Serendipity in Snowmass

This morning found us on the 7am flight out of Atlanta, westward bound for Snowmass and the final Seminar on Academic Computing at the Silvertree Hotel. This is an event Alan has gone to regularly for many years and we didn't want to miss the last meeting. Apparently, they will tear down the entire complex to put in high end lodging and condos. Sad, but that seems to be the theme these days in Aspen-Snowmass.

We lunched at a lovely French café at the foot of Mt Aspen. Alan indulged in moulles et fritês, l'Amerique (which involved Sam Adams). I had a very nice gazpacho. We wandered around Aspen, through the Saturday market, where Alan bought me a purse made out of recycled soda bottles -- it looks like a straw bag but you can wipe it down. Cute, too. We also spent a good 45 minutes watching the Aspen rugby team take on Steamboat Springs. Unfortunately for Aspen, Steamboat dominated play, at least in the first half.

On arriving at the Silvertree, the very friendly general manager informed me that there was a free evening concert on Fanny Hill, immediately adjacent to the hotel. The artists? Shawn Colvin opening for John Hiatt!! Alan couldn't believe it. We could actually see the stage from our room and enjoyed John's extensive sound check from there but went out on the hill for the actual show, which was amazing. He's such a great performer and brought out lots of goodies -- Tennessee Plates, Thing Called Love, Crossing Muddy Waters, Memphis in the Meantime, Perfectly Good Guitar, and Real Fine Love, finishing up with a sweet version of Slow Turning.

We sat on the hillside, watching the sunset in the distance over the mountains and felt lucky indeed.