on full power.  Check out them guns.






Below, Maya and Gloria

Our favorite Aspen collaborative pianist, Ms. Tamara.



And Mr. Kool.











Below is an adventurous cohort taking the plunge into a confluence.

Abe is getting ready for the big dive.

Standing around just downstream from the confluence ride.

The B-Squad

And the group shot.

Health Tip

Here's the health tip for the day:  If you want to stay young in heart, mind and body, start having your kids when most of your friends are sending theirs off to college.  It's not easy but it's pretty great.  Also, don't downshift your bike as much as you might like when approaching hills along the way back from the fruit stand.








Yesterday was white water day.  I have a bunch of photos to post with comments.  Here are just three to whet your appetite.

It's official...

The sky really is bluer in Aspen.  I thought it might have just been my Maui Jim's.  Go ahead and Google it.  Also, I Googled "blah blah blah" and received over 32,000,000 hits in 0.51 seconds.

On a lighter note, believe it or not, today was quite busy.  I awoke with a mild headache but got that under control quickly with 400mg ibuprofen and a few cups of joe.  Did a bit of pre-cleaning since I didn't want the housekeeper to think we were slobs.  Maya muscled through her morning routine in time to get a short practice in before heading up to the music campus for the day.  She had a rehearsal with Ms. Tamara, studio class and then her final lesson for the summer with Mr. Kantor.

Upon returning from dropping off Maya and Taryn, I... wow, I don't recall what I did.  One thing that comes to mind is that I spoke with Peter who will be flying back to Santa Barbara from Michigan with Shalini on Friday.  They are going to stop over in Aspen and spend most of the day with us before leaving on Saturday morning.  We're looking forward to that.  Then Abe and I rode bikes into town to get bananas, coffee, a book from the library, and a cheeseburger (to go) from Little Annie's.  Abe also had one of his favorites, some organic chocolate milk.  Kids!


During our bike ride we encountered a few interesting art objects that we had not seen before.  One is this figure made of chicken wire.  Personally I think her nose it a bit big.

Also, near the gondola ticket booth we found this bike-like thing with a bunch of miniature cars attached.  It was trying to make some kind of statement about how much more colorful cars are than bicycles, or something like that.  Anyway, the lady on the bench was wondering why I was photographing her but I just left that a mystery for her to ponder.

On the path back we always pass this neat underpass that allows for safe riding under highway 82.  We all like the mirror.  If you look carefully you'll see Abe flying up the hill.  The highway is above and just behind my point of view in case your thinking "underpass???".

Then I headed back up to the music campus to attend Maya's studio class.  All good things eventually come to an end (really?) and today was the last class.  We heard a bunch of great performances and then started the long goodbye.  One fun thing is that we invited Gloria and her mom Anne, and Tamara, to go rafting on Thursday - and they accepted the invitation.  We are all looking forward to that.



After studio class Maya had her lesson with Mr. Kantor.  We are taking photos every year so when Maya is here for her 10th season (could we be that fortunate) and Mr. Kantor is here for his 50th (!!!) we'll have a fun chronology to look at.

I'm presenting this construction zone photo as a reminder of the absurd amount of noise and diesel fumes that permeated the studio class room.  I think they call that ambiance but I'm sure there's a better term.

This final shot may actually be my greatest discovery of the summer.  Too bad I stumbled on to it so late in the season.  The portable restroom across from Mr. Kantor's studio appears on the outside to be one of those "last resort" facilities.  Inside the walls were marble green with gold fixtures, artwork hanging on the walls and a nice wooden floor.  No kidding.  Probably the only thing I would change is the way the toilet paper is installed (I prefer the loose end to be on the front of the roll, away from the wall).

Wednesday night offers a physics lecture re high temperature superconductivity and then and Edgar Meyer recital.

West Side Story

I suppose the big event of the day yesterday was seeing West Side Story at the Wheeler Opera House.  The day started out with a flurry of lessons.  Ms. Whitney came to our place and worked with Abe, Maya went up to the music campus to work with both Natalie and Tamara, then Jamuna had her hour with Mr. Lilleslatten.

While I was sitting on a bench outside the middle school waiting for Jamuna and Taryn I saw Mike and Destiny walking toward me.  We have a lot of connections to Destiny.  She grew up in Rapid City and had Mrs. White as her violin teacher so consequently we have a bunch of mutual friends. One of those friends is Taryn so it was a surprise for both of them to see each other here in Aspen.  Here's a group shot:

We booked our rafting trip for tomorrow afternoon.  We had invited the Lilleslatten's to join us but there were no trips available that worked with their schedule.  We promised each other that next summer we will make it work.  Of course, I'll report on this tomorrow (or Friday).

After all the lessons and practicing we made a point of getting some exercise.  Taryn went for a run while Jamuna and Maya rode bikes with her.  Abe joined them on a Razor scooter.  I took off on the bike to get a CD of Maya's masterclass but the dub office closed at 4 PM.  On my way back I ran into Natalie (not literally) as she was riding into town.  It is always fun to see someone out of context like that.  We had a quick but nice visit.

As I was riding up to the duplex I saw that a property a couple of houses down was having an open house so I dropped in for  a quick look.  Then back to the dupe for the clean up then off we all went for dinner and the opera.  We ate at a place called Junk, the name being derived primarily from the decor which was mostly junk.  The food may have also been an inspiration.

After dinner it was off to the opera.  West Side Story was performed by the AMFS opera students and musicians.  It was very well done.  The three Lilleslatten kids were part of the cast - very cool.  Since this was a benefit performance most of the seats sold for $1000 each (not ours!).  We were lucky to be rubbing elbows with the Aspen elite.

I didn't take many photos yesterday so will make up for it today and tomorrow.

Maroon Bells - 2

The big event today was our hike up to Crater Lake at the base of the Maroon Bells.  The mandatory shot above was taken at the beginning of our four mile hike.  The kind-of-maroon, bell shaped mountains are among the most photographed mountains in the world.  In an earlier post I may have commented that we could see these Maroon Bells from the duplex we are renting but I think what we see is Pyramid Peak which is not actually considered one of the "bells".  This hike today was our second annual Crater Lake hike.

I took dozens of photos today of which I have selected just a few to post here, along with some commentary.


The journey officially starts from Aspen Highlands Resort, a nice ski area a couple of miles up Maroon Creek Canyon.  Cars are not permitted to drive much past Aspen Highlands between 9 AM and 5 PM due to overcrowding and air pollution.  Instead one must ride a bus for a small fee.  Along the way the driver provides a nice presentation about the natural history and human history of the area.










At the end of the bus ride there are restrooms and a small visitor center.  From there the hike starts.  Here's the group just raring to go.







As soon as we arrived at Crater Lake, about 45 minutes later, we ripped into our lunch which we purchased at Grateful Deli in Aspen.  After lunch the main activity was rock skipping, or attempting thereof.  The geologic features of the available rock was such that skipping wasn't all that easy.

















 Above is the lunch event, and to the right is the coolest event of the day.

This shot to the left is an attempt at "art".

The photo below is an attempt at "freeloading".

I think it is pretty obvious which attempt was more successful.

































And here is a beautiful shot of a darling little backpack, I mean backpack-er.

On the bus ride down the canyon we met a nice (older) couple who have a home over the hill in Crested Butte.  They had hiked 11 miles in 9 hours to catch the bus down to Aspen.  A friend is going to pick them up in the morning.  They were so exhausted and unsure how to get to their hotel we gladly gave them a lift.

We are now back at the pad and in the process of washing up and refueling - and contemplating a reward scoop.

Ice Skating

The big event today was a trip to the Aspen Recreation Center.  Last summer we spent quite a bit of time there skating and swimming but had not been there at all this summer, until today.  Maya has been wanting to go ice skating but Mom has been reluctant to allow this due to the risk or wrist injury.  Prema finally acquiesced.  Here is a snapshot I took of Prema watching from above.  The funny thing is that if you look carefully you can see Taryn helping Maya up off the ice after a fall.  Maya is wearing an orange sweatshirt.
PS: Do NOT tell Mr. Kantor.

Here's the troupe as well as a photo of the climbing wall they attacked after skating.  I wasn't there to catch them on the wall, but you get the idea

Going, Going, Going

We went golfing, miniature-style, on Friday.  After a busy morning full of practices and rehearsals we desperately needed some exercise and recreation so we rode bikes into town and hit the links.















Prior to golfing Maya, Prema and Taryn drove up to the music school campus for a lesson with Natalie and a rehearsal with Tamara.  Maya forgot to take the gift we had for Natalie so that was a great excuse for me to ride up Castle Creek Canyon.  It was a fun ride that took me to a new network of bike paths.  The bike path system in and around Aspen is quite impressive.  Here is a view of the practice area where Maya does a lot of her work.  They are all in the room to the left of the bike (foreground).   Also included is a shot of one of the bike path tunnels that allow for safe passage under the major highway that enters Aspen from the north.




















This is a view of the cafeteria area at the music school.  I think the food they produce is exceptionally good.  I always over-eat when I have lunch up there.

Maya thought it was funny that no one wanted to sit in the sun.

BTW, we checked on Maggie and the duck.  We learned that after three and a half hours someone had to wade into the pond to pull the dog out.





So, we're still on Friday.  After music and golf we all go cleaned up and went to a concert in the tent featuring Sarah Chang.  I think on of the most amazing things about that experience was that the girls didn't go backstage for an autograph.  I'm wondering if we are getting Sarah Chang-ed out.  After the concert we took Jamuna to the dupe because she was not feeling well then headed to La Palapa's for a quick bite.  Had to leave early because Maya started to feel ill.  Not sure what was going on but thankfully they were both feeling better the next morning.

Yesterday, Saturday, Maya and Jamuna had lessons.  Seems like much of the day was well spent just relaxing at the duplex.  Prema and I went into town for a walkabout.  We encountered this quartet playing on the street featuring one of our Aspen/Cleveland friends Ben.  We are all big fans of Ben and are hoping he wins the Dorothy DeLay Fellowship competition next week.

It a good thing I keep a detailed calendar and take a lot of pictures otherwise I don't think I would remember much of what we do each day.

Last night Maya and Abe stayed home while the rest of us went to a quartet performance at Harris Hall.  It included pieces by Haydn, Bartok and Ravel.  I really liked the Haydn.

Today, Sunday, is starting off nice and easy (easily?).  Prema, Taryn and Maya have headed up to campus to meet with Tamara.  We are cooking some food prepared by Mom Mom so it is ready when we need it next.  Abe and I are planning to ride to the fruit stand shortly.  It is uncharacteristically overcast.