MOUNTAIN PEARL – SUMMER 2023

MOUNTAINPEARL

PUBLISHED BY MOUNTAIN PARENT

Summer

MOUNTAINPEARL

18 TRAILS & TRAVEL HOLLY RICHARDSON takes out her scrapbook and shares memories of a family train trip to the San Fransisco Bay Area. By taking trains and staying at youth hostels, she and her husband Dan gave their boys Henry and Noel a sustainable way to travel, and an unforgettable summer vacation.

28 PACKING FOR A TRAIN, A CITY, & THE BEACH.

When you’re riding the rails and your destination is complicated, you need clothing and gear that travel light and do double-duty. ERIN ZALINSKI helps us arrive in style and plan for just about any vacation situation.

32 FLY FISHING WITH MR. PRESIDENT Call it fate or faith. When fly fishing guide STEVEN CALAWAY BROWN helped President Jimmy Carter land a Gunny trout in the Black Canyon, a friendship began that would shape this angler’s destiny, as well as the future of a remote cay in Guanaja, Honduras.

39 SUMMER STAYCATION

SOMETHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT JEANNE SOULDERN

(Above) Day two of a three-day raft trip with the kids, planned by Anne White with Brett and Kristen Hochmuth. The group put in at Loma, CO, and took out in Westwater Canyon, Utah. They swam, camped, and paddle boarded and will never forget these days on the river. (PHOTO: ANNE WHITE)

PUBLISHED BY MOUNTAIN PARENT

DANCE Moon

APRIL CROW-SPAULDING

Say hello to APE ON THE DINK, KDNK’s Friday morning DJ who keeps us dancing in our office seats. April put together a nighttime musical lineup for MP’s summertime backyard dinner party. {Recipes, p. 63.}

DOWNLOAD THE 3 PART PLAYLIST PUBLISHED IN 3 MONTHLY DROPS

MOUNTAIN-PEARL.COM

9 IN SEASON OUR WATERSHED

DIANA ALCANTARA shows us how and where we can share our creeks and rivers with wetland birds. While doing so, she helps us bring reverence to the element that flows from the mountaintops to the sea, pooling in eddies all around our community.

12

GOOD SPORTS

COUNG NHU

When their dojo closed last summer, a group of high school black belts decided to keep their Martial Arts community going. ANASOPHIA BROWN shares the story of the Rise Above Training Club.

14

HELPING HANDS

ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE

Read about a year in the life of two students who lived both sides of international exchange. Meet JT HABERERN, host sibling of Maya Wahren (right), while KATE KELEHER (left), lived in Romania with RYE for last school year.

48 HOMELIFE

Q&A

Let us introduce you to our neighbors. Learn why these professionals love their work, which revolves around designing, finding, brokering, building, and funding your Home Sweet Home.

52 OUT & ABOUT

HOW CAN WE SHOW UP IN SUPPORT?

55 MAKE PLANS COMMUNITY RECREATION & LIBRARY PROGRAMMING + CALENDAR ITEMS

76

MEET OUR PEOPLE NAMES & FACES + SUMMER CAMP UPDATES

READERS, Dear

“By the time it came to the edge of the Forest, the stream had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and, being grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used to do when it was younger, but moved more slowly. For it knew now where it was going, and it said to itself, “There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.” But all the little streams higher up in the Forest went this way and that, quickly, eagerly, having so much to find out before it was too late.”

A.A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner

An overnight innertube float trip down the Blackwater River in Florida gave me my first-ever camping trip, and my first eye-level stare-off with an alligator, from a distance of maybe twenty yards. It was my first summer in college and a canoe carried gear and beer with a boombox strapped to its bow. We took turns rowing the “party barge” and someone’s mixtape had Joe Cocker covering “Many Rivers to Cross,” which felt poetic on the water and always takes me back there.

The Blackwater River is crystal clear, but dyed the color of black tea from tannins that leach in from the surrounding swamps. Its beaches and sandbars are sugar-white from quartz deposits that washed downstream eons ago during the formation of the Appalachian Mountains. I learned these geological tidbits from my friend Curtis Graf while we floated, feet and seats down in the water, occasionally using paddles to course-correct. On the second day, I woke up before anyone else and sat alone on the riverbank. As the light moved from gray to dawn, a heron came gliding in a few feet above the river, which was a mirror reflecting its grace – vivid white gray on black water. The heron dipped its beak in, flapped its wings, and moved on, unaware of my attention, and my soul cried.

I’d come home from college weighted down, carrying the pressures that my eighteen-year-old self had embraced, thinking that leading a good life meant becoming a certain kind of perfect. On the river, in the quiet, all of that stopped mattering. Something shifted. But don’t get the wrong idea that I stood up from the riverbank with a “first day of the rest of my life” zeal. It’s taken years to get out from under the expectations I stacked upon myself, and I’m still working on it. I sat there by the water feeling conflicted and alone until someone started coffee. The stovetop percolator over a smoky fire never actually got hot enough to brew. Our breakfast came out of the cooler soggy. We didn’t know what we were doing, and except for Curtis, none of us knew how to pack. For example, I’d brought a floral flannel sleeping bag stuffed in a monogrammed duffel made for sleepovers in suburbia. Every item was damp if not drenched, which explains why I got up so early. Looking back now, I can see an umbilical link from that morning to today.

MP’s gear review is a cornerstone because few of us come into this life with preternatural knowledge of backcountry travel (except friends like Erin Zalinski, our new gear guru.) When I moved to the mountains fresh out of college, this place took me in. Kind people taught me how to live here, how to drive a stick on Independence Pass, how to disembark a chairlift while strapped to a snowboard, and how to chop firewood when I leased a cabin on the Frying Pan River. This welcoming spirit is why I’m still here, and it’s the heart of our annual Staycation feature, written for a second year by Jeanne Souldern. She put together four itineraries after sitting down with women who grew up here, who shared their stories and local intel with us.

The element of water is sprinkled throughout this edition, beginning with Elana Royer’s Maroon Lake on the cover, followed by Diana Alcantara’s tour of our waterways and birds we may spot near our rivers. Holly Richardson brings us on a train trip to the Bay Area of San Fransisco. Steven Calaway Brown takes us fly fishing with President Jimmy Carter, sharing how a singular experience on a river changed countless lives a world away.

One thing I love about our community is the responsibility we feel for what we send (and what we don’t send) downstream. Like primordial quartz flowing down the Blackwater to the Gulf, our watershed is born on our mountaintops, and it connects us to people and places we may never know, a lifeline that we can feel, honor, and protect. “I like the sound of it, but pearls don’t come from the mountains,” I’ve heard a few times lately. As far as origin stories go, I beg to differ.

Kathryn Camp PUBLISHER

ELANA ROYER COVER ARTIST

FOUNDER OF LILYBART, AN ASPEN GREETING CARD AND PAPER-ART LINE CREATED TO RAISE AWARENESS OF CYSTIC FIBROSIS.

When we first arrived in the Valley in 2009, we felt like tourists, eager to see and experience everything new. A bike ride up to the Maroon Bells was on the top of our bucket list. My sister Michelle and her son James were visiting from Pennsylvania and we hired a guide to lead our bike trip to the Bells. Due to the summertime road closure, which minimizes traffic through the wilderness area, one may either ride a shuttle from the base of Highlands or bike. We opted for the more strenuous approach, and felt like locals after huffing up the 9-mile 1,600 vertical foot climb from T-Lazy 7 Ranch all the way up to the Bells.

After exploring Maroon Lake, and hiking to and from Crater Lake, we remounted our bikes and started back down. Our guide led the way (clearly better able to talk on the downhill ride than while charging uphill). She would point to various wildlife, exclaiming, “Marmot on the rocks!” or “Eagle at 11 o’clock,” all while peddling fast, leading us at a brisk pace. Each time she shouted out, the kiddos giggled at her exuberance.

Once home, the kids concocted a refreshing drink (made with everything but the kitchen sink) and called it “Marmot on the Rocks.” To this day, my children and their cousin still reminisce about their first trip to the Bells, and yes, they still make Marmot on the Rocks. (Recipe, page 63.)

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GRATITUDE With

DIANA ALCANTARA MP COLUMNIST

Diana was born in Denver and raised in the foothills of Colorado. She has dedicated her life’s work to help children awaken their potential, not only as scholars, but as engaged members of their community. Since moving to Carbondale in 2008, she has served on the Board of Directors for Carbondale Council of Arts and Humanities (now known as Carbondale Arts) and The Sopris Sun. She created a school garden at the Carbondale Community School, where she has taught for twelve years.

ANASOPHIA BROWN GUEST AUTHOR

Anasophia is a freshman at Roaring Fork High School. When she isn’t training or teaching Martial Arts, she spends her time swimming, hanging out with friends, baking, or exploring the Roaring Fork Valley’s nearby wilderness. She also plays volleyball for her high school team and in the Maroon Belles club league. She loves school, especially human geography, debate, and environmental science. During these school-free days of summer, she’s looking forward to camping, rafting, and taking a hut trip with Youth in Nature.

STEVEN CALAWAY BROWN

GUEST AUTHOR

Steven is a Colorado native who followed his passion from the river to the sea as a fly fishing guide and teacher. While earning an MA in English at CSU, he created the course:

“Reading and Writing the River

Through Fly Fishing, Boating, and Backpacking,” which he taught at Colorado College. He started a saltwater fly fishing lodge in Guanaja, Honduras. Steven also founded Fish for Change, an international nonprofit where teenagers engage in outreach while learning to fly fish. In between, he guides on rivers in the Rockies while raising three little anglers with his fly-fishing guide wife, Beckie.

MOUNTAINPEARL

Published by Mountain

PUBLISHER/EDITOR

Kathryn Camp

ADVERTISING DESIGNER

Mimi Diamond

ART DIRECTION & PRODUCTION

Kathryn Camp

JONATHAN HABERERN GUEST AUTHOR

Better known by his friends as “JT,” this RFHS junior gives us a window into the Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) year in an article about being the host sibling of Maja Wahren, a Swedish exchange student who lived in Carbondale throughout this last school year. JT is working on earning his pilot’s license and hopes to attend a college with a commercial aviation program. He and his family are looking forward to welcoming a RYE student from Japan who will arrive in August. In the meantime, you might catch up with him on his mountain bike.

COVER ARTIST

Elana Royer

COVER DESIGN

Kathryn Camp

MP COLUMNISTS

Diana Alcantara

Jeanne Souldern

Erin Zalinski

MP PHOTOGRAPHERS

Sarah Kuhn

Renee Ramge

WEB CONTENT MANAGER

Mimi Diamond

AUDIO VISUAL EDITOR

Ryan Camp

ADVISOR

Ken Pletcher

SUCH AS IT IS …

KATE KELEHER GUEST AUTHOR

Kate is an RFHS student who lived in Romania throughout this last school year as part of the Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) program. We invited her to tell us about her year abroad. Kate arrived back stateside in early June and is looking forward to camping with friends and traveling with her family. Her first wish upon getting home? Breakfast at the Smithy. Having had such a fulfilling time abroad, Kate plans to take a gap year after graduation to travel the U.S. and volunteer in Africa.

Holly was raised in a traditional Southern family and followed her big brother to Aspen in 1990. She fell in love with the sunshine and blue skies, mountain biking, distance running, and, eventually, her husband Dan in 2000. Holly has taught at the Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork since 1995. She lives in Carbondale with Dan and their boys, Henry and Noel; her parents, Rosalie and Frank McSwain; and Fancy, the best doggie ever. Holly’s current muse is a recycled trophy, The Goddess of Good Enough, who travels with her wherever she goes.

SARAH UHL GUEST ARTIST

Sarah is a self-taught artist from Redstone, Colorado. She uses art as a tool to connect us with one another, ourselves, and Nature. Known for her whimsical watercolor landscape paintings, Sarah is also a commercial illustrator, custom map maker, live painter, muralist, and environmental activist. Since becoming a mother, Sarah has shifted her artistic focus to teaching watercolor workshops and hosting Wellness Retreats with a focus on communing with Nature. If she’s not chasing two toddlers down Redstone Boulevard, you might find Sarah searching for the perfect place for an alpine picnic.

ERIN ZALINSKI MP COLUMNIST

Erin moved from Michigan to Colorado “for a summer” in 1992 and never left. Thirty-one years later, she and her husband Jon (whom she met in Aspen) are the parents of two GSHS graduates. The couple founded TreadZ and later GoodZ in GWS, which they owned for a collective 15 years before selling the stores last year to make room for other opportunities, including a seat on Glenwood City Council, which Erin won in April. We are delighted to welcome her to MP as the magazine’s new gear expert.

The opinions expressed by contributors to MOUNTAIN PEARL are not necessarily those of the Publisher. Reproduction or use of editorial or graphic content without permission is prohibited. Mountain Parent LLC is registered with the State of Colorado. Mountain Parent and Mountain Pearl Magazine are registered trademarks of Mountain Parent LLC. SAY HELLO MOUNTAIN-PEARL.COM

PUBLISHER KATHRYN CAMP

Kathryn@Mountain-Pearl.com

HOLLY RICHARDSON GUEST AUTHOR

OUR WATERWAYS WITH OUR Sharing Feathered Friends

The waterways of our Valley begin the summer in a hurry. So do we. As the flows start to ease during June, then July and August, we can slow down too. When we visit the riverbanks and dip our feet in, we can be still while the rushing waters race past. This is when we can notice chirping birds all around us, mostly hidden by their habitats. Who’s singing? Find out in Birds of Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley by Rebecca Weiss, a guidebook that inspired our map of our rivers, creeks, and other places to observe our region’s birds.

It started for me this year with Rivers - Go With The Flow, the Carbondale Community School’s 2023 school-wide play. Students and teachers wrote and choreographed an original production exploring issues facing the rivers of the world, and the multitude and complexity of the demands put upon them. The kindergarten scene featured a variety of birds that live along rivers, having difficulty finding food because of all the garbage in their habitat, and the birds flew away. After the arrival of three birdwatchers and an epiphany moment, they worked together to pick up all the trash. Much to their (and the audience’s) delight, all the birds returned! The presence of one indicator species, the American Dipper, or Ouzel, means that a river is healthy and can support all members of the food chain. Seeing an Ouzel doing its bobbing dance as it skips along the river’s edge is a good sign.

Keep your eyes out for Ouzels this summer, during our hottest, driest months, when you and your family head out rafting, paddle boarding, or wading in the Valley’s waterways. Consider beginning your water adventure by offering heart-centered reverence for the water in all its forms. Reverence for all the elements found on Earth is deeply present in the consciousness of native peoples, who especially honor the spirit of the water as the first medicine given to humans by the Creator.

In the opening prayer for the Shining Mountains Filmfest, Roland McCook said, “My People lived [here in these mountains] in harmony with the environment… these mountains that they truly loved, I am entrusting those of you that live here now to care for this place. As the current inhabitants of the Roaring Fork watershed, we are now the caretakers of the land and water, and all of the life that it supports.” Answering his invitation means respecting the source waters, and offering gratitude for the importance water has in the web of life.

Natural rivers in Colorado are considered public, according to our state constitution. However, the riverbeds can still be privately owned. This means that stepping foot on a riverbed (i.e., the rocks underneath the flowing water) could result in trespassing charges.

“We all enjoy using the rivers and the experience in nature they give us. It is important for us all to respect the rivers, as well as the landowners bordering them,” said John Groves, District Wildlife Manager, Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Enjoy our rivers, whisper some words of gratitude as the water flows by you, and your children will learn to do the same. Pack out all your belongings, and consider picking up any trace of those who visited the river before you. The Ouzels thank you.

The Avalanche Creek Trail, which climbs up from the Avalanche Creek Campground area located off of Highway 133 south of Carbondale, is a fun day hike with younger kids. (It is also the starting point of a multi-day backpacking trip that intersects with the Capitol Creek Trail into the Maroon Bells Wilderness Area.) Whether you’re going for an afternoon out-and-back or a big excursion, look for side trails down to the creek, where you can play near the water – as Kristi Groves, and sisters Julie Berkman-Thompson and Anna Berkman-Cappa did with their kids on this mid-July day. (BTW, this setting is a primo hangout for spotting the elusive Ouzel.)

DIANA ALCANTARA

(Photo: Kristi Groves)

OUR CREEKS & RIVERS

A. ROARING FORK RIVER

B. HUNTER CREEK

C. CASTLE CREEK

D. MAROON CREEK

E. WOODY CREEK

F. BRUSH CREEK

G. OWL CREEK

H. SNOWMASS CREEK

I. FRYING PAN RIVER

J. EAST SOPRIS CREEK

K. WEST SOPRIS CREEK

L. BLUE CREEK

M. CRYSTAL RIVER

N. PRINCE CREEK

O. THOMPSON CREEK

P. AVALANCHE CREEK

Q. CATTLE CREEK

R. FOUR MILE CREEK

S. THE COLORADO RIVER

A FEW OF OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS

AMERICAN DIPPER / OUZEL

You might not notice an Ouzel at first glance. Although they are medium-sized birds, their color provides a perfect camouflage with the natural browns and grays of the rocks and riverbanks. You will notice a chunky build, stubby tail, and short wings. This bird’s superpower is its unique way of bobbing up and down at the water’s edge, which makes it appear to be doing a water-dipping dance. Listen for their distinctive call - a loud song as they fly above the rushing water, in a series of trills and flutelike notes.

BELTED KINGFISHER

What helps me to quickly identify this master fishing bird is a top-heavy silhouette with a ragged crest on top of the head. They have a daggerlike bill and sport a handsome white band at the neck. Kingfisher females have a rusty red band across their chests. Their stunning slateblue plumage is another way to identify this large bird that swoops across the waterways. What may be their finest characteristic is the call that accompanies their swoop - a mechanicalsounding, fast staccato note (reminiscent of Woody Woodpecker!)

GREAT BLUE HERON

Easily recognizable while in flight by their slow and graceful wing movement, what is unique to the blue heron is a straight and graceful flightpath high above the rivers. Notice their elegant, long legs that they tuck up under their bodies and then stretch out behind them. I admire their bluish-gray plumage. What draws my attention is the long and pointy bright orange beak. This makes a stunning contrast to its white head with a black stripe over the eye that is topped off with a few black head plumes. In quiet stillness, you may spot a heron wading along the marshy areas of the rivers, streams, or edges of a pond.

OSPREY

You can identify an osprey for their graceful soaring in big circles overhead as they let out a variety of short, high-pitched chirping calls. The markings on their underside are a mostly white plumage pattern on the body, met with a distinctive brown stripe in the middle of the wing that introduces a brown-and-white pattern. They wear a narrow black mask across their eyes. Ospreys are master builders and must appreciate a great view out of the nest - they build at the top of trees or electric poles around the Roaring Fork Valley.

PLACES WHERE WE CAN “GO WITH THE FLOW”

While herons do indeed visit this shady and shallow stretch of the Roaring Fork River, right in the heart of Aspen, the park’s sign is not, in fact, misspelled. Herron Park is named for John Herron, a silver prospector who lived at the cusp of Aspen’s birth as a ski town. He leased his mine’s surface rights to Walter Paepcke, who later named the first lift on Ajax after him, the original ”Herron’s Boat Tow.” Now, his name is remembered through this quiet picnic spot with a toddler playground. The ankle-deep eddies here will warm up in the hot summer sun, and the gentle current makes this an early wading spot for little ones.

No ski boat in your driveway? No problem. Here’s a beach on Ruedi Reservoir for “the rest of us.” Bring your own shade and cash for the $7 day use fee, and tiptoe into the icecold wading area. Parents, be aware that the beachy shelf drops off quickly. Also, if you bring paddle boards or innertubes for floating, be sure to stay close to shore to avoid being in the pathway of ski boats. Watching water skiers and wake boarders is a fun spectator sport – and the nesting ospreys who hunt the opposite shoreline can be less showy, but just as spectacular.

You’ll see the small gravel parking lot as you approach the south entrance to Redstone. This brings you to a footbridge to Redstone Boulevard and the Town’s park and historic district. The park offers easy access to a shallow wading area, and later in the summer, you can walk over to “islands” of small boulders piled up in the current. Pick up lunch at Propaganda Pie or the Redstone General Store and enjoy a picnic along the shore. Listen to the sounds of the rushing water and playing children.

This spot is primarily a boat ramp used by private and commercial boaters for whitewater rafting, fishing, and kayaking. Walk a shady footpath beyond the parking lot to pick out a beach spot along the water. Bring a picnic

A half-mile of river easement, this easy trail goes along a short stretch of the Roaring Fork River. It is a put-in for boats and has easy access to the water for some splashing fun. The shoreline changes after spring runoff, when boulders get moved around by the current. It’s always fun to see the water holes created by industrious people who build eddies along the river. At certain times of day, you might find fly fishermen casting for trout, and when you see waders in the water, look up, because you might spot a bald eagle fishing as well.

Decidedly not the quiet sanctuary where one might expect to spot birds, this whitewater attraction is a world-class river surf wave, an artificial roller that is surfable at basically any flow level. Be aware that conditions vary significantly since the flow can range from around 20,000 cfs early in the season to 2,000 cfs later in the year. While you’re marveling at the athleticism of the surfers and paddle boarders who play in this wave, be sure to notice the occasional family of geese that will take these rapids like they were born to shred whitewater – which is, of course, what Mother Nature intended.

1. HERRON PARK

108 NEALE AVE, ASPEN

2. WILTON JAFFEE SR. PARK MCLAIN FLATS ROAD ADJACENT TO SMITH BRIDGE

3. FREEMAN MESA FRYING PAN RIVER ROAD 18 MILES UP FROM BASALT

4. BLUE CREEK RANCH OPEN SPACE COUNTY ROAD 100 CATHERINE STORE BRIDGE

5. ELK PARK 17838 CO HIGHWAY 133, REDSTONE

6. GLENWOOD WHITEWATER PARK 2307 DEVEREUX RD, GLENWOOD SPRINGS

I want Martial Arts to be for my students what it was for me. Not only has it given me physical strength and talent, but it has given me mental fortitude, confidence, deep morals, and so, so much joy.”

ANASOPHIA BROWN

CHALLENGE Rising TO A

When RISING CRANE TRAINING CENTER closed last summer, a group of high school black belts decided to keep their Cuong Nhu community alive.

Meet one of the leaders of the new RISE ABOVE TRAINING CLUB

ANASOPHIA BROWN

ROARING FORK HIGH SCHOOL

During a hot day nearing the end of last summer, Sensei Karen Bradshaw sat down with me and the rest of the leadership team of Rising Crane Training Center. We learned the dojo was closing. The thing that had been most consistent and impactful throughout the last ten years of my life was up in the air.

I have been training in Cuong Nhu, a Vietnamese martial art, for as long as I can remember. My two older sisters, Ruthie and Isabella started training in our Sensei Karen’s basement – a small, rectangular room with yellow walls and red mats. When I was five years old, I joined too. We hopped from the basement to school gyms, the park, and finally, after about a year, to our dojo.

I remember the excitement that rose up in me when I first saw our new space. A big white and blue sign that read “Rising Crane Training Center” hung in front of the building. Although there was still the same shade of yellow covering the walls, the ceilings stretched high above me. The size of our training space had doubled, maybe even tripled. Not only that, but the amount of training partners, kicking bags and opportunities swelled.

For the following 10 years, Rising Crane Training Center would be my second home. If I was not at school or at my house, I was in that building, after all, it was home to my second family. My

sensei, Karen Bradshaw, is one of my biggest inspirations. She taught me so much: how to use my body, defend myself, be kind to myself, and the importance of always having an open mind and heart. The incredible strength which I saw in her fueled my passion for the sport.

The dojo provided a space for us to grow as people and as martial artists. I grew to love sparring, and I had so many opportunities to explore other martial arts like traditional swordsmanship and Jiu Jitsu. I learned to use various weapons and trained in different styles. I also got to know myself; I learned what fueled me and what type of people I wanted to surround myself with.

After years and years of hard work, I earned my black belt and then my first degree black belt at Rising Crane Training Center. Although I was already an assistant teacher, as a black belt, my full attention shifted to teaching.

On the day we discovered the dojo was closing, one of my co-teachers and friend, Morgan Fink, and I spent the rest of the day trying and failing to hold back our tears.

What was next? Several of us wanted to continue working and training together. We started asking what opportunities were waiting around the next corner. The leadership team and I set out to figure out what was next.

The Rising Crane Training Center became the Rise Above Training Club. For the rest of the summer and last fall, we held classes outside in Gianinetti Park. As the days got colder, we knew a permanent training space was necessary before winter.

After searching for spaces, and calling countless businesses, and almost giving up, Morgan got us in touch with Ripple Effect. Ripple Effect is a gym in Carbondale that specializes in personalized athletic training. Morgan met the owner Carolyn Parker.

“As she showed me around the space, I think she was even more excited than I was,” Morgan said. “I could tell that she values our community, especially supporting us youth leaders.”

Our leadership team has dropped from five teachers to two. Nick Nardecchia and I host classes only once a week because we are high school students with crazy busy schedules.

We have tried our hardest to continue the legacy of Rising Crane that Sensei Karen entrusted to us. Any past students are welcome to start attending classes again.

So far, the things I learned through taking up this challenge and becoming more fully engaged in instructing others have impacted me everyday and will for the rest of my life.

The Roaring Fork Valley is home to 6 active clubs of ROTARY INTERNATIONAL.

The organization’s work to create peace around the globe ranges from fighting disease to providing clean water and education for millions of families. At the heart of Rotary’s mission lives a vision that through friendship, we can bridge cultural differences and create a world where conflict is resolved through mutual understanding.

ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE

(RYE) Local Rotary chapters sponsor exchanges where high school students from our community live abroad, fully immersed in the language, culture, and traditions of host families in more than 20 countries. It goes both ways, with families in the Valley welcoming foreign exchange students into their homes for two-to three-month visits.

Meet two students from ROARING FORK HIGH SCHOOL who share stories of their RYE year, JT HABERERN & KATE KELEHER.

EXCHANGE Cultural

JONATHAN HABERERN

MAY 2022

As a family, we were super excited to host an exchange student. I am an only child and this would give me exposure to what it is like to have a sibling. At first, we didn’t know much about Maja. Initially, we even thought that Maja was from Romania as that was what we had heard from Rotary. The first step is to vet host families, which involves background checks and a home visit to make sure RYE students will always be in a safe, healthy situation.

After we were approved to be a host family, we were able to see the profile that Maja submitted to Rotary – basic info – a photo, classes she had taken, and what some peers and teachers said of her. After that, however, we got to email Maja and her family. I shared my social media accounts and we were soon in touch by Snapchat and Instagram whenever time zones allowed. We also set up a Zoom call which allowed my family and her family to meet, albeit virtually, for the first time. The excitement was palpable in the days and weeks ahead of Maja’s arrival.

AUGUST

SOPHOMORES & JUNIORS

Apply online to study abroad for the 2024-25 school year or for a shorter summer semester.

SAVE THE DATE APPLICATIONS DUE:

December 1, 2023

mountainandplainsRYE.com

Maja arrived at Aspen/Pitkin County Airport on August 4, surprisingly alert and talkative after 24 hours of international travel. There was definitely a change in the house after her arrival. Dinners were more lively and it was fun to have another person my age in the house. We got into the habit of going on nightly walks when the temperature had cooled off and talking about the differences between the U.S. and Sweden. For example, Maja said, “you choose individual programs, like economics or society, instead of choosing individual classes. That is all done for you when you pick a program.”

The weather in Colorado is sunnier than in Sweden. Söderköping, Maja’s hometown, is located at a higher latitude, so their days are longer during the summer, with the sun barely going down for just a few hours each night.

“JT” and RYE host sibling of MAJA WAHREN from Söderköping, Sweden

SEPTEMBER

Although Maja had been to the U.S. countless times, she had never visited the West or the West Coast, so we wanted her to experience these parts of our country. My family planned a camping trip to Lake Powell, where we wakeboarded, jet-skied (above), swam, and took long boat rides to escape the 100-degree heat. It was a unique experience for Maja, as she had never seen anything like Lake Powell.

OCTOBER

I am earning my private pilot’s license and was able to bring Maja along on one of my flights to give her a different view of our Valley. We took off from the Aspen Airport and flew around Sunlight Mountain to the Rifle Airport. In Rifle, we did a series of touch-and-go’s, which is taking off and landing without stopping

NOVEMBER

What Maja was really looking forward to was skiing. There are no mountains around Söderköping, which is five hours away from the nearest ski resort. So she was happy to learn that from Carbondale, we can take the car or bus up to Snowmass or Aspen and be skiing in less than an hour. Maja’s favorite ski hill: Ajax.

DECEMBER

In mid-December, Maja left us for her second host family, but we continued skiing, taking walks, and I gave her rides to school. It was weird having her gone, but it was good for her to experience living with another host family.

JANUARY 2023

Maja and Marius Farstad, a Danish exchange student living in Glenwood, wanted me to experience something I’d never done –snowboarding. (I’ve skied since I was five years old.) I felt like I was doing pretty well until I caught an edge and smacked the back of my head, resulting in a concussion. Unfortunately, that was the end of my ski season, but overall, Maja got in close to 20 days.

FEBRUARY

Usually an exchange student stays with a host family for around three months, but the organization could not find a third family to host Maja, so she returned to our house for the last four months of her exchange.

MARCH

We went to Hermosa Beach, CA, for Spring Break. We enjoyed riding bikes, walking the beach, and eating some really good food. We also went to a Lakers game and popped down to San Diego to go sailing.

APRIL

A group of friends got together before RFHS prom for “mama-razzi” photos, then out to dinner at Tiny Pine Bistro, then, eventually, to the dance. (Above, left to right) Maja, and her friends, Sky Wempe, Zaida Leslie, and Nina Leslie. Maja’s friends at school played a big role in her year here in our community.

MAY

Maja flew home to Sweden on May 21, and we miss her laughter and stories filling in our home. It’s been a super fun experience to have an exchange sister and I am definitely looking forward to hosting an exchange student again next year. I highly recommend doing this if you ever get the opportunity. Especially if you have kids around the exchange student’s age, as this will help them smoothly integrate into friendships and school here in the U.S.

JUNE

I’m looking forward to visiting Maja in Sweden for a few weeks. I am super excited to see Sweden after hearing about it for so long. It will be a lot of fun to experience the culture there firsthand, it’s certainly going to be a different experience having the sun shine for twentyodd hours while I’m there.

WISHING TO WELCOME a RYE student into your home for three-to four-months?

Please reach out to one of the 3 local Rotary Clubs that participate in RYE: rotarycarbondale.org

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gsrotary.org

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AUGUST 2022

Flying to Frankfurt, leaving my small Rocky Mountain town behind in Colorado, I was unaware of what the future would hold for me in Romania as a participant in Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE). That was the moment of realization that my life was about to change completely. I had just left all that I knew – my family, friends, and comfort zone for 11 months. I would call Târgu Mureș, Romania, my new home. I had just jumped into the deep end.

JUMP BACK ONE YEAR

SEPTEMBER 2021

I first learned about RYE from my dad, Brian. He was an exchange student in Tasmania, Australia, and my oldest brother, Patrick, was an exchange student in Paraguay. My dad told me what a life-changing experience living abroad for a year would be, and how not everyone gets to experience this once-in-alifetime opportunity. I quickly fell in love with the idea of student exchange and applied to RYE through the Carbondale Rotary Club.

During the application period, I went through a series of meetings over Zoom with other students from around Colorado. With my mom and dad by my side, I was asked by the Rotarian Selection Committee, “Why would you like to go on an exchange?” and “What country would you like to go to?” After two days of rigorous Zoom interviews, and meeting other Colorado RYE candidates, I was accepted into the program. My family and I were thrilled, and I soon met other RYE students from Colorado, with whom I’d be in touch online as we all got ready for our year abroad.

FEBRUARY 2022

An email popped up while I was riding the Skittles gondola at Snowmass. I opened it quickly. “Congratulations Kate, Outbound student to Romania 2022-2023.”

MAY

Outbound students from Colorado met in Grand Junction for “The Blazer Ceremony.” RYE presents each student with a blue blazer, signaling that you’re officially an outbound RYE student. I would wear my blazer to Rotary events in my host country. You might have been traveling in airports and seen teenagers with blazers with hundreds of pins on them? Well, I received around 100 pins adorned with my name, the U. S. flag, the Romanian flag, and Carbondale, Colorado. Throughout the year, I have traded pins with other RYE students in my host country and around the world.

AUGUST

That summer, we rafted in Utah, camped in our Valley, and cherished long evenings, knowing I would leave soon. Then, on the morning of August 18, I drove to school with my older brother, Finn, to say goodbye to him in the RFHS parking lot before heading to Denver International Airport with Mom and Dad.

Landing in Târgu Mureș, Romania, I walked through the airport’s sliding doors and found my host family smiling and holding a blue poster saying, “Welcome Kate!” with an American and Romanian flag. Here was my crash course in Romanian culture, foods, and communication. At first, I wasn’t even entirely sure how to politely greet people.

KATE KELEHER

ROARING FORK HIGH SCHOOL RYE student living in Târgu Mureș, Romania

SEPTEMBER

After about two weeks, I got to travel to the city of Râmnicu Vâlcea, for a Romanian language camp with other inbound Romanian exchange students.

OCTOBER

As time passed, the leaves became red, orange, and yellow. On October 30, I went with my host family to Brașov, Romania, where we visited Bran Castle. The castle is otherwise known as “Dracula’s Castle” – an incredible experience, especially on the day before Halloween.

By then, I was becoming more comfortable with my school and classmates. However, I was not enjoying the 7:30 a.m. start, which meant waking up at 6:00 a.m.

NOVEMBER

Right before Thanksgiving, I gave my class a presentation about our American holiday – and everyone was excited to have our own Thanksgiving feast in the classroom. We didn’t have turkey and gravy – but instead, we ate the most American meal available – pizza, key lime pie, and chocolate chip cookies – while listening to John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High.”

DECEMBER

We started getting some snowfall, and I switched to my second host family just a few days before Christmas break. I helped my host family prepare a traditional Romanian holiday sweet bread called cozonac, and I met their grandparents, but I found that I terribly missed my own family and our traditions.

JANUARY

For New Year’s, some friends and I went to another town, Praid, where we stayed in a cabin for three nights and lit fireworks at midnight.

FEBRUARY

We finally started getting more snow, and some friends invited me to go skiing for a day in a city named Toplița. We took a three-anda-half-hour train ride to the ski hill and skied all day on the mountain’s only two runs. That night, we had a barbecue dinner at the home of one of their grandmothers and we laughed around the table for a few hours before taking a night train back to Târgu Mureș.

“We’re going to take a ski trip during the February school holiday,” my host mother announced.

“Where do you usually go?” I asked, and she responded, “Austria - and we would love it if you came with us.” My jaw dropped. “Yes! I’d love to!”

We packed our ski gear, and all seven of us squeezed into the car and drove 13 hours to Döbriach, Austria. We stayed in a small hotel with a big group of 25 people, and skied five mountains. I had an amazing time, became really close with my host siblings, and met lots of people whom I thoroughly enjoyed.

MARCH

Part of the RYE program is touring your host country with all of the other RYE students living there. So for two weeks, I toured around Romania with 11 other exchange students. We traveled by bus through the beautiful Romanian countryside, ancient cities, the Black Sea, and some of the highest mountains you can drive through. Even though the days were long and exhausting, it was a highlight of my year abroad. I met new people, visited lots of Rotary Clubs, and spent the nights in the hotel rooms laughing for hours on end, listening to music, talking about our families and our hometowns in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and all around the United States.

APRIL

One of the ultimate highlights from my RYE, was meeting the other exchange students who took their year abroad in Romania. They taught me how to speak a little in their languages. We all taught each other about our cultures. I learned a lot from each and every one of them, and over time, we became a very close family. I have made unforgettable memories with my exchange family that I will always cherish. We had many laughs together, and we’ve supported each other through good and bad times.

MAY

Before flying back home, I traveled around Europe with 50 other RYE students from Romania and Switzerland. The “Euro Tour” is sometimes said to be THE highlight of their exchange for some RYE students. (I could write a whole article about these two weeks!)

Looking back on living in Romania for almost ten months, I realize how fast time has gone by. During the exchange program, I felt the emotions that every single exchange student goes through, such as being homesick and questioning why I went on exchange. When I felt this way, I would hang out with my host family, friends, or go out in town. I talked to the other exchange students, and they helped remind me why I went on this exchange. I’ve taught myself so much and learned from my mistakes.

The RYE program has made me enjoy life more than I thought was possible. It has given me a different perspective on the way I look at everything. I realize how lucky I am to experience this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I will carry with me. Rotary Youth Exchange is truly one of the scariest, most breathtaking, daring, educational, and most rewarding experiences that I have had as a 16-year-old. If you are considering a youth exchange program, jump into the deep end and do it – you won’t regret it.

(Above) A second visit to “Dracula’s Castle,” with other RYE students in March. (Left) The author, Kate Keleher, with fellow RYE student, Alejandra Martínez from San Luis Potosí, Mexico.

Looking for childcare?

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Parents from Basalt to Parachute – reach out for resources to aid your search for childcare to meet your family’s needs. UNDERWRITTEN BY (970)

California Zephyr

Meet a family that discovered the truth of this adage when they took a train to the SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA for their summer vacation. By traveling mostly on public transit and staying at youth hostels, they made their trip more affordable and sustainable than conventional American travel – and they loved every minute of it.

HOLLY RICHARDSON

PHOTOGRAPHY

HOLLY & DAN RICHARDSON

WE LOVE TRAINS.

One summer day when my boys, Henry and Noel, were young, we waited by the tracks at the Glenwood Springs Station, a train depot built in 1904. Word had spread around town that you could ride on the train free for a two-hour tour into the Glenwood Canyon on this one, magical day. Though we had never ridden a train before, we had imagined doing so many times. We loved the little blue train from the children’s book The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper and sometimes chanted, “I think I can, I think I can… ” The boys’ Aunt Nancy and Uncle Keith gifted them rimmed conductor hats with blue and white stripes and a big wooden whistle that made a sound just like a train’s horn. When we lived in our little gray house on Colorado Avenue in downtown Glenwood, I often pushed Noel in a buggy as Henry pedaled his red trike with big yellow wheels down the sidewalk to the station. As we approached, we heard the lumbering and clanking of freight trains with their rainbow graffiti on the sides, filled with black coal. Watching from the height of the pedestrian bridge, we saw the silver California Zephyr with its windowtopped observation car, as it stopped to unload and load passengers and their luggage. We had gazed many times at a miniature electric train winding through a papier-mâché world of mountains and rivers encased in a plexiglass tunnel in the small museum once housed inside the station. How could we not have trains on our brains?

Our anticipation while we waited at the depot, hoping we’d be among the people who’d get to go, reminded me of when I was a child reading Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory What if I opened up a candy bar containing a Golden Ticket that granted me a day into a land with blueberry fountains and chocolate rivers? “Will there be room for us too?” asked Noel, his blue eyes wide. To our amazement, the conductor at last hollered, “All aboard!” The three of us climbed up the metal steps and onto the train. That brief ride in a packed train whetted our appetite, and I started asking myself how we could swing a major train ride.

“It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

TRAILS & TRAVEL

The California Zephyr

The train makes 17 stops between Glenwood Springs and the end of the line in Emeryville, CA.

It passes through 7 cities shown here, and countless small towns as it winds over and around the Colorado River, the Green River, the Great Salt Lake, the Black Rock Desert, and the Sierra Nevada Mountains before finally (almost) reaching the Pacific Coast.

A. Glenwood Springs, CO

B. Grand Junction, CO

C. Provo, UT

D. Salt Lake City, UT

E. Reno, NV

F. Sacramento, CA

G. Emeryville, CA

DAYS 1&2 ALL ABOARD!

AS A TEACHER, I THINK OF AUGUST AS THE SUNDAY OF SUMMER.

It’s also my and my husband Dan’s anniversary month, so we make time to get away before buckling down for the school year. Some years, we go big; other years, we go smaller, but we always try to give everyone in our family of four something special that brings each of us joy. I long to walk on a beach and swim in saltwater. Noel loves to run, wrestle, and play baseball. Henry, in particular, loves cities. As we walked home from the train station that day, marveling at the things we’d seen looking out those big railcar windows, I imagined a getaway that would check every box – a multi-day journey on Amtrak.

My idea would suit Dan best of all. He calls himself a “mass transit junkie,” having served on the board of the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority for a decade. It’s always been one of his nonnegotiables to live within walking distance of a bus stop.

WE’D TAKEN OUR SHARE OF TRIPS ON AIRPLANES.

The cost of plane tickets, rental cars, and hotels didn’t leave much money for fun activities at our destinations. Plus, being confined in tight spaces in car seats and on airplanes could go from fun to not fun quite quickly. A train trip would allow for plenty of movement, minimal seat belts, time to connect with each other, and make new friends.

We booked tickets on the Amtrak California Zephyr from Glenwood Springs to the San Francisco Bay Area. We reserved rooms in youth hostels in downtown SF and at Point Reyes National Seashore. Then we started planning excursions to the beach, Muir Woods, and Marin County to visit a friend. “The adventure begins as soon as we get on the train!” became my mantra as we counted the days until vacation.

BEGINNING OUR PUBLIC TRANSIT VACATION

It was a sunny afternoon and Henry’s backpack was as big as his upper body. We were so excited to get on that train, nothing was too heavy for us. We walked from our home in Carbondale, crossed Sopris Park to get to Main Street and took RFTA to the train station. That’s when we enjoyed an opportunity to learn that patience is a virtue.

Dan is a punctual man and we arrived at the station in plenty of time to… wait. We learned our two o’clock departure was delayed until the evening. Amtrak trains are notoriously late, and our train would follow suit. With all of our extra time, and since it happened to be the day of our eleventh wedding anniversary, Dan suggested that we indulge in a dinner out at Juicy Lucy’s Steakhouse, across the street from the station. After dinner, with more time to wait, the boys wanted to walk on the tracks.

Looking at the scrapbook I made to document this adventure, our photos and relics take me back. Noel stands on the train tracks outside the Glenwood Depot with a big grin and his legs stretched from one railroad tie to the other. Henry’s profile fills one frame and he’s clapping as the train rolls in behind him.

SIR ASK A LOT

Now is a good time to reveal Henry’s wellearned nickname, “Sir Ask A lot.” Henry is one of these people who, still to this day, will strike up a conversation with almost anyone. People in uniforms with cool hats were of special interest back then. When a tall man in a dark uniform with a brimmed hat appeared with a mustache and smile, Henry was delighted. This was our conductor, Mr. Wheelwright, and I’m not making his name up for the purpose of a good story.

WE NEEDED TO SEE EVERYTHING

We were in coach, which means that our four seats were in one row, separated by a wide aisle down the middle of the car, like on an airplane, but more room. Our car was adjacent to the observation car, also called the “lounge” or “sightseeing car.” This is the hub for people

MOUNTAINPEARL The California Zephyr FROM GLENWOOD SPRINGS, CO TO EMERYVILLE, CA

TRAILS & TRAVEL

who want to take in a larger view, thanks to glass windows that go from floor to ceiling. It has seats that swivel, letting you move your body to face the windows. It’s also the natural place to start up a conversation with fellow travelers.

You can switch from car to car while the train is moving. Going between cars, you push a button and a door opens while the floor and the doors are shaking as you step from one car to another. It’s noisy and, in fact, it was a little scary for me as a mother, though highly attractive to the boys. So, while the train moved, we also moved from car to car, again and again, checking out sleeper cars and the quasi-fancy dining car.

A staircase in the observation car leads down to a lower level into a snack bar where simple concessions are available. We snacked on hot dogs, Skittles, and peanut butter crackers, while sipping on soda and playing Crazy Eights and War.

COACH = SPENDING THE NIGHT IN SEMI-RECLINED SEATS SORT OF CUDDLING.

We did the best we could to get some sleep, Dan with one child and I with the other. I had an eye pillow and ear plugs. The boys had stuffed animals for pillows and we each had a small blanket.

One thing about Dan (A.K.A. “Darlin’”) – he has always been a selfless partner and father, consistently putting our needs and wishes in front of his. When I asked Dan what was important for him to experience on this trip, he said (about this trip and every one since), “To make you and the boys happy.”

Here’s an example. We woke up after not much sleep and felt groggy and a bit grumpy. Darlin’ suggested that we splurge and have a proper meal in the dining car. My journal entry says, “Today we lived large and had lunch in the dining car… Dan is my knight in shining armor!”

The dining car is like being in a restaurant, except the floor vibrates underneath you and

your glass may shake a bit on the table. You order off a menu and use metal cutlery and ceramic plates. Waitstaff serve you. The food is not that cheap and not that tasty. However, to sit on a train and be served a meal after a long night was wonderful.

FULL MOON BEACH

At some point, Mr. Wheelwright announced on the loudspeaker that we were passing “Moon Beach.” The train was going along a stretch of a river where rafters liked to relax, play and picnic. As the train passed by, the people on the beach turned their backsides to us, and yanked down their pants, revealing their bare bottoms. Henry took delight in this new verb, “to moon,” one that I recall learning from my brothers when I was little. To this day, Henry’s quick to pull a moon anytime a train goes by or, really, for any good reason.

WHISTLE STOPS

I’d always heard this train term, but didn’t pay it much thought until we experienced another aspect of train travel – times when the train comes to a complete halt. Mr. Wheelwright announced the upcoming station ahead of time so we could get ready to step off, stretch, and breathe some sort of fresh air as passengers departed and others boarded, and still others took a quick smoke break. A whistle blew and the uniformed staff indicated we had three minutes to climb back on board.

Some pauses are planned, some are not. Another reason trains stop is to yield to freight trains, during which time, no one gets off and everyone gets to practice more patience. Our journey had seventeen planned stops including two stops in our state, four in Utah, three in Nevada (including one stop in a town called Winnemucca which is fun to say out loud.

We counted eight more stops in California before we arrived at the end of the line in Emeryville, where we took a bus for the final ten miles to Union Square in San Francisco. We arrived in the dark, more than 24 hours after our departure from Glenwood Springs.

DAYS 3&4 EXPLORING SAN FRANCISCO

FRIENDLY LATE-NIGHT TWENTY-SOMETHINGS GREETED US AT THE HOSTEL.

When we checked in on a Saturday night at the HI Downtown San Francisco Hostel, the front desk had a buzz in the air, like it was party time! Weary as we were, we took the elevator up to the fourth floor to a room that we called our “Home Away from Home” for three nights. Our room contained two sets of bunk beds and industrial carpeting, like a college dorm room – except that we had an “en suite” bathroom, which is not the case for every room in this particular hostel. After a long day of traveling, I was truly grateful for this perk.

Hours later, I woke up before anyone else and set out on my own for a run. Waking up in a new place, especially if I arrive in the dark, I love to put on my running shoes and trot around the neighborhood, to get grounded. “I felt like a small town girl – not afraid of people, but challenged with orienting myself,” reads my journal. I ran from the hostel, down to Market Street, over to Haight Street and back. I was grateful for this solo time and for my running shoes.

That first morning, we ate the most memorable crêpes at a café close to the hostel and wondered how to seize our first day in the city. I said out loud, “It would be great to take a tour,” right when an opentopped tour bus rounded the corner and pulled up in front. This illustrates one thing I am still learning – we must state our wishes out loud if we want them to come true. The tour bus turned out to be a great way to get the lay of the land. We could hop off whenever we wanted, then grab another bus when we were ready to check out the next thing. (On pages 26-27, please join us on our tour of San Francisco.)

THREE MORE REASONS WE LOVE HOSTELS

1. Our room was sparsely furnished with few breakables. This made it an ideal place for the boys to engage in one of their preferred activities: bear cub wrestling. A scrapbook page shows a close-up of Henry and Noel on the asphalt-colored carpet. Henry hugs Noel loosely with his right arm wrapped around Noel’s chest. Noel is sandwiched playfully between Henry and the floor. Boy bliss.

2. Chocolate, dirt, and ketchup have an attraction to my boys’ clothes, and the hostel provided a laundry room. 3. We stored groceries and prepared food in the communal kitchen, so we didn’t need to eat out for every meal.

8 things I’ve learned while traveling with children: HOLLY RICHARDSON

1. Be prepared to get out of your comfort zone.

2. Staying three nights in one place allows everyone to land and rest.

3. Look for opportunities for physical movement for the whole family.

4. Claim your personal space when needed. A little can go a long way.

5. It’s okay to split up the team - you don’t have to do everything together all of the time.

6. Alternate between stimulating activities in cities and free time in nature.

7. Splurge when you really need to.

8. Take turns getting what you want.

DAY 5

MERRILY UP TO MARIN COUNTY

Dan arranged to pick up a fancy-for-us car from a local car share program. Keep in mind, this was years ago in the early days of car share apps. We were astounded that with a secret code, Dan was able to pick up our car from a seemingly random parking spot nearby. Soon, he pulled up in a shiny silver Mini Cooper Clubsman, and we all piled inside. We zipped across the Golden Gate Bridge and drove north along the very winding Highway 101 overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We took turns riding in the front seat to avoid car sickness.

MUIR WOODS NATIONAL MONUMENT

Our first stop, named after the influential conservationist John Muir – this stand of oldgrowth trees is protected from logging and development. I encountered such “ancient forests” for the first time when I was campaigning to protect them in my first job after college. I was excited for my family to see these famous redwoods. We even stood inside one. We walked in reverence beneath these giants.

POINT REYES NATIONAL SEASHORE

Next stop – the beach. When I imagined a trip to the beach, I didn’t picture robust black and white cows and tiny worn houses on rolling fields of grass and lots of yellow flowers. Herds of elk grazing on green cliffs above the sea. Trees worn and shaped by the winds. It felt nothing like the seaside areas of coastal North Carolina where I grew up, and I was looking forward to discovering this place.

The Bay Area

A. GIANTS vs. PIRATES AT ORACLE PARK

We started the tradition on this trip of attending Major League Baseball games if we’re on a summer vacation in a big city. It was cold, with the stadium right on the bay. Thank goodness for vendors who climbed the steep stadium steps serving hot chocolate with whipped cream. Though the Giants were defeated, Noel was thrilled to get a Giants hat that he wore for the rest of the trip.

B. CABLE CARS

San Francisco’s open-air cable cars have been moving tourists and commuters through the city since 1873. The boys loved leaning out of the car grasping the metal, vertical pole on the outside of the car –of course, while moving.

C. OPEN-TOPPED BUS TOURS

We bought “passports,” which allowed us to ride whenever and wherever we wanted all day. We jumped on outside our hostel, located on Mason Street, pinpointed above, and were delivered back “home” hours later after making the rounds. Sitting on the top, we saw the sights while hearing stories from our guide, Katie.

D. CHINATOWN

We divided into two teams as Henry and I enjoy Chinese food and Noel and Dan craved burgers. Henry and I rode a cable car to the large, red Chinatown gate, guarded by lionesses and topped with a golden dragon. We found a family restaurant where no English was spoken. We successfully ordered two yummy noodle dishes and enjoyed our meal before finding our way back “home.”

1. Point of view in the photo shown above, looking west-southwest.

2. Golden Gate Bridge

3. Muir Woods

4. Point Reyes

5. Berkeley

6. Emeryville

7. Oakland

8. San José

E. HAIGHT-ASHBURY

This neighborhood is like being in a kaleidoscope of Flower Power with Victorian houses in rainbow colors. We walked through the funky streets, window shopped, and found a place for lunch.

F. S.S. JEREMIAH O’BRIEN

This World War II ship is a living museum, a rare survivor out of the 2,710 ships used in the D-Day armada off of the coast of Normandy, France. Climbing down ladders into the engine room was like being in the bowels of the boat, full of pipes, valves, and ladders. The warmth down below was most welcome compared to the chilly air outside.

G. FISHERMAN’S WHARF

This open-air market is full of sights and smells of fresh seafood caught by local fishermen. Street performers busk on the surrounding sidewalks. A small brass band played an unforgettable version of “Wipe Out,” and the boys enjoyed supporting the artists by running over and dropping dollars into their open guitar cases.

H. GOLDEN GATE PARK

This 1,000-plus-acre park has something for everyone including big fields for running, playground equipment, and baseball diamonds. After behaving in restaurants and being careful on buses, it was time to let loose. The boys tossed their baseball. “Noel took turns throwing the ball and picking dandelions,” says my journal. I found the AIDS memorial and took some quiet time to take in the monument to too many who died from the disease

Gella & Audrey

What happens when you combine 30 years of experience, integrity, and valley connections with knowledge, exceptional service, and tech savvy? You get Gella & Audreya real estate team that offers 24/7 service and provides true value for their clients.

I. GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE

I H

DAYS 6&7 POINT REYES

A. HI POINT REYES HOSTEL

Child-friendly Marc at the HI Point Reyes Hostel taught us how to say the name of this place, two syllables with the emphasis on “yes.” Our bunk room could have accommodated twenty sleepers, but we had it all to ourselves. We cooked in the hostel’s community kitchen, as eating out at the nearby cafés was quite spendy.

B. EARTHQUAKE TRAIL

Point Reyes sits on the San Andreas Fault. We walked a short, forested loop that shows the scar where, in 1906, the San Francisco Earthquake ripped the ground open.

C. DRAKES BEACH

We layered up and played on the breezy beach, using large strips of green seaweed as jump rope and spotting starfish and purple crabs in tidal pools.

D. POINT REYES LIGHTHOUSE

Built in 1873, the lighthouse operated until 1976 to warn boats of the dangerous headlands that jut out into the sea for ten miles, invisible under the surface of the water. We walked countless steps down to the old house where the lighthouse keepers used to live alone as they kept watch, and then we climbed up countless more steps to the top of the lighthouse.

MORE TO DO AND SEE

DAYS 8&9 SAYING GOODBYE TO SAN FRAN

As we drove back toward the city, Noel announced he was ready to go home, but there was more to see. We walked the Golden Gate Bridge pedestrian lane before crossing back into San Francisco, where we shopped for souvenirs and played at a park in Pacific Heights. We took one last ride on the cable cars. We even came upon a Filipino parade with a military band playing silver flutes and brass saxophones.

BERKELEY

On our last night, Darlin’ was stoked to check the box on another mode of public transportation with a subway ride to Berkeley. We ate dinner with Calla Ostrander, whom Dan had mentored when they worked together for the City of Aspen Climate Action Office, formerly known as the “Canary Initiative.”

As we walked to Calla’s home, we passed artichokes growing with their green and pinkish spiky leaves, so different from what we can grow in Colorado. Pink lilies stood as tall and sweet as Noel, so I had him stand next to them for a photo to send to his grandparents back in Colorado.

DAYS

I

MOUNTAINPEARL Point Reyes

July

OUR DADDY LEFT US IN RENO

It sounds like a country song, and maybe someday, I’ll write it. Dan disembarked the train right after we crossed the Nevada state line. He would attend a week-long conference on sustainability.

Always thinking of his family, Dan upgraded the three of us to a sleeper car, which is significantly more expensive than seats in coach. A sleeper car would provide some privacy and a relatively horizontal, slightly padded surface. It was a worthy investment as I, who would be responsible for keeping my two eyes on two busy boys, could potentially relax just a bit more and get some sleep.

Before bedtime, we needed to see how this nifty contraption worked. We opened and closed it to see how each bed is attached to the wall. It folds down on metal hinges at bedtime. There was just enough room for the three of us. In my journal I wrote, “Saying goodbye to Dan last night in Reno was sad, terribly sad, because we had such a great trip all together. With him leaving the train meant it was over.”

LOOKING BACK

The whistle blew us to a stop at the Glenwood Station. We climbed off carrying our things and stood on the platform waving to the train as it headed east into Glenwood Canyon. We bused it back to Carbondale, and as I rolled my suitcase for those last few blocks with my boys, I thought about how much we’d grown on this journey.

Now my boys have grown into tall, young men, ages seventeen and nineteen. Dan and I will celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary this August. It touches me deeply that we continue to value our travels together, with all of the competing interests of friends, school, and work. Trips require creativity, planning, money, and energy, but our adventures have grown our boys into fun, flexible travelers. Along the way, we learned about packing, patience, and playing, and many other things.

The question for us now is: Where shall we go this August?

10&11

THINK I CAN. I THINK I CAN. I THINK I CAN.

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How do you “travel light” when your destination is... complicated?

ERIN ZALINSKI

SEA TO SUMMIT

SILK TRAVEL LINER

COTOPAXI ALLPA 42L

I love to be able to put my hands right on what I need, especially when I am away from home. The Allpa 42L Travel Pack is a durable workhorse that allows you to pack all your gear efficiently and with great style. This pack is constructed of a TPUcoated polyester shell that repels inclement weather and features compartments that make organization a breeze. It was designed with thoughtful features, such as a rain cover, an exterior water bottle pocket, and padded tech sleeves. You can use it either as a backpack or a suitcase, a versatility that makes the Allpa family of packs a great fit for nearly any kind of trip.

PASS THE PIGS

Rather than scrolling Tik Tok or losing time to Candy Crush, this little game is so easy to learn, engages the whole family, and goes anywhere. Instead of rolling the dice, you roll pigs that land in hilarious positions, which you score as if scoring a gymnastics comp. Before you know it, your travel delay will be over.

SEA TO SUMMIT – TREK & TRAVEL SOAP, SHAMPOO , AND CONDITIONER

These paper-like cleansing sheets take up very little room in your dopp kit and are oh so usefully handy. You can wash your hands, your body, and even your laundry without any additional liquid weight.

Sleep while traveling can be elusive so anything that creates comfort is a plus. This liner checks a bunch of boxes for very little weight and volume. Using it adds a few degrees of warmth, provides hygienic bedding and peace of mind when traveling in hotels, and hostels and it is machine washable and colorfast so it will smell like your sheets from home.

LIFESTRAW GO SERIES 1L

Domestic travel rarely, if ever, means limited access to clean drinking water. For me, it is about taste. I’m fussy about water, and I drink a lot of it. I used to travel with a fillable bottle and purchase water at my destination. This led to plastic waste, which I actively work to avoid. The LifeStraw Go Series provides safer, bettertasting water for travel and everyday use. A 22-ounce or one-liter BPA-free bottle filters out what you don’t want, so you can fill up from anywhere while on the road. The advanced 2-stage filter improves taste and protects against bacteria, parasites, micro-plastics, chlorine, silt, sand, and cloudiness.

RUMPL TRAVEL BLANKET

Small but mighty, this blanket makes it easier to stay cozy while traveling. Packed, the size is similar to a water bottle, it becomes a perfect travel companion during delays, as an extra layer for sleep, or to pad a chilly stadium seat.

GROW

Packing for a train, a city, and a seashore.

WE’RE PROUD TO SERVE FAMILIES IN THE ROARING FORK VALLEY AND BEYOND

LL

WIND & RAIN JACKET

Keeping kids fed, warm, and dry are all key to keeping an adventure fun. This lightweight jacket is made with a waterproof fabric and taped seams to keep moisture out and block the wind. It’s also easy to stash in a day pack to add a layer whether on a trail, a beach, or an open-air cable car.

CHICOBAG

TRAVEL PACK

You need something for day trips, but traveling light requires keeping extras to a minimum. Weighing in at 204 grams (less than 7.25 ounces), this pack stashes away in its own pouch. The 15-liter capacity provides ample space for lunch, an extra layer, sunscreen, water, and a good book.  100% recycled fabric and several fun prints.

OLUKAI LAE’AHI LĪ

MEN’S WAXED CANVAS SNEAKERS

It is called a classic for a reason. Waxed canvas was, once upon a time, the cutting edge in weather-resistant technology and it continues to get the job done. Add a yummy, supportive, instantly comfortable anatomical foot bed, and the signature OluKai step-down heel, and you have a pair of shoes that can, pun intended, travel the distance.

RAB

KINETIC JACKET

It almost seems too good to be true - a jacket that is lightweight and packable yet waterproof, breathable and … quiet. No noisy, crinkly fabric – and it even has stretch. I know this is a technical piece made for the backcountry, yet I take mine everywhere. Thanks to solid colors and a pretty sedate palette, this little jacket is as at home on the sidewalk as it is in the field. Available for both men and women.

PRANA

BRION PANTS

There is nothing not to like about a clean, classic 5-pocket pant that looks and feels good while it performs. Crafted of a recycled nylon blend, stretch performance fabric, this is definitely one of the most versatile pants I’ve seen. The ventilated gusset design and quick drying stretch fabric make these a great travel companion. You can dress them up or down, take them on adventures, wear them to the office, the golf course, or just to hang out.

TOAD & CO

SUNKISSED MAXI DRESS

There are not many dresses that can feel appropriate at a beach, at dinner, at a family celebration, or on a museum tour – and the Sunkissed Maxi is one of them. The style of this dress is flattering to nearly everyone and the Sunkissed fabric weighs nearly nothing, sheds wrinkles like a starlet, and is much lower maintenance. If I was told I could only choose one dress without knowing what occasions I’ll need it for, I would choose this dress.

WALLAROO VICTORIA SUN HAT

Even we shameless sun worshipers have come to accept that it is wise to protect your skin from too much sun exposure. Yet covering up is sometimes, honestly, not cute. This lightweight hat keeps the sun off your face, comes in 21 colors, and you can stuff it in a pack without destroying its shape. An added feature is the internal drawstring that allows you to customize the fit.

INSECT SHIELD WOMAN’S SCARF/WRAP

Few things are more versatile than a good wrap. You can tuck it around you to ward off a chill, add a little flair to your fit, create a quick sarong as a cover up, spread it out to watch a sunset, or protect your shoulders from too much sun. What differentiates this wrap is Insect Shield, an EPA-registered fabric treatment that converts clothing and gear into insect repellent. You don’t know it’s there, but the mosquitoes, ticks, flies, ants, chiggers, and midges sure do. The treatment lasts for 70 washes and can be used by the whole family, including children and women who are pregnant or nursing.

TAOS PLIM SOUL SNEAKERS

Sneakers are having a moment in fashion and I am definitely here for it. This pair is far more stylish than traditional walking shoes, yet the line’s removable foot beds make it one of the most comfortable sneakers you’re likely to find. While there is nothing wrong with a nice neutral, there are also fun colors and prints in the mix.

For me, the biggest hurdle to travel is time, so I never want to squander a minute. Feeling prepared allows me to fully embrace each opportunity, so I can spend every one of those precious moments experiencing where I am –rather than problem solving on the fly.”

ERIN ZALINSKI

Fly fishing with Mr. President

STEVEN CALAWAY BROWN

In June, aquatic insects the size of your thumb emerge from the river bottom, crawl to the river’s edge, shed exoskeletons of their former selves, and take flight like lazy helicopters with no particular destination. Some of the biggest and most vibrant trout in the world consume 80% of their food for the year during this hatch, bringing anglers from all over the world to indulge in dry fly fishing heard about in myths. For many years, President Jimmy Carter didn’t miss the stonefly hatch. I was in my mother’s belly when she supported his 1976 campaign, and we never imagined I would grow into his fly-fishing guide deep in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River.

My shoulders burned with a heavy load and the sun was higher than usual for our descent into the steep Black Canyon of the Gunnison River, because of a late start wrangling the security entourage required to guide the President on a three-day float. We carried personal gear on our backs, while horses packed boats and coolers down the two-mile descent into the narrow gorge. I felt more like a horse than a guide that morning, because I volunteered to carry the President’s dry bag along with mine.

I drew security detail on day one, with hopes of guiding the President later in the trip. He went with my guide brother Mark Solari, who decided to row upriver to Margaritaville, a secret campground where the stonefly hatch is thicker. It takes a worthy client to make the effort to row against current upstream into this stretch of the narrow gorge, and Mark certainly had a worthy client. I would have done the same thing, yet it put me in an impossible situation.

Fourteen-foot rafts are built for two passengers and a medium gear load. My boat was overloaded with five of us – two Secret Service agents, one BLM ranger, a rescue swimmer, and myself. Our mission was to keep within fifty yards of the President so he’d be in our line of sight at all times. The other two boats with the President’s friends fished downstream and waited for us at the lunch spot in the Big Eddy.

My oars bent as I fought the current with all my strength, and it wasn’t enough. The President was slipping out of sight. I could see his bent rod shining in the sun upriver, so I knew he was safe, but we were weighted down like a bad dream, losing ground fast while my passengers stirred with looks of mutiny.

“Here would be a great place to swim,” I suggested to the rescue swimmer, decked out in a wet suit, goggles, and fins with extra frog-like technology.

He answered with a puzzled look.

“I can’t get upriver with all of us so maybe you could help by swimming up to the next bend.”

He slipped into the river, made a few strokes, and got swept downstream.

“Self-Rescue!” I shouted. “Swim to the side! Grab a rock!” He pulled himself safely, then we gained a little ground – until the first riffle stopped us.

“I’m gonna pull over fellas, we have to line the boat upriver.” I ferried over, jumped onto the bank, grabbed the stern line, and held the boat in place. “We’re gonna get out here,” I said and signaled to the bank via the back of the boat.

The Secret Service agent sitting in the bow stepped off the front of the boat into the flowing river and got swept downstream. I jumped in the boat, made a few backstrokes, and got him to shore. Dripping like a wet raccoon, he unholstered his gun and wasn’t stoked at all. “This is a disaster! I have to send my gun to Washington for a reissue. I’ll never hear the end of it, why did you tell me to get out of the boat?!”

“Sorry sir, I was talking to the guys in the back.”

“I’m declared inactive, my trip is over,” he said, as he took apart the pistol, and laid the pieces on a flat hot boulder. After a few minutes in the sun on the hot rocks, his pistol was dry and he put it back together.

“Wanna try it out on me?” I asked.

He laughed with an obvious desire to shoot somebody, but it broke the ice.

“Okay fellas, the only way to catch up to the President is get out and walk. I’ll need one of you to pull the bow line up river while I row.” The BLM ranger grabbed the bow line and pulled the boat upriver from the bank. I used my riverside oar to help while the others walked up shore. A few steps in, the ranger rolled his

That evening, we drank beer and grilled steaks along the banks of the Gunnison at one of my favorite campsites in the Black Canyon, Boulder Garden. Microtrash from previous campers created a black fly problem in the kitchen, so clouds of black flies swarmed the dinner. The security team sat at one table, the President and his friends at another, then guides at another. The roar of the rapid filled the canyon with whitewater noise that played like music bouncing off some of the oldest exposed rock in the world, towering 1,500 feet above the campsite.

I looked over as the President got up and walked from his dinner table. I walked over to see what he was doing. He stood facing the river, back to the campsite, with his hands at his throat and barely squeaked out, “Fly . . . stuck in my throat . . . choking.”

I performed a gentle Heimlich maneuver and he spit up his food. Nobody saw a thing.

“Thank you, Brownie,” he said.

My nickname is Brownie because my last name is Brown and those who call me Brownie do so with an endearing tone. To hear the President call me Brownie was the beginning of our friendship.

Then, more of a statement than a question he said, “Why don’t you and I fish tomorrow.”

Fishing with the President turned out better than rowing security detail. Clouds of stoneflies filled the sky while giant rainbow trout looked up, gorging on precious bug protein. Boulder Garden is not only a campsite, but the first big rapid of many. The canyon gets steeper with red and black pegmatite intrusions streaking up and across the canyon walls like magnificent artwork.

“Cast to the wall Mr. President, big trout feeding!”

He made an elegant fly cast, bouncing my home-tie stonefly pattern against the granite wall and dropped the fly into the foamy seam.

A big rainbow trout with vibrant red streaks inhaled the fly and I said, “Set the hook!”

Although he’s one of the better fly casters on the river, his eyesight was compromised at 80 years old. He didn’t see the fish, and didn’t set the hook so the prize got away. My flies look good, but do not taste good. A fast reaction is crucial.

I realized he couldn’t see the bite, so I pulled the boat over, and leaned on our developing friendship. “Mr. President, we both want you to catch these big trout, in fact, I’ve never wanted it more. I have a better view of the trout eating, and you are going to have to trust me by lifting the rod when I say ‘set.’ You’ve got nothing to lose. Even if you don’t see, have faith.”

“Okay, Brownie,” he smiled. Faith is something he embraces.

It was late afternoon with shadows on the water as we slid through the ancient gorge of black and red granite. Splash marks on the canyon wall revealed the presence of a large trout, its location given away by the stonefly it ate moments before our arrival.

“Cast to the splash mark, Mr. President.” He did.

“Set the hook!” He did.

Bright red colors of a Gunny rainbow burst through the sunset, creating more splash marks on the painted wall. He landed his trophy and we bonded. Interesting how one fish can change the future.

Friendships roll in fast forward on the river. He listened with genuine interest to my story, which flowed with us downriver, fueled by his questions.

“Did you go to college?” he asked.

“Yes sir, I graduated from Colorado College, then earned a Master’s in English at CSU.”

“Do you write?” he asked.

“My thesis is a collection of short stories called the Gatekeeper Chronicles,” I said, explaining the title’s reference to a rock formation I had pointed out near our campsite the previous night – the Gatekeeper, a two billion-year-old black granite slab the size of a small Tyrannosaurus Rex. He guards the entrance to Boulder Garden on river right with a menacing smile. As a rookie boatman, I was truly scared of the Gatekeeper because Boulder Garden rapid was my nemesis. Only until I left the Gatekeeper an offering of turquoise in his heart did I pass freely. Then the Gatekeeper came to represent all the mentors who led me to greater things.

Among these greater things is a place I found while backpacking through Central America with a fly rod. Guanaja is a small bay island off the coast of Honduras, an area that was decimated by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. I arrived there ten years after the storm and found that much of the native mangroves, which prevent erosion and provide a habitat for juvenile fish, were yet to recover. I told the President about my dream of turning a “lost boys adventure camp” there into a world-class fly fishing lodge, and how I wanted to make a difference in the lives of the people of the island who depended on fishing tourism for survival, a trade that had come back even more slowly than the trees lost to Mitch.

He asked for my card at the take-out of the Black Canyon. I didn’t have one and wrote my information on the back of my boss’s card. I was sure his inquiry was just a friendly gesture.

My wife Rosalynn

and I were in Argentina in October 1998 when Hurricane Mitch struck Central America, and we made an unscheduled stop there on our way home, to help promote international relief efforts. The hurricane hovered over Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras for more than two days, and its 180-mph winds and 75 inches of rain brought unprecedented destruction. The lowlands and seacoast ecosystems were devastated, 19,325 people died, and several thousand others went missing. We always wanted to return to the area to witness the degree of recovery.

We were intrigued by the efforts … {of Fly Fish Guanaja} … to restore coastal mangrove forests that were wiped out by Hurricane Mitch and still haven’t fully recovered. They and many other volunteers have planted more than 88,000 propagules saplings that resemble large carrots and are harvested from mature trees.”

PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER

FLY FISHERMAN MAGAZINE February / March 2011

This summer, explore with Aspen Center for Environmental Studies!

summer camps

outdoor adventures for middle schoolers

eagles, hawks & owls birds of prey demonstrations

ranch experiences animal connections, vegetable tastings, egg collection + more!

visitor center open hours at Hallam Lake & Rock Bottom Ranch

One week later at my home in New Castle, my phone rang and the caller ID said United States Government. Probably wouldn’t answer that call today, but I did back then.

“Hello?” I started.

“Mr. Brown, this is Doug Dean from the Secret Service.”

My first thought was ‘Oh man, how did I get in trouble with the Secret Service? Is that even possible?’ “Yes sir,” is what I managed to say.

“President Carter is set on coming to your lodge in Honduras and we need to make our security plan immediately. Honestly, we‘re not pleased he’s insisted on coming, because we are not comfortable protecting him in Honduras. But here we are.”

Trying to remain calm and not shit my pants I assured him, “Not to worry Mr. Doug Dean, Guanaja is safe.”

For the most up to date information about our programs, please visit aspennature.org or call 970.925.5756

It was our third season in Guanaja, and we were hardly ready for the public, much less a former President and his First Lady, eighteen Secret Service agents, the local police, and the Honduran Navy. Our lodge at the time was on a private island called Jones Cay with only two bedrooms in the main house and barely a bedroom in the boat house. We had to rent the islands to the east and west, one to harbor 18 agents, and one for the President’s four friends who joined the trip. After several lengthy phone calls with the Secret Service and six months to prepare, the trip was upon us, and butterflies ran wild in my stomach.

till dark before the first rays of sunshine crept onto the flats. Percolating coffee and “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” filled the lodge with a gentle calm as the President looked over my shoulder.

“What are you tying, Brownie?”

“Same fly we got ‘em on yesterday, Mr. President.” I focused on tying our golden breakthrough bonefish fly – a standard white Crazy Charlie with gold crystal flash body, finished with olive rabbit hair for the tail. I tied three every morning and led the President outside to the white hole, where, the bonefish frequented.

“Nice music, Brownie. I also tie flies to Willie Nelson,” he tells me, “In fact, we’re good friends. We used to jog together.”

Coffee finished gurgling and he brought us each a cup. Next song on my playlist was “Midnight Rider.”

“You’re on a roll, Brownie. The Allman Brothers are my friends too. We go way back.”

The sun erased the stars and birds started to sing as if next-up on the playlist, and before we left to fish, he delivered orange juice and coffee to Rosalynn in bed, like every morning of his life, I expected. The way he looks at her, speaks to her, and puts her first every time is a lesson in love and chivalry. His first concern every morning was getting a fresh cup of coffee and orange juice to her. When I asked how long they’d been married, he smiled with a twinkle in his eye and said, “Not long . . . 64 years.”

of coffee on the veranda while scanning the flats with binoculars. On three occasions I sighted the tails of permit, and Steve Brown abandoned his fly-tying desk to join me as I caught bonefish several days before breakfast just by wading a few yards onto the flat.”

PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER

FLY

February / March 2011

heir love shined with youthful antiquity, timeless, seamless, and infectious. I believe that 64 years felt like a short time. The way she says, “Jimmy,” with her soft Southern drawl, says it all. We waded out into the flat. Secret Service surrounded us while we dissolved into the moment. With our communication dialed from the Black Canyon, we fished perfectly together and landed bonefish every morning before breakfast.

It’s amazing how fast you get to know somebody on the water, especially as a guide. The President listens, he’s patient, grateful, hopeful, and joyful. He connects authentically with his guide, opening the door for genuine friendship. This creates trust, or faith. Faith in each other, faith in a good experience, regardless of catching fish. As a client, he exists on a level of his own. Guiding him isn’t work –rather, the best times of our lives, connecting to all things that matter.

Our friendship led him to Guanaja when we were at a tipping point, either to remain a lost boys fishing adventure, or create something

F

A

that mattered. The President published an article about us in Fly Fisherman Magazine, and we grew as a business, creating some of the best jobs in Guanaja history. Fly Fish Guanaja Lodge became a platform to inspire change. We started a mangrove restoration project, propelled by the President’s endorsement. We’ve planted nearly one-million mangrove shoots, and the forest is back. Through Food for the Poor, our clients built Guanaja’s only hospital, sponsored homes, improved schools, and built a playground.

Fly Fish Guanaja is in our seventeenth season now with the same growing staff. We continue to provide locals with the safest, most productive jobs in Guanaja history. The lobster industry leaves islanders crippled with the bends. Drug trafficking is fatal. Our head guide, Rankin Jackson left the cartel to be a fly-fishing guide, and out of the 100 guys he ran drugs with, only five are not dead or in prison. President Carter’s article in Fly Fisherman Magazine continues to inspire anglers from all over the world to fish with us. His visit sparked every good thing that has followed. God bless you, Mr. President. May you catch the big one on the other side.

SESSION 1

Thurs 6/15 - Sun 6/18

SESSION 2 Mon 6/12 - Thurs 6/15

beyulretreat.com/familycamp

Come explore Beyul Retreat's historic mountain lodge & cabins, 40 minutes up the Frying Pan River Valley above Basalt.

FISHERMAN MAGAZINE

T

Something TO WRITE HOME ABOUT

She mails them back home to her people in St. Paul, Minnesota, and elsewhere, and, admittedly, she writes more posts than postcards, but still.

Now in her fifth summer in the Valley, Jeanne is at that stage in the progression from “newcomer” to “local” that Jean Piaget described as the “middle stage of liminality” – the edge of the comfort zone between curiosity and knowledge where JP wrote that all real growth takes place. In the hero’s journey, this is the threshold between one space and another when a person is no longer who they were when they began, and not yet who they are becoming.

After a career in banking and an adulthood spent within 75 miles of her childhood home, Souldern moved here after “retirement,” because her adult daughter Abby loves this place. She’s now reinventing her career by writing for MP, The Sopris Sun, and other local pubs. She leads The Sun’s student journalism program, and she serves on Aspen Public Radio’s Community Advisory Committee. Jeanne knows enough about this place to find her way around (without a car, it should be noted). Yet she’s still sort of like a tourist, because she finds new things here to experience all the time. If Jeanne hears what’s happening, she shows up. She volunteers. She arrives early. She tells you stories about what she’s done lately as a matter of course when you run into her around town. In other words, she’s a true Midwesterner, which is a very specific variety of transplant.

The moment when Jeanne knew she’d landed in the right place came one morning when she awoke to a chorus of mooing cows. “I’m accustomed to cattle sauntering through rolling pastures,

not snorting and grunting through town traffic,” she said, explaining that she hurried to dress and then walked quickly to Main Street to see what was happening. “While it seemed a bit surreal, I was giddy with childlike joy taking cellphone videos and sending them to friends and family with the message: ‘You’re not going to believe what woke me up this morning!’”

When she bubbled over with excitement telling a colleague about this outlandish occurrence, he looked up from what he was doing, blasé, “That happens every year at this time.” He, it appears, had entered Piaget’s third stage of mastery, the post-liminal time of “integration into the community,” when one can no longer be an active observer because they’ve joined the group. In other words, Piaget may say that this is how one becomes “a local.”

Some believe that true local status comes only as a birthright, and that’s fine because those who grow up here seem to be the best ambassadors. They can show you how it’s done and share stories of what has been. Anthropologically speaking, they’re the figures on the hero’s journey who show the way. They bestow initiates with the gift of belonging.

Which is why we asked Jeanne to reach out to women who grew up here. And then to design four summertime itineraries with activities suitable for parents of young children, older kids, and folks in other stages of life. She introduces us to Sam Wilkey, the second-generation proprietor of Crystal Valley Jeep Tours; Rodeo Royalty, Shannon Weeks; and several of Aspen’s second-and-third generation volunteers at the Aspen Thrift Shop. We can only imagine what her postcards will tell the folks back home. {KC}

JEANNE SOULDERN SENDS ACTUAL POSTCARDS.

The Best of Both Worlds

Penney Carruth has been selling luxury real estate in Aspen, Snowmass and the Roaring Fork Valley for over 45 years. Sara Kurz is a marketing expert with sales knowledge from Old Snowmass to New Castle. Together, we cover the entire local area and offer our clients an unbeatable combination of experience and new ideas with deep roots in our community. Combining a seasoned perspective with invigorated creativity, we are able to service any client. If you are looking to upgrade your real estate needs, contact us today! We look forward to working with you.

10:00 a.m.

UNRAVEL COFFEE + BAR

I start the day with a golden milk latte and strawberry-banana bowl – and the ADN’s crossword puzzle (done in pen, naturally).

10:45 a.m.

ASPEN THRIFT SHOP

I score a summer dress for tomorrow’s backyard BBQ, and a North Face rain jacket because it’s almost “monsoon season in the Rockies.”

Noon

ASPEN SATURDAY MARKET

Palisade peaches and Dirksen (thornless) blackberries for baking a gingered peach and blackberry pandowdy (see page 63) for James’ birthday.

ASPEN THRIFT SHOP

TUESDAY – SATURDAY: 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM

EXTENDED HOURS, TUESDAYS: 4:30 – 7:00 PM

On any given day, you’ll find Patagonia, Gucci, Stio, or Valentino. As well as pots and pans, plates, coffee mugs, dish towels, and mix ‘n’ match silverware, martini glasses, board games, and linens. Books are $1 (or free for teachers) and most children’s clothing is $3 or less.

A black chemise, a box of unstrung beads, and a set of golf clubs — all used, of course. These are some of the items shoppers discovered at the Aspen Thrift Shop on opening day in November 1949, according to an Aspen Times report. Fast forward 70-plus years and you’ll find a retail mecca in the heart of downtown Aspen, filled to the brim with what the volunteers refer to as “treasures.”

The nonprofit’s first beneficiary was Aspen Valley Hospital, formerly known as Pitkin County Hospital. Aspen native Shauna Young, board co-president, said that the hospital “needed money for postage to send prescriptions to ranchers (who) couldn’t get into Aspen easily.”

The hospital, facing continued financial challenges, also needed capital improvements to house nurses on-site. So the next initiative raised enough money to not only sustain nurses’ salaries, but to remodel the upper floor of the hospital into nurses’ living quarters.

970.379.9133

PenneyCarruth.com

3:00 p.m.

EXPLORE BOOKSELLERS

Pick up my signed copy of Lo Semple’s Growing Up Aspen: Adventures of the Unsupervised (comes out June 17).

Young, a second-generation volunteer whose mother served as board president in the ‘60s, shared that, shortly after its beginnings, the Aspen Thrift Shop quickly became an allfemale, all-volunteer organization, “which we find very empowering,” she added.

Each year, as merchandise and monetary donations roll in and revenue from sales accrue, the board awards grants to an average 140 Valley nonprofits. Organizations can submit one grant application per year, from mid-August through September. Allocation is decided monthly and funds are distributed throughout the year.

970.379.2148

4:30 p.m.

ASPEN HICKORY HOUSE

No need to cook for tomorrow’s BBQ potluck – I’ll get “the Feast” to go and a chocolate milkshake for the road.

Margie Throm is a second-generation Thrift Shop volunteer whose mother served as board treasurer in the early ‘70s. Throm is now the copresident and treasurer. She said their monthly meetings include hearing from grant recipients about how the money has helped their organizations serve the community.

You won’t believe what I discovered while window shopping in Aspen last Saturday...

Young shared that the sincere appreciation from grantees “just warms your heart.” She added, “It just shows what a difference one person can make. Just a little bit can make a huge difference.”

Each year, the Aspen Thrift Shop awards $80,000 in scholarships to Aspen, Basalt, and Roaring Fork High School graduating seniors. “We like to give to kids who might not get other scholarships,” Young explained. Past scholarship recipients have gone on to become doctors, veterinarians, artists, and a physicist who worked on the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland.

Young said they often hear from appreciative alums, “like last year, when I went to give out the Basalt High School scholarships, and this mother ran up to me after and said, ‘My daughter got the scholarship last year, and it allowed her to go to her first-choice college, which she couldn’t have gotten into without that extra bit of money.’”

You can donate clothing, household goods, art, books, knickknacks, smaller furniture items, and toys. However, no coffee makers, vacuum cleaners, printers, computers, or TVs. Several local clothing retailers and ski shops donate their end-of-season lines.

The prices are at a fraction of their original cost and “are always astonishing,” Young said, observing that customers include “the entire gamut of the Valley. We have everyone from very wealthy women looking at designer stuff and hoping to find some Prada, to seasonal workers looking for glassware and plates.”

“The Thrift Shop is truly the only discount shopping in Aspen,” board member and longtime volunteer Ellen Walbert said. “It’s the only affordable option, especially now. Have you spent any time in Aspen recently?!”

You’ll find the children’s section upstairs, with high-quality clothing and books. “We consciously price our children’s clothing for almost nothing. With most items priced at $1, $2 or $3,” Young explained.

Roaring Fork Valley teachers can present their campus IDs and take any book for free from a selection that spans every genre, current and best-selling titles, and scores of cookbooks.

The camaraderie between volunteers has led to life-long friendships, and Young explained, “If you’re new to the Roaring Fork Valley, it is a great place to meet and make new friends, if you’re looking to find a group that helps the community. I feel so good about the thrift shop,” she said.

Almost 200 volunteers are currently on their roster. Some participate year-round, while others rotate in seasonally. Today, some younger volunteers are third-generation, and there are those who have been volunteers for 40-plus years. Volunteering “is the best way to stay young,” Young laughed. “It’s good for your mental health, too,” Throm added.

Walbert’s friend told her that, with her organizing skills, she’d be a perfect fit as a Thrift Shop volunteer. In 1999, following through on this advice, Walbert began as a volunteer. “It took me a while to get smitten with the place, but now it’s in my heart, and I just can’t get enough of it.”

Neither can the Valley’s best dressed thrifters, who walk in looking for bargains, and walk out with treasures that sustain a community-wide multigenerational model of service.

JEANNE SOULDERN

ASPEN THRIFT SHOP ANNUAL ART SALE

Saturday, August 12

10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

RED BRICK CENTER FOR THE ARTS

10th Anniversary Sale featuring cream-of-the-crop donations, including artwork, sculptures, clothing, jewelry, rare books, and place settings of fine china and silverware.

LOCAL INTEL:

Show up for the Friday night public preview. Although no purchases can take place before the event opens in the morning, thrifters can get a gander at what’s for sale and devise a buying strategy for the next day.

On the morning of, be prepared to stand in line for a few hours with other bargain hunters who arrive at the crack of dawn for this once-a-year treasure trove. Board member Shauna Young observes with a tentative laugh, “Nobody’s camped out … yet.”

Vintage-inspired postcard based on an Aspen Thrift Shop window display that was created by Susan Grove and Sam Louras in celebration of the 4th of July.

(KATHRYN CAMP)

June

5:35 p.m.

SNOWMASS RODEO GROUNDS

Early dinner – Conundrum Catering for pulled-pork sandwiches and ‘slaw.

6:00 p.m.

SLACK EVENTS

I arrive in time for “slack” before the main competition. Riders who didn’t make it into the official rodeo program compete for one of five spots open to up-and-coming riders.

7:00 p.m.

GRAND ENTRY

Cowgirls and cowboys in full rodeo regalia enter the arena on horseback, carrying flags.

8:00 p.m.

MERCH BOOTHS

Here’s the fringed, turquoise Western shirt with pearl buttons and embroidered embellishments that I’ve always wanted.

8:30 p.m.

SUNDAE

While rodeo traffic clears out, we’ll hop on the shuttle up to Snowmass Base Village and treat the kids to hot fudge sundaes. I’ll have mine topped with Unicorn cone pieces, please.

SNOWMASS VILLAGE RODEO

WEDNESDAYS: 6:00 – 8:30 PM

JUNE 21 – AUGUST 16

“Don’t let anyone dull your fire.” That’s the sage advice that 25-year-old all-American rodeo cowgirl Shannon Weeks gives young cowgirls aspiring to become barrel racers.

Shannon Weeks dreamed of becoming a cowgirl, starting at age seven when she attended her first rodeos in Snowmass and Carbondale with her family. She fell in love with horses, then found a way to immerse herself in that world, following in the boot steps of her aunt, Carbondale-resident Diane Teague, an accomplished barrel racer in her own right, who is still Shannon’s coach today.

Originally from the Hudson River Valley of upstate New York, Weeks spent every summer in Carbondale with her aunt “following her around and learning about the town, horses, and rodeos,” Weeks recalled.

Barrel racing, also known as “chasing cans,” is, in the collegiate and professional ranks, a women-only event. In the timed competition, a horse and rider maneuver a cloverleaf pattern around three barrels, placed in a triangular formation in the middle of the arena. A timing device has an electric eye beam that automatically starts the moment the horse and rider enter the arena and stops when they exit after completing the course.

The timer measures within 1/1,000 of a second — so the difference between first and second place can be within the thousandths of a second. Depending on the size of the arena, average racing times range from 15 to 20 seconds. If a barrel racer or horse knocks over a barrel, a time penalty, usually five seconds, is added to the total racing time.

At age 13, Shannon started volunteering during the summers at Carbondale-based nonprofit, WindWalkers Equine Assisted Learning and Therapy Center. “I just wanted to be around horses, and I loved the kids and everybody at the WindWalkers ranch. And I still do.”

You know how I’ve always wanted to be a cowgirl? Well, this week, I met the genuine article. All summer, every Wednesday…

WindWalkers serves more than 100 clients weekly with 24 equine therapy horses working with specialized groups. These include at-risk teens, students with significant identifiable emotional disabilities such as developmental delays, autism, traumatic brain injuries, and PTSD, to list a few.

Gabrielle Greeves, WindWalkers executive director ( a.k.a. “Chief Unicorn”) shared, “We’ve graduated a number of individuals with what I call ‘an invisible diagnosis.’ We say, ‘You will be seen, you will be heard, and you will be held’ because there’s hope and healing here.”

Greeves explains, “Most individuals coming to WindWalkers are learning about socialemotional regulation. They are learning how to interact with horses — nonverbal and magical creatures that don’t judge. At WindWalkers, we say it’s about our self-confidence and selfawareness.”

As Weeks developed bonds with WindWalkers’ horses, she discovered more about herself and how to interact with others. She experienced a particular kind of communication that happens between horses and humans.

“We talk about this at WindWalkers; how spending time understanding horses with how they act and react to certain things helps you to know how to deal with both horses and people. It helps with your social skills and understanding personal interactions, like, if I react this way, this horse, or person, may react differently,” Weeks said.

While learning about grooming, riding, and caring for horses at WindWalkers, she says she also discovered herself. She has come a long way — from being that young cowgirl watching from the arena fencing to a mature barrel racer competing in Colorado and Arizona.

Weeks tells a story about her first time entering the Snowmass Rodeo, at age 13. First, she had to “borrow” Bailey, a roping horse with a white blaze on his forehead that her aunt was taking care of for a friend.

“It was a great experience,” Weeks said, explaining that Bailey was trained for team roping competitions, not for barrel racing. But Weeks and “my little boy Bailey,” went for it anyway. Weeks fell off Bailey while racing toward the third barrel but, “I wasn’t disappointed by the outcome. I was like, ‘Oh, okay,’ so I just got up and dusted myself off.”

A few months later, for her 14th birthday in September, Shannon’s mother bought Bailey and arranged for him to move to New York. “He arrived on my birthday right in time for my party. We were almost inseparable after that.”

Two days after graduating from high school in New York, she loaded her car and moved to Carbondale full-time, where she took a job at WindWalkers. In 2016, she was crowned Queen of the Carbondale Rodeo, where she joined the “Rodeo Royalty,” a group of riders who serve as advocates and community liaisons for the rodeo. This group of women open each week by carrying flags celebrating the sponsors, Colorado, and America.

At WindWalkers, Shannon learned how to ride the new horses to see if they are properly conditioned and trained. When training a horse, Weeks explained, “The big thing is patience. Ironically, this is not something I had when I started, but horses have taught me patience. I learned that the hard way. Some horses are quick learners, and some aren’t. Every horse learns differently.”

WINDWALKERS ANNUAL BENEFIT HORSE SHOW

Saturday & Sunday

JUNE 24–25

8:00 AM – 4:00 PM

STRANG RANCH MISSOURI HEIGHTS

This two-day event attracts more than 200 spectators to watch competitors in 65 youth and adult classes from beginner to advanced levels. There will be competitive equestrian riders earning points for the Colorado Western Hunter Jumper Association (CWHJA). A new pajama bottom category invites riders to trade their jodhpurs for polka-dot flannel.

The heart of this horse show, which makes it different than other CWHJA competitions, is the extraordinary-abilities classes for riders starting at age five to adult who attend WindWalkers therapeutic riding center. This is an all-inclusive, all-abilities show.

Shannon’s Postcards are based on photos taken by professional rodeo photographers. Running the Colorado Flag (this page), by Sweet Arrow photography. With her horse, Willie (page 44-45), by Paula Mayer. (KATHRYN CAMP)

Stroll Main Street in the heart of Carbondale’s Creative District and enjoy a wide range of local arts, galleries, shopping, award-winning restaurants and spirits, community and non-profit booths, and live music and entertainment.

NO ALCOHOL

Bailey saved me from a lot of bad decisions as a kid. He taught me patience, responsibility, and more life lessons than I could have learned from a human being. He passed away last year at the age of 25, and he will always be in my heart.”

SHANNON WEEKS

As a freshman at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, Weeks joined the CMU Rodeo Team and brought two horses to college – a young horse named Willie, and her first love Bailey, whom she retired after one year of college rodeo.

“I had to understand how much time and energy was needed at the beginning and ending of each day to care for my horses,” Weeks said. CMU’s rodeo facility is ten miles from campus, which meant allowing time for traffic. Weeks now looks at that lesson in time management as a big part of her academic success.

In 2020, Shannon graduated from CMU with a business administration and marketing degree, and, last year, she joined WindWalkers as a fulltime executive assistant, working in marketing, advertising, and graphic design, as well as event planning. Then she took up grant writing and website design for the organization.

“I’m very lucky to have a young gal like Shannon in my life. I’m very proud of her,” Greeves said. “Now Shannon is the one that’s going out into the world and creating community and collaborations on behalf of us with a younger generation.”

She has fallen off her horse many times, but she said “you can’t think about that as a possibility.” She added, the emergency personnel on standby “would be at your side before you could blink your eyes.”

Once you’re in the arena, Weeks believes it’s about your own mindset. So she prepares by reading books about mindfulness and listening to podcasts from motivational speakers. She always has a playlist going. Her favorite song right now? “‘Til You Can’t,” by Cody Johnson.

While it’s wonderful to ride on sunny days, Weeks rides in the rain or snow, mucking through a muddy course, because the rodeo happens rain or shine. However, she says her horses are “extremely spoiled, and extremely well-loved.”

Shannon remains an active member of the Snowmass and Carbondale rodeos. She has taken on duties as a timer and has worked in the office at the Carbondale Rodeo. Last year, as a board member of the Roaring Fork Valley Horse Council, representing more than 700 equestrian members, she and others gave input to the Snowmass Village Planning

LEARN MORE: WWW CARBONDALE COM

CARBONDALE WILD WEST RODEO

GUS DARIEN ARENA

THURSDAYS: 5:30 – 10:00 PM

JUNE 1 – AUGUST 17

PINK

Thursday, July 13 ANNUAL NIGHT FOR HONORING THOSE WHO HAVE FOUGHT BREAST CANCER

3:00 p.m.

MARIPOSA HATS

Commission in support of proposed design changes to the Snowmass Rodeo facility and grounds, including a designated warm-up area, clearer access for emergency services, and more space for guests to move about to enjoy their night at the rodeo.

Shannon’s daily focus, she said, is “learning as much as I can — whether it’s about my horses and how to keep them feeling their best, or learning more about barrel racing and how to improve my own performance.”

She continues to clock long hours of training and grooming her horses — Willie, and a younger horse named Chrome — striving towards her goal, in the next five years, of joining the Pro Rodeo Circuit. Every professional barrel racer’s dream is to make it to the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. Weeks has built a solid foundation for herself at WindWalkers for moving forward on the rodeo circuit. Greeves said, “It’s been a loving relationship, and I’ve watched her flourish in so many different ways, and now she’s striding towards a very bright future.”

JEANNE SOULDERN

My custom-made cowgirl hat is ready –sporting leather string, ribbons, and feathers, exactly as I imagined when I designed it.

6:00 p.m.

GUS DARIEN ARENA

New this year, the Sheriff has outlawed all parking on CR 100, so rodeo guests who drive are encouraged to park in downtown Carbondale and catch a free shuttle.

10:00 p.m.

POUR HOUSE

Cheering for all those cowboys and girls has me craving locally-raised beef. I head to Carbondale’s venerable watering hole for a home-grown burger stacked with onion rings.

If you’d told me I’d find an arena filled with dudes in pink cowboy shirts, I would have thought you were telling a tale. Well, last Thursday…

TOUGH ENOUGH TO WEAR

Oral Surgery for the whole family

last Sunday...

8:15 a.m.

VALLEY HOPPER

The new shuttle service picks me up for my pre-booked ride to Marble.

9:20 a.m.

MARBLE GALLERY

Walked around the sculpture garden and picked up a copy of The Whistler, a children’s book written by gallery owner Mario Villalobos.

10:00 a.m.

CRYSTAL RIVER JEEP TOURS

Check in @ the CRJT office for a 7-hour tour. With a bag lunch, water bottle, sunscreen, camera, and binoculars.

11:20 a.m.

CRYSTAL MILL

Checked the box with an ‘gram-worthy selfie at the historic site – then decided I’d send you a hand-written postcard instead of contributing to the social media beast.

1:35 p.m.

THE DEVIL’S PUNCHBOWL

Jump into the torrent to cool off? Thank you, but no thank you.

5:05 p.m.

SLOW GROOVIN’

No trip to Marble is complete without hickory- and fruit-wood smoked St. Louisstyle ribs and a glass of Purple Sangria made with wine from Paonia.

CRYSTAL RIVER JEEP TOURS

MARBLE

OPEN FROM MEMORIAL DAY UNTIL NOVEMBER 30 – DEPENDING ON ROAD CONDITIONS. 10:00 AM DEPARTURE

A three-quarter mile stretch on the way to Devil’s Punchbowl Canyon is wide enough for only one Jeep, a gnarly and narrow shelf road — a breathtaking jaunt that will have you thanking your lucky stars there’s a professional behind the wheel.

At Crystal River Jeep Tours, the vehicle of choice is, as their name implies, the Jeep. The touring company’s four-by-four vehicles with special suspensions can handle the climbs and descents and traverse water. As as co-owner Samantha “Sam” Smith Wilkey likes to say, “It can climb a mountain like a goat.” Each Jeep can hold up to five guests in vehicles with “limo style” third row seats.

Wilkey runs the backcountry 4x4 tours with her husband Dustin, while her mother Patsy Smith runs the gift shop. It’s been a family operation ever since Patsy and her husband Glenn “Smitty” Smith bought it in 2007. In fact, going back to its founding 72 years ago, Crystal River Jeep Tours has always been a mom-and-pop business, having been owned by a succession of local families, starting with Wade and Wilma Loudermilk who founded the tour company and Beaver Lake Lodge in 1951.

All tours go to the iconic Crystal Mill, now the most-photographed historic site in Colorado. Social media posts showing photos of the “Old Mill” have created a recent boom in visitors to the area. Travelers from around the globe plan trips to Marble specifically to see the Mill and the waterfall that once powered it. The historic site “almost looks like a painting,” Sam explained. People Google “How do I get to the Crystal Mill?” and soon they’re on the phone with Crystal Valley Jeep Tours planning a three, five, or seven-hour round-trip rides up into the high country above Marble. The company also offers drop off and pickup service for hikers and campers heading to the Geneva Lake TH.

Next time you take a “Sunday Drive,” try imagining the route I took last weekend.

Good thing I was in the passenger seat.

So far, the youngest passenger to take the Jeep tour was ten days old, and the oldest was 98 years old. Sam explained, “We’re very cautious. We drive very slowly, so while the tour gives you all the history, we get to focus on the road, so people can look at the beauty instead of freaking out about the rocks.”

Guides start by telling you the history of Marble when the surrounding trails were rampant with settlers, prospectors, and miners. You’ll hear about the woman-owned Black Queen Mine, an underground mining operation that, beginning in 1893, mined mainly silver. The mine’s owner and operator was Ellen Elliott Jack, who was born in Nottingham, England, in 1842, and known in Marble as “Captain Jack.”

Guides weave together details of the area’s history and take liberties to spin a few yarns. “We also tell tales, and then we admit that it wasn’t the truth. There’s lots of storytelling,” Sam said with a laugh.

The tour stops at Crystal, also known as Crystal City, a mining ghost town six miles east of Marble. During its mining boom days, Crystal City had upwards of 500 residents, a hotel, and a brothel, “where there was one woman who was very busy and very rich,” Sam added. Guests can survey the 12 remaining original cabins or eat a packed-picnic lunch outside of the Crystal City General Store.

As it turns out, the tour circuit is a popular destination for romantics. Sam said, “I love the surprise engagements, and we’ve booked lots of weddings where the ceremony takes place in Crystal City.”

The three-hour tour passes Lizard Lake, overlooks the Crystal River, and passes multiple natural waterfalls in the spring before arriving at the Crystal Mill. The iconic, picturesque main attraction was built 1892 with a horizontal waterwheel that functioned as a water turbine to drive an air compressor. This, in turn, provided power for machinery in nearby mines. Wilkey once gave a tour to descendants of pioneers who lived in Crystal and built the mill.

The five- and seven-hour tours take the Lead King Basin Loop, an 18-mile route along an old road bordering the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness area. Halfway around the loop, they stop, Sam said, “at what we have named ‘Coors Falls,’ not because the waterfall is from the Coors logo, but because Coors filmed a commercial at that location,” Sam said. The company was hired to haul the film crew and gear up to the location.

(You’ll actually find the waterfall that graces Coors Light cans at Milton Creek near Bogan Flats Campground on your way in or out of Marble off of CR 3, otherwise known as “the Road to Marble.”)

The seven-hour tour takes a side trip from the Lead King Basin Loop up to the Devil’s Punchbowl, where waterfalls converge and pool into a bowl, creating a naturally-formed swimming hole of blue-green water that tempts divers to take the 20-foot plunge from the surrounding cliffs.

While their permit allows them to operate from the beginning of May until the end of November, Mother Nature usually has other plans. Sam said, “The earliest we’ve opened is mid-May. With this year’s snow and the three avalanches that I know of on the trails,” they advise calling ahead to see what road and trail conditions are like.

Last season, with rain washouts, mudslides, and rock slides, there were 44 days the trail was not accessible. They usually end the tour season in mid-October, or “once the snow starts to stick,” Wilkey said.

The Crystal River Valley and the surrounding mountains, Sam said, have always been a draw for her family. She added, “This is our happy place. This is where we get renewed. My dad and I always had a passion for these mountains.” She hopes you and your family take the time to experience this “happy place” too.

Q

. Why do I love what I do?

A. I love being a real estate advisor because I guide people with one of the largest financial decisions of their life. It is very rewarding to be able to use my skills to add value to each transaction and earn clients for life. The Roaring Fork Valley is a beautiful place to create, and I feel immense gratitude for being part of this community for over 20 years.

Let us introduce you to our neighbors.

Q . What makes a house a home?

A. I have been blessed with opportunities to help people find their “place.” The place they call home! For locals, their home provides an anchor for them to grow dreams … from raising a family to gathering friends and neighbors. Speaking from my own experience, settling into my home made me a better parent and provided security in launching my career. Second homeowners often love their second home more than their first. Finding your own place can be life-changing. The process is rewarding and well-worth the effort. To serve people engaged in that process is my life-long mission. My mantra grew out of this experience: Wellness and a sense of place dwell in the heart.

ARTWORK: ELANA ROYER

Q. How can we be better neighbors?

As a landscape architect, I am often asked to design plantings that will screen the view of an adjacent property. Someone who isn’t tuned into the long-term growth patterns of certain trees may sometimes choose trees that negatively effect their neighbor. For example, placing several large spruce trees between you and your neighbor might give you almost-instant gratification, but over time, those trees will grow to be seventy feet tall and thirty feet wide. This could block your neighbor’s view, shade their vegetable garden, or block their solar access. A better solution might be to plant a tree that doesn’t get as large but will create the desired effect over time. In the short-term as the plantings mature, a trellis can screen an undesirable view, or a water feature can create a focal point so you’re not staring at whatever it is you’d like to screen. Putting in the time to creatively respond to design challenges can go a long way to having a lasting relationship with your neighbors.

A.

Q . Why do I love my profession?

A. The quick answer is that I get to help people achieve something with what will likely be one of their largest assets, their homes, or other real estate that they may own. I enjoy, and strive, to build longterm relationships with clients that will not only span their current needs but also long-term needs and hopefully the needs of their children in the future. Everyone has a different financial situation, and I enjoy working through the nuances of determining what is best for a client’s short-term and long-term goals.   Looking at the big picture for someone is important to me, as I am advising them on what is the best solution for them.

Q. What do you love about your profession?

A. I love helping clients during a major time of change in their lives when they are working towards a new real estate goal, such as buying their first home or purchasing a vacation home for their extended family. Gella Sutro and I help our clients to have a positive and smooth transaction without unnecessary worry or stress. I love working with Gella. I feel so lucky that she took me under her wing two years ago and has mentored me through nearly 50 transactions that we have worked on together. It is such an honor that Gella trusts me with her clients and friends that she has worked with over a 30+ year career. I think that trust is one of the things that makes our partnership successful. We also bring very different skills to our team, which works in our client’s favor.

Q. What is an upside to the current market?

.

AThe good news

is that the post-pandemic frenzy has finally slowed down! While there are still multiple offers in the mid-Valley market, the pace of sales has slowed, allowing buyers and sellers to take a little more time than we’ve been used to. For sellers, property values are continuing to rise or remain high due to historically low inventory, providing a great opportunity to downsize, upsize, or cash in. For buyers, increasing days on market and inflated asking prices in some cases are providing opportunities to negotiate for the first time in several years. Many buyers are still making moves by taking advantage of recent appreciation in property values.

“As women, we have unique health and wellness goals at every stage of our adult lives. My goal is to provide holistic, patient-centered care considering your mind, body and spirit to make you a better version of yourself.”

Q. Where do you find your inspiration?

to live in the Roaring Fork Valley. We are at the top of the food chain with clean air, clear water, natural beauty of the surrounding mountains, and outdoor activities at our doorstep. Affordability is clearly a problem in our area. However, our region provides an amazing quality of life for people who choose to live here. I love to help our clients fulfill their dream of living in our beautiful valley and enjoying all of the natural treasures that are on our doorstep.

.

SUMMER CLASSES & EVENTS SUMMER CLASSES & EVENTS

FAMILY CLAY PLAY

In these two hour long classes you and your child(ren) will work side by side creating with clay and decorating with underglazes. An instructor will give a demonstration at the beginning and help throughout the making process. Parents will make alongside their child(ren) and help them bring their creation to life! 2hr class: pricing varies dependent on number of participants

SUMMER EVENTS

June 2nd: First Friday, Pairings Beverage Makers Reception Event

July 28th-30th: Local Potter’s Booth & Pottery Relay at Mountain Fair

August 5th-6th: Pots With Stories Workshop with Doug Casebeer

Scholarships available for adults & children, find the application on our website or contact us for more information.

Visit CCC online and subscribe to our newsletter to stay up-to-date on all of the latest classes and happenings!

ADULTS &

AI feel so lucky

But even if every house looked identicalif all the furnishings were the same - it still wouldn’t feel like yours. That’s because home isn’t where you are. It’s who you’re with.”

Jodi Picoult, Off the Page

Summer Reading 2023

How it works:

1. At an invitation-only event on February 26, legendary singersongwriter, John Oates played a solo acoustic concert at ASPEN FILM ’s Isis Theatre. He shared stories about new songs he wrote during the pandemic, an eclectic, soulfully delivered mix that took a spirited departure from his greatest hits. This was followed by the local premier of Gringa, directed by Aspen-based filmmakers Marny Eng and EJ Foerster, also in attendance.

(JEANNE SOULDERN)

Sign-up

Sign-up for summer reading online or by filling out a paper registration form. All ages welcome!

Read & Learn

Complete reading or activity logs. Earn Prizes!

Submit your logs to earn prizes and ra e tickets.

Featured Events

Summer Reading Kicko Party!

June 3 • 12-3PM

Summer Performers

6/6: All Together Now with Wildlife • 10:30AM

6/13: Steve Weeks Music • 1:30PM

6/22: Kids Yoga and Mindfulness with Diana Laughlin • 10:30AM

6/27: Chad Wonder Magic • 12:30PM

7/13: Folklorico • 5:30PM

7/24: Kids House of Joy • 10:30AM

7/28: Mr. Kneel Hip Hop • 2PM

Tunes & Tale

July 12, 19, 26, & Aug. 2 • 10:30AM

Movies in the Meadow

June 10 & 24 and July 22 • 8:30PM

Scholastic Book Fair

July 24-31 during library hours

14 Midland Avenue | Basalt CO, 81621 970.927.4311 | basaltlibrary.org

2. CARBONDALE COMMUNITY SCHOOL’s annual Big Event this year was titled, “Go with the Flow. “ The production explored waterways and the creatures who live there. These second-grade “Muskrateers” make a long journey to the end of the Colorado River to find out why the river no longer meets the sea. The story inspired CCS teacher Diana Alcantara to expand the concept into MP’s In Season Map (p. 9).

(SARAH KUHN)

3. At ASPEN YOUTH CENTER’S fifth and final “Family Feud Aspen” fundraising gala, these teachers and AYC supporters went all-in during the paddle-raise to support their students during outside of school hours. Pictured, from left to right: Susan Glah, Mike Wessler, Kerry McGonigle, and Ada Friedman. Survey says you rock!

(JEANNE SOULDERN)

4. CARBONDALE CHAMBER ’s First Friday Family Block Party on May 5 filled Main Street with rainbows. Rainbows of every size and form were found everywhere, but not one drop of rain! Festivities included an all-ages Pride Parade, carrying on a tradition that started in 2019 when the Carbondale Middle School’s Gender Sexuality Alliance petitioned the Town for a “You Be You” celebration where everyone is welcome.

(JEANNE SOULDERN)

OF SHOWING UP In Celebration

Between the tail end of ski season and the last day of school, there’s one thing you can count on like clockwork around here – the arrival of “friend-raising” season.

5. Carbondale’s DANDELION DAY

“Parade of the Species” brought this dalmatian down to Main Street for his first-ever such cavalcade. “I was so excited for him to be in the parade! We feel lucky to live in a community with such awesome family-friendly events,” said this puppy’s mama, Megan Ravenscraft.

6. TURNER FAUTSKO’s super heroes gathered in Glenwood Springs on May 13 to help Jenni and Matt Fautsko raise funds for converting their van into a wheelchair-accessible vehicle. “We are so incredibly grateful for all the love and support for Turner and our family!” Jenni wrote. For details about how to contribute, visit “Make Plans” on MP’s website.

(JEANNINE RAVENSCRAFT)

JUNE 10 BMX STATE-QUALIFIER RACE

CROWN MOUNTAIN PARK

REGISTRATION: 8:00 - 10:00 AM

RACES START: 11:00 AM

Come out to the Valley’s mecca for BMX riding. You’ll be astonished by the technical skill of state-and-nationally-ranked BMX racers from around the country, who will compete in this state-qualifier race. Local riders to keep your eye on include: Campbell Maybon, Ian Westerman, and Josh Eakins (at left, jumping off a ramp in the dirt track area at Crown Mountain Park).

(PHOTOS: GABE EAKINS)

RECREATION DEPARTMENT Aspen

0861 MAROON CREEK ROAD, ASPEN (970) 544-4100 ASPENRECREATION.COM

OUTDOOR CLIMBING

A.R.O.C.K. OUTDOOR CLIMBING

JUNE 13 – AUGUST 8

TUESDAYS: 8:45 AM – 4:30 PM

AGES 8+

PER DAY: $133 / $125 ONLINE

ROCK RATS CLIMBING

RED BRICK REC CENTER

BEGINNER CLASS

AGES: 6+

JULY 10 – AUGUST 17

THURSDAYS & MONDAYS

4:15 – 5:30 PM

SESSION: $138 / $126 ONLINE

INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED

AGES 10+

JULY 12 – AUGUST 16

WEDNESDAYS: 4:00 – 6:00 PM

SESSION: $186 / $174 ONLINE

BIKE & CLIMB

JUNE 14 – AUGUST 2

WEDNESDAYS: 8:45 AM – 2:00 PM

AGES: 7 +

PER DAY: $81 / $74 ONLINE

Pack a water bottle, lunch, snacks, sunscreen, and a rain jacket in a day pack to be worn while biking. Closed-toed shoes are required. Helmets and technical climbing equipment will be provided.

ARC AQUATIC CENTER

M-F: 6:00 AM - 8:00 PM

SATURDAYS : 8:30 AM – 8:00 PM

SUNDAYS: 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM

AMENITIES FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY

A 25-yard six-lane lap pool, a zeroentry leisure pool, a two-story water slide, a hot tub, sauna, steam room, and everyone’s favorite “Lazy River.”

SUMMER ART CAMPS

AGES: ENTERING GRADE 1 +

JULY & AUGUST

MONDAY – FRIDAY 9:30 AM – 3:30 PM

RED BRICK CENTER FOR THE ARTS $302 / WEEK

At week-long day camps, children explore different weekly themes through mediums such as papiermâché, clay, mosaic, painting, and collage. Campers will also picnic outside, play in the park, and enjoy weekly field trips in Aspen. Financial assistance is available.

REGISTER RedBrickAspen.com

YOUTH PLAY HOUSE

RED BRICK REC CENTER GYM

AGES: 4 & UNDER

FRIDAYS: 9:30-11:30 AM Reservations required. Limit: 25 participants $10/ child.

ROLLER SKATING

ASPEN ICE GARDEN EVERY FRIDAY UNTIL JULY 21 7:30 –9:30 PM

ALL AGES

$10 with your own skates $15 includes skate rentals (limited; first come, first served)

FIND CHILDREN’S-ONLY HOURS & THEMED NIGHTS ONLINE.

AspenRecreation.com

JUNE 10

GLENWOOD SPRINGS PRIDE FESTIVAL

BLUEBIRD CAFÉ & BETHEL PLAZA

(UNDER THE GRAND AVE. BRIDGE IN GWS)

5:00 PM – MIDNIGHT

Show support for your LGBTQIA+ friends and neighbors by wearing your best rainbow attire. All are welcome. At the Plaza, find live music, food trucks, Pride merch, and lots of love! While the event is free, donations support Cook Inclusive Company, a nonprofit providing therapeutic, recreational, and vocational services for queer and disabled communities in the Roaring Fork Valley. After dark, walk a block to a 21+ event at the Bluebird Café, with rip-roaring entertainment provided by local drag troupe, The Roaring Divas.

JUNE 28

ASPEN PUBLIC RADIO LAWN BASH

3:00 – 6:00 PM – RED BRICK CENTER FOR THE ARTS

7:00 PM – FREE SCREENING OF “FOOD AND COUNTRY” AT THE ISIS THEATRE

Say hello to folks from more than 20 area nonprofits who will be recruiting volunteers of all ages and any level of available time. APR will host a panel of local voices who will be joined by Food and Country film director, Laura Gabbert and moderator Jenn White, host of the National Public Radio program, 1A. The film explores how America’s policy of producing cheap food has hobbled small independent farmers, ranchers, and chefs.

(PHOTO: FOOD AND COUNTRY FILM)

S nowmass Vi llage

RECREATION DEPARTMENT

SUMMER DAY CAMP

JUNE 12 – AUGUST 18

AGES: 5-10

MONDAY – FRIDAY 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Register now. Limited spaces are still available.

Snowmass Village Recreation Center offers day camps using the amenities in and around the recreation center.

• Climbing wall

• Bounce houses

• Playgrounds

• Gym space

• Fields

• Arts & crafts

• Pools

SWIM

YOUTH PROGRAMMING & CAMPS

JUNE – AUGUST

AGES: 5+

Snowmass Village Recreation Center works to offer a variety of programming, both in-house and in collaboration with outside groups.

• Pokemon programs

NOW HIRING

Snowmass Village Recreation

Department is looking for individuals to fill summer positions with the potential for year-round work. On-site training. Lifeguards, recreation assistants, camp counselors, swim instructors, and mountain bike instructors.

PRIVATE SWIM LESSONS AVAILABLE ON WEEKENDS 2 LESSONS – $130

PASSES & MEMBERSHIPS FOR YOUTH, ADULTS, AND FAMILIES.

Youth Daily Pass $10

Adult Daily Pass $15

Youth Yearly Pass $475

Family Membership: First month $250

Following months $120 Punch passes and other options are available.

• T-ball and coach-pitch baseball

• Fencing

• Mountain biking

• Basketball camp

• Tennis camp

• Soccer camp

HOST A PARTY

Have your next party at the Snowmass Village Recreation Center. Rental and party options include the swimming pool, bounce houses, and indoor climbing wall.

The Town offers competitive pay, a flexible schedule, and plenty of perks – including bus passes, recreation benefits, and paid holidays.

(PHOTO: JOE VAN WYK)

JULY 4

INDEPENDENCE DAY AROUND THE VALLEY

No fireworks? No problem. Celebrations in the high country are drought and fire-conscious, yet each community has planned at least one way to inspire us to look up at the sky with awe.

REDSTONE

9:30 AM – 4:30 PM

Colorado Air National Guard F-16 jets will make a stunning appearance in the afternoon. Arrive early and stay all day for homemade pie at the Redstone General Store, a Ducky Derby on Coal Creek, the kids’ parade, and a water fight with the fire department.

(PHOTOS: JEFF BIER)

Carbo nd ale RECREATION DEPARTMENT

GLENWOOD SPRINGS

TWO RIVERS PARK

4:30 PM – 9:30 PM

What would any birthday party – even America’s – be without face painting, bounce houses, lawn games, and (don’t try this at home!) axe-throwing. Live music starts at 6:00 PM, and a laser show begins at 9:00 PM.

CARBONDALE

10:30 AM – 4:00 PM

Decorate your bike, wagon, scooter, skateboard, or pet and meet at 2nd and Main Streets. The parade ends at Sopris Park with free watermelon and ice cream. Festivities continue with music in the park and games at the John M. Fleet Pool.

ASPEN

10:00 AM – 9:30 PM

Begin your celebration at the Community Village at the Hyman Avenue Mall for a car show, live music, dancing, foods, games, and kite decorating. At 11:00 AM, listen for the calliope (a steam-whistle organ) calling everyone to the parade route that winds through downtown. Bike over to the Benedict Music Tent by 4:00 PM for an AMFS performance of traditional patriotic favorites. Next, migrate to Wagner Park, as Independence Day takes one final bow with a laser light show.

OUR TOWN ONE TABLE COMMUNITY DINNER

SUNDAY, AUGUST 20

5:00-8:30 PM

Host a dinner party on 4th Street in downtown Carbondale. The Town provides tables. You bring the rest: 6-8 guests, your dinner menu, decorations, and your own chairs. Prizes are awarded for decorations.

FREE TABLE RESERVATIONS:

jwall@carbondaleco.net

3RD ANNUAL TRI FOR THE SUN SATURDAY, JUNE 10

7:00 AM START

5:00 PM AWARDS & AFTER PARTY

$75

Raise funds to support Carbondale Rec’s free community programming while competing in a triathlon that brings you from downtown Carbondale to the high alpine trails of Babbish Gulch at Sunlight Mountain Resort.

SWIM 1/2 mile at the Carbondale Pool

BIKE 16 miles (2,700 vert) via Dry Park RUN 5k (600 vert) at Sunlight Mountain Resort

REGISTRATION: trisignup.com

YOUTH HIKES AGES: 8+

9:30 AM – 3:00 PM

$35 PER HIKE

MIN/MIX: 4/10

REGISTER NOW

AVALANCHE CREEK

Wednesday, June 14

Monday, June 19

HUNTER CREEK

Wednesday, June 21

Monday, June 26

GROTTOS

Wednesday, July 12

Monday, July 17

THOMAS LAKES

Wednesday, July 26

Hikes are hands-on informational sessions where kids will learn “Leave No Trace” practices of wilderness travel

SWIMMING

JOHN M FLEET POOL IS OPEN FOR IT’S FINAL SEASON!

(New Pool coming May 2025)

• Swim lessons

• Lap swim

• Open swim

JULY 15

ALC BENEFIT CONCERT: DARK STAR ORCHESTRA

RIVER VALLEY RANCH, CARBONDALE

5:00 – 10:00 PM

Anna Lynn Cunningham loved animals, competed in triathlons, and cultivated hundreds of thousands of followers on Musical.ly. At age 16, while attending BHS, she lost her battle with Ewing sarcoma, a form of pediatric cancer. “For us, to be able to carry on Anna’s legacy by helping other families has helped heal our loss,” explains Anna’s mom, Julie Warren, who, along with Anna’s dad, Red Cunningham, founded the ALC Foundation to support families facing childhood cancer. Guests are encourage to ride bikes or walk to this all-ages event.

(PHOTOS: ALC FOUNDATION)

LIBRARYPitkin County

SUMMER READING KICKOFF PARTY

THURSDAY, JUNE 8

ALL AGES

4:00 - 6:00 PM

FREE

Food and fun at the library! Register and/or learn more about the 2023 Summer Reading program.

SUMMER READING PROGRAM

JUNE 8 – AUGUST 8.

SPECIAL STORYTIMES

THEATRE ASPEN STORYTIME

AGES 2-7

MONDAYS 10:30 AM

JUNE 26 - AUGUST 14

THEATRE ASPEN TENT

TUNES & TALES

ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL & SCHOOL

AGES: UNDER 12

DUNAWAY COMMUNITY ROOM AT PITKIN COUNTY LIBRARY

JULY 6, JULY 20, AND AUGUST 3

THURSDAYS: 10:30 AM

MORE ONLINE:

pitcolib.org

STORYTIME

BABY STORYTIME

AGES: 2 AND UNDER

TUESDAYS 10:30 AM

CHILDREN’S STORYTIME

AGES: UNDER 10

WEDNESDAYS & THURSDAYS 10:30 AM

3D PRINTING & DESIGN WORKSHOPS

JUNE 26-29

JULY 5-8

9:00 AM – 1:30 PM

AGES 13-18

No previous experience is necessary.

Snacks will be provided, but please bring your own lunch.

NOCHE DE CINE FAMILIA SPANISH FAMILY FILM NIGHT

LAST THURSDAY OF THE MONTH JUNE 22, JULY 27, AND AUGUST 31 4:30 PM

!Disfruta de pizza y una película con tu familia!

Las películas se presentan en español con subtítulos en inglés.

(Enjoy pizza and a movie with your family! Films are shown in Spanish with English subtitles.)

JULY 18-23

ROARING FORK VALLEY

TRIPLE CROWN WORLD SERIES

VARIOUS ROARING FORK VALLEY BASEBALL FIELDS

START TIMES VARY

Play ball! This youth baseball tournament attracts teams and their families from around Colorado, as well as from California, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. In the spirit of “build it and they will come,” they’re here for the baseball, but these fans of 10u, 12u, and 14u ball have made this 28th-annual event a reason to visit the mountains, as well as our community’s kid-friendly restaurants and attractions. So, show up to be inspired by the skill level of these players, root for the “home” team, and say “Hello” to visiting baseball parents. (PHOTO: TRIPLE CROWN LEAGUE)

JULY 24-28 & JULY 31-AUG 4

ROC DOC FILM CAMP

ASPEN FILM, ROCK & ROLL ACADEMY

THE ART BASE

AGES 12-16

9:30 AM – 3:30 PM

At this bilingual two-week camp, Aspen Film students learn how to make a rockumentary. Instructors from Denver’s Colorado Film School will lead camp participants in filming Rock & Roll Academy musicians. Week One: go into the studio and backstage to tell the story of how this approach to music education works to include kids with zero experience alongside seasoned young rockers, ending the week with a concert. Week Two: focus on editing, sound design and mixing, and filming B-roll footage. Scholarships are available. (PHOTO: COURTESY OF ASPEN FILM)

LIBRARIES Garfield County

AUGUST 3

MIDSUMMER CULTURAL FESTIVAL

RED BRICK CENTER FOR THE ARTS, ASPEN 4:00 – 7:00 PM

Chances are, you’ll hear Jazz Aspen’s high school street band from a few blocks away beckoning you to the Red Brick. Browse through open studios, where resident artists will give handson demonstrations. Aspen Words will present readings, and Aspen Film will screen short films. Argentinian-born Josefina Méndez and her Jazz Trio will have you (and the kids) dancing to lively Latin beats.

(PHOTO: THE RED BRICK CENTER FOR THE ARTS)

SUMMER READING CHALLENGE

JUNE 1 – JULY 31

Read 1,000 minutes to help reach a collective community goal of reading 1 million minutes.

FREE SPECIAL EVENTS:

JUNE 6-8:

Magic with Amazing Dave

JUNE 13-15:

Puppets w/ Out of the Mud Theatre

JUNE 20-22:

Acrobatics & Storytelling w/ Salida Circus

JUNE 27-29:

Tap Dancing Workshop with Mr. Tap

JULY 3-7:

Ice Cream Social

JULY 11-13:

Yoga & Storytelling with Diane Laughlin

JULY 18-20:

Music with Pint-Sized Polka

JULY 25-27:

Beatboxing Workshop with Mr. Kneel

STORY TIME

Stories, songs, and new friends for young children with their adults.

CARBONDALE

THURSDAYS: 10:30 AM

GLENWOOD SPRINGS

TUESDAYS: 10:30 AM

RIFLE

THURSDAYS: 11:00 AM

NEW CASTLE

TUESDAYS & WEDNESDAYS: 10:30 AM

SILT

WEDNESDAYS: 10:30 AM

PARACHUTE

WEDNESDAYS: 10:30 AM

LEARN MORE:

STEM

THE ASPEN SCIENCE CENTER visits the library, bringing high-quality, fun, hands-on activities.

ONE-HOUR SESSIONS ALL AGES FREE

PARACHUTE

FIRST MONDAYS: 11:30 AM

RIFLE

SECOND FRIDAYS: 2:00 PM

SILT

SECOND FRIDAYS: 11:30 AM

NEW CASTLE

FIRST FRIDAYS: 12:00 PM

GLENWOOD SPRINGS

FIRST WEDNESDAYS: 2:30 PM

CARBONDALE

FIRST WEDNESDAYS: 3:30 PM

CARBONDALE, GLENWOOD SPRINGS, NEW CASTLE, SILT, RIFLE, AND PARACHUTE (970) 625-4270 GCPLD.ORG

PRIDE SOCIAL

GLENWOOD SPRINGS BRANCH

4:00 PM

FOURTH FRIDAY EVERY MONTH

Snacks and conversation relating to and celebrating our local LGBTQ+ community. Free and open to all.

More Info: (970) 945-5958.

ASPEN SCIENCE CENTER CODING CLUB

SECOND & FOURTH THURSDAYS

4:00 PM

CARBONDALE BRANCH

AGES: GRADES 8-10

ANY EXPERIENCE LEVEL

Learn Python with Baker Casagrande, who studied Computational Physics at Colorado College.

ASPEN SATURDAY MARKET

Every week until October 7. Locally grown produce, artisanal bread, handmade jellies, art, jewelry, pottery, and gifts. Live music and street vendors create a festive vibe downtown every Saturday. Kid-and dog-friendly. East Hopkins to South Hunter to Hyman Avenue.

ALPINE BANK

(970) 945-2424

An independent, employee-owned Colorado bank employing more than 800 people. Serving more than 160,000 customers with retail, business, mortgage, and electronic banking services. Supports more than 700 Colorado nonprofits with $1.8+ million annually in grants, sponsorships, and gifts.

ASPEN VALLEY HOSPITAL DR. CAROLINE MEARS

(970) 279-4111

Specializing in women’s health, Dr. Mears is now accepting new patients. Well-women visits, pap smears, pelvic exams, nutritional counseling, weight management, comprehensive lab analysis, and patient-centered care. AVH Primary Care in Aspen and Basalt/Willits.

ASPEN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL

(970) 925-1909

Founded in 1969, the school drew inspiration from the Aspen Idea — the philosophy that true balance comes from cultivating mind, body, and spirit in a place of natural beauty and inspiration.

ASPEN INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE DR. JOHN HUGHES, DO

(970) 927-0308

A healthy alternative to surgery and long-term medications using an integrative, whole-person approach. The clinic in downtown Basalt provides osteopathic and functional medical care, specializing in sophisticated regenerative injections and nutritional IV therapies.

MOUNTAIN FAMILY HEALTH

(970) 945-2840

School-based health centers providing medical, dental, and behavioral care for students at BMS, BHS, RFHS, and GSHS. Mountain Family Health also maintains four integrated health centers offering prenatal, pediatric, and adult care.

BEYUL RETREAT

(970) 927-4188

This 32-acre guest ranch in the upper Frying Pan Valley is perfect for your next getaway – whether you're bringing the family, or creating a team-building workshop with your colleagues, or it's just the two of you.

RJ PADDYWACKS

(970) 963-1700

Expanded freshwater fish department with 31 tanks. Supplies for cats, dogs, birds, and reptiles. Highest quality pet food, ranch feed, treats, toys, brushes, and beds. CBD pet wellness. DIY Dog Washing facility.

CARBONDALE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

(970) 963-1890

Be sure to pick up the Chamber's new Roaring Fork & Farm Map. The Chamber not only helps local businesses thrive, but it also hosts the Town's free monthly family-friendly street dance. First Friday: JUNE 2; JULY 7; AUG. 4; SEPT. 1.

ASPEN VALLEY HOSPITAL DR. RAHUL SHAH

(970) 279-4111

Specializing in pediatrics, Dr. Shah provides friendly care for infants, children, and adolescents. Comprehensive internal and family medicine services, treating the whole child through wellness visits, treating illness, and integrating behavioral health and nutrition. AVH Primary Care in Aspen and Basalt/Willits.

CARBONDALE FARMERS' MARKET

Local fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers, and roasted peppers as soon as every crop enters its season. Lunch vendors. Every Wednesday, 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM, with free morning kids’ activities in June and July.

ROARING FORK TRANSIT AUTHORITY

(970) 925-8484

RFTA serves more than 100 stops between Aspen and Silt. Operating around the clock. Kids 5 and under ride free. New youth fare = $1 for ages 6 -18.

THE AGENCY MONICA VIALL

(970) 319-1119

Professional, local, committed, and knowledgeable, Monica Viall connects buyers and sellers on property transactions, while helping them through the process, start to finish.

ROARING FORK ORAL SURGERY

(970) 945-9644

Oral surgery for the whole family. Wisdom teeth, bone grafting, dental implants, full arch rehabilitation, IV and oral sedation, kids and special needs, facial trauma, pathology, botox, and TMJ dysfunction. Dr. Colin Galbraith, DMD.

WALDORF SCHOOL ON THE ROARING FORK

(970) 963-1960

Waldorf students learn to be compassionate, engaged, global citizens who trust and know themselves at the deepest levels. Call to plan a visit to the 13-acre eco-suststainable riverfront campus. (Renee Ramge)

ROSS MONTESSORI SCHOOL

(970) 963-1700

A free public charter school in Carbondale serving students from kindergarten to eighth grade. In the Montessori classroom, students follow selfpaced work plans as they master skills and concepts. Se Habla Español. Bus transportation.

WHEELER OPERA HOUSE

Built in 1889, Aspen’s favorite year-round performance venue has become the Roaring Fork Valley’s premiere site for concerts, films, festivals, lectures, and community events. The Wheeler Opera House sets the stage for connections that create memories for our audiences, artists, and the greater Aspen community.

UMBRELLA ROOFING

(970) 704-9130

High-performance commercial and residential roof systems for Colorado Mountain Resort Communities. Umbrella's 1% Close to Home commitment: Giving back 1% of gross revenue to community organizations.

Say

HELLO

Maya Angelou

I Shall Not Be Moved

HERE & NOW Homelife 48-51

SUMMER EDITION SPECIAL SECTION

"Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home," is a lyric from an 1823 opera written by American actor John Howard Payne. Let us introduce you to your neighbors, our partners in fields related to your Home Sweet Home. Meet our favorite landscape architect, mortgage broker, and realtors through our Q&A. "How can we be better neighbors?" we asked. They answered by giving us a glimpse into the heart of their work. Scan QR codes for expanded content online.

Summer Plans: 62

MEET OUR PEOPLE: KIDS PROGRAMMING

S.O.S. "Save Our Summertime" updates on weekday options for working parents, intel on group and private lessons, and ways everyone can show up for performances, volunteer days, and events.

EVERYONE IS INCLUDED

Our checkerboard here is where you’ll find the rest the gang. It shuffles seasonally, depending on who is in the spotlight.

EVERYONE GETS THEIR SEASON TO SHINE

SUMMER = Homelife

AUTUMN = Back to School

WINTER = Wellness and Local Retail

SPRING = Summer Camp Planner

WE’RE HERE FOR YOU ALL THE TIME. Between editions, we published more than 175 online calendar items per month in March, April, and May. Our readers can search by date, location, age, and interest. Our partners get unlimited listings for classes, workshops, and every public happening.

“We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”

KIDS PROGRAMMING SPOTLIGHT

1. ASCENDINGO AUTISM SERVICES

(970) 927-3143

Families with children ages 7 and up who are anywhere on the autism spectrum come from near and far to be part of Ascendigo’s Summer Adventure Camps. Water skiing, riding horses, rock climbing, and discovering what is possible.

2. ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

(970) 925-5756

If you’re wishing for an overnight camp experience for your ‘tween, sign up now for 4-day/3-night sessions at Rock Bottom Ranch. Two themed options with spots still open in June: Ranch Hands (6/136/19) and Stories from the Land (6/26-6/30).

3. ASPEN HISTORICAL SOCIETY

(970) 925-3721

Every Thursday morning in July, kids ages 3-6 (along with an adult) are invited to the Wheeler/Stallard Museum grounds for free activities, such as making butter. Imagine what life was like here during the pioneer days.

4. ASPEN RECREATION DEPARTMENT

(970) 920-4100

Aspen Rec’s weekday “City Camp” is wait-listed all summer. However, you are not too late to enroll in Art Camp at the Red Brick. Week-long, six-hour days for ages K-8 and 7-10. Plus for ages 12-16: Animation Film Camp with Aspen Film.

5. ASPEN YOUTH CENTER

(970) 544-4130

No need to sign up – just show up if you’re in grade 4 or older and live in the Roaring Fork Valley. AYC is always free, and everyone is welcome. There’s always something to do. Top Chef Thursdays and Zombie Tag on Fridays are big favorites.

6. BASALT REGIONAL LIBRARY

(970) 927-4311

Movies in the Meadow has become an annual summer tradition for many families in the Valley. Bring a blanket and warm layers and enjoy the magic of watching a movie outside. Free. 8:30 PM. Save the dates: June 10 (Matilde the Musical); June 24 (Big Hero 6); July 22 (TBA).

7. CARBONDALE CLAY CENTER

(970) 963-2529

Spots in CCC’s Summer Camps book quickly, but you and your kids can still “get your hands dirty” this summer. Parent-child Clay Play is a two-hour date with your children age 5+ with instruction and demonstrations. The Clay Center is also a fun birthday party venue for kids and/or grown-ups.

18 answers S.O.S. TO THE WORKING PARENT’S

8. CARBONDALE RECREATION DEPARTMENT

(970) 510-1290

Culinary Arts – June 12-14: 4:00 - 5:00 PM

Aspiring bakers ages 7-9 can learn how to make whoopee pies, hot pretzels, and mini pizzas. Definitely not gluten-free, but loaded with joy – and you might get a taste after class.

9. EARLY CHILDHOOD NETWORK

(970) 928-7111

If you are looking for infant care, here’s a place with resources to aid you in your search. The organization also supports individuals and groups who provide licensed childcare – so if your answer to our community’s shortage of spots is to create your own business providing quality care, reach out for help.

10. GARDEN BOOT CAMP

(970) 274-2472

The best ways to get your kids to eat their veggies is to give them a week in the Garden of Yum at the Carbondale Community School. Here, they can dig, plant, harvest, taste, and play where their food comes from. Ages 4+ M-F, 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM.

11. GARFIELD COUNTY LIBRARIES

(970) 625-4270

Parents, in need of some bliss? Show up at the Carbondale library without your children on June 10 (7:00 PM) for Sound Immersion with Lidi Ingraham. The healing sounds of crystal and metal singing bowls will nourish your frazzled senses.

12. MONKEY HOUSE

(970) 340-4988

You haven’t climbed since before they were born –and now they’re into it? Great! In addition to twice weekly summer camps for kids, you can plan one-onone or small group coaching sessions for anyone in the family. All ages. Any skill level. (Youth Club Summer Camp – Tuesdays and Thursdays: 4:00 PM)

13. PITKIN COUNTY LIBRARY

(970) 429-1900

This year, the StoryWalk title is I Got the Rhythm by Connie Schofield-Morrison. Walk through the pages of a childrens book. If you’re driving, park in town and start at the Aspen Post Office. Follow the Rio Grande Trail to the Hunter Creek Extension to a crosswalk at Red Mountain Road. The story begins on a signpost sized just right for young readers. Follow the signs until you reach the end of the book at Lone Pine Road. From here, take sidewalks to the Gibson Street Bridge and cross the river to the Rio Grande trail.

14. ROCK & ROLL ACADEMY

(970) 379-9685

RRA’s approach is centered on building teamwork in an inviting, small-group setting, where kids can express themselves through rock and other genres of modern music. Instruments provided. No musical experience necessary.

15. SNOWMASS VILLAGE RECREATION

(970) 922-2240

Here’s some advice from one workin’ mom to another. SMVR’s full-day week-long day camp has at least one spot each week this summer, and these will go fast. Ages 5-10. ~ Moms of young adults looking for summer jobs – SMVR is hiring and providing on site training for lifeguards and rec assistants.

16. THEATRE ASPEN

(970) 925-9313

How to raise a theatre-goer – start a summer tradition at the Hurst Theater. Shrek Jr. is suitable for the youngest audiences, though teens and parents will truly enjoy it too. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is more fun once you can… spell. The Tempest is free, and your future AP Lit student might thank you next spring semester.

17. WALDORF SCHOOL ON THE ROARING FORK

(970) 963-1960

WSRF’s elementary-aged summer camp is open to all local and visiting families. Weekly themes meet specific age ranges. One example – an art class that explores drawing, painting, printmaking, collage, and creative invention while also having fun with the Spanish language.

18. WINDWALKERS EQUINE THERAPY CENTER

(970) 963-2909

New this summer, an LGBTQIA summer camp week where equine-assisted therapy is brought through fun, small group experiences. Like all of WindWalkers’ programming, this camp is inclusive of all abilities.

IN

Dining Out

THE BACKYARD

MENU & RECIPES BY MP’S CREATIVE TEAM

Serve our summertime menu with April-Crow Spaulding’s Moon Dance Mixtape. Download the soundtrack and find detailed recipes at Mountain-Pearl.com.

MARMOT ON THE ROCKS

As I shared in my Cover Story on page 6, my children and their cousin invented this recipe one summer after biking to and from the Maroon Bells. Their wish to join the grown-ups with cold, refreshing beverages on the patio resulted in this delicious concoction of freshly squeezed lemon juice, agave syrup, ginger juice, coconut water, and sparkling water. My sister and I sampled the “mocktale” and added a light pour of Marble Distilling Co.’s Gingercello. Now, any time we entertain in the summer, we serve “Marmot on the Rocks.” ~

ELANA ROYER

LEMON HERBED GOAT CHEESE

Buy a large goat cheese log and allow it to come to room temperature. Blend it with fresh cracked black pepper, garlic powder, the juice and zest from one lemon, minced shallots or chives (depending on what you have) and a whole lot of fresh herbs, finely chopped.  Use what you like.  Typically, my blend tends to be mainly Italian parsley with some cilantro or basil. Sometimes I make it a little creamier with a touch of heavy cream.  I am sure I saw a recipe somewhere at some time that inspired this dish but now I just go with my gut.  I like to serve this with a fresh, crunchy veggie crudité (it is particularly great with sliced English cucumber) and some yummy crackers or sliced baguette.

WATERMELON CAPRÉSÉ

Nothing says summer to me like watermelon. This twist on the traditional caprésé offers the perfect combination of savory, bitter, and sweet. Cut watermelon into bite-sized cubes. Chop a handful of fresh basil leaves. Crumble as much feta cheese as you like, then gently stir in a shot of balsamic vinegar. Even on my college budget, I splurge on an oakwood-aged balsamic by Napa Valley Naturals. It’s less than $8 and pours like syrup. Drizzle a little bit more on top before serving. ~

RYAN CAMP

BEET SALAD

This winning salad just sings summer! Only five ingredients - two of which come right out of my garden (beets, fresh mint, lemon, sugar, and olive oil). I can make this salad in a few minutes, however it should chill for an hour or more in the fridge. The beets are raw, which gives them a more subtle flavor, and a citrus-mint dressing tops it off. ~

DIANA ALCANTARA

TRUFFLED POTATO SALAD

When the chives in my garden start blooming, I chop the zippy purple blossoms and add them to this recipe. Other times in the season, I go with whichever fresh herbs are asking to be picked. Cut Yukon Gold potatoes into bite-sized pieces, boil with a dash of sea salt until they are tender. Drain, then cool them in the fridge. Before serving, combine equal parts olive oil and mayo, then stir this into your potatoes and herbs. Add salt and pepper to taste. Now for the fun part – slowly drizzle in a small amount of white truffle oil. A little goes a long way, and the result is somewhere between truffle fries and my Grandma’s potato salad, pure comfort food with just enough ooh-la-la for a party.

MICHIGAN QUINOA SALAD

During our summer visits to the family cottages on Lake Michigan, my sister-in-law Susan Cruz introduced our family to this dish. Even the kiddos gobbled it up! I don’t use exact measurements. I just chop the following veggies into pretty pieces and add them to one box of cooked quinoa: cucumbers, grape tomatoes, carrots, celery, sweet onions, English peas, pine nuts, and crumbled feta. (I’m vegan and dairy-free so I serve the cheese on the side, or I use a vegan feta such as Big Mountain Foods Fava Feta.) Combine everything in a bowl, and toss with a squeeze of fresh lime juice, a shot of soy sauce, and some sea salt and black pepper.

~ ELANA ROYER

FROZEN MARGARITA PIE

My wife Bonnie found this recipe years ago on a website called, “Flora’s Recipe Hideout.” She then modified it. It quickly became a favorite at summer gatherings – a “sinful” combination of lime zest and juice, sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream, and tiny amounts of Triple Sec and tequila. Pour the mixture into a pie pan with a graham cracker crust. Then freeze.

~ KEN PLETCHER

GINGERED PEACH & BLACKBERRY PANDOWDY

A pandowdy is basically a pie baked in a pan, topped with a “dowdy” crust, as in – your pastry doesn’t need to look perfect! You simply plop it on top. Peaches and blackberries thicken and bake together under the crust. This recipe also calls for leaving the skins on the peaches so that they impart their flavor and natural color, which makes it even easier. I found it in Rustic Fruit Desserts by Julie Richardson and Cory Schreiber.

~ JEANNE SOULDERN

ARTWORK: ELANA ROYER

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