Vail, CO 09/02/2012
Out for a little hiking and a little picking on Vail Mountain with my Taylor Guitars GS Mini.
After spending a couple days in southwestern Colorado with my buddy, Bob Rea, writing and hanging, I drove a day’s drive north and east up to the town of Vail to hang with some family, relax, and perform a cool little house concert for an intimate audience of 50+ people. The drive was absolutely gorgeous with more amazing views than I could possibly share here on my blog, so I’ll just have to say that you all need to make this drive yourselves. It’s honestly, quite simply, purely and totally amazing…
A fireside gig, sans fire... Huge ceilings, big mountain views, not a bad spot to play a gig!
After a few days of hiking around, sleeping in, and eating good, healthy food that was so sorely lacking in my day to day for nearly a month and a half on the road, I set up at this wonderful home in West Vail with terrific acoustics and a great view. I covered my favorite material and spun a few longer stories along the way, too. I just had so much fun playing and singing and story telling for this crowd, I can’t even tell you. After I wrapped up and mingled a bit, I made sure to enjoy some of the great southern food that was being passed around by the caterer at the concert. Mm! Who knew that a chef in a mountain town in Colorado could make such good gumbo?! Wow…
View from the summit of 14,005' Mount of the Holy Cross. Spectacular!
The next day, I met up with a couple folks who attended my performance and hiked/scrambled up to the summit of 14,005′ Mount of the Holy Cross. It turns out that two of these guys rowed for the USA team in this year’s Olympic Games. Huh… So, the pace was blisteringly fast and my previous notion that I was still as fit as I was when I was surfing, riding, running every day in California was debunked. I got crushed by these guys! Regardless, we all made it to the top, huffing and puffing, and had a wonderful time along the way. Colorado truly is a magical place. I’ve spent most of my time there in the winter season as an avid skier, but the summer season offers up so much. Definitely take some time to visit those Colorado mountains along the I-70 corridor in the summer time if you ever get the chance. You won’t regret it one single bit…
One big sunburned smile from Colorado and the summit of Mount of the Holy Cross.