J came out as well, working remotely during the day, and we had a great time skiing and hanging out with friends at night. (Pictures on friend's camera, so I'll have to post later).
The only other time we were in Snowmass Village was a previous Fall visit, where Caleb and I rode the fabulous Government Trail on mountain bikes. It was fun to see the same mountains covered in snow -- and much easier to ride the lift up rather than pedal up!
Had a few excellent meals in Snowmass at Mountain Dragon and Il Poggio. Besides that, we also took the bus one night down to Aspen, a town which I've been openly ambivalent about in the past. This time, however, we were able to find some great and affordable(!) hangouts:
* New York Pizza, which had delicious, affordably pizza, beer/wine, and great service. It's small, but worth going out of your way and eating later if you don't want to spend a fortune.
* Zane's Tavern, which was a fun and sufficiently laid-back bar
So, I have softened a bit on Aspen, having enjoyed some good places with good friends, and don't necessarily need to go out of the way to avoid it. (Still prefer that other town on the other side of the Elks, though).
Mike, I'm entertaining the idea of doing Leadville 100, but I'd have to do it on the cheap; I may be asking you for advice (and possibly for a floor upon which to throw my sleeping bag).
ReplyDeleteAspen does not seem like Colorado. It's more like you took part of the wealthy suburbs of NYC or the Hollywood Hills, filled it with people from Monte Carlo and Beverly Hills, and dropped it into a beautiful mountain valley.
ReplyDeleteThat said, it's been a congenial place for me, and the Elks are awesome. One of these days I'll ski there.
If NY Pizza is that place on the 2nd floor downtown, I went there too. That's about my budget, along with McDonald's and Big Wrap. lol.
@SteveQ: Happy to provide accommodations and suggestions any time! Many folks linked on this Blog have great direct LT100 experience (not only have they run it once or multiple times, but have other mountain ultras to compare it to), as I have not run it and have no direct experience. Notably, Brandon has a -series- of writeups pre and post-race from August, whereas Pete has a candid take on some negative aspects of the race.
ReplyDeleteThat said, since the WS100 lottery fail, I've been thinking much about it, and was planning on soliciting some advice this weekend about it or alternative races from some veterans. I'll let you know about their suggestions.
@mtnrunner2: "MMMM....California, Beautiful!" Yes, that's the pizza place! Somehow, my disdain for expensive food is still slightly overridden by a dislike for chain fast food if I'm visiting from out of town, so I always feel like I want to try something different. "Big Wrap" sounds like a good option for lunch sometime!