I arrived in Snowmass Village, where I would be staying long-term. (At least, ostensibly) around 3:30 in the afternoon. Checked in to my room at the Wildwood Inn, where Ted Bundy supposedly murdered some chick. My room wasn’t too bad. I am actually pretty happy with the whole scene to be honest.
I am right next door to the property that I would be working at for the next three months, there is a Starbucks nearby as well. (score!) I arrived fairly late, and things were just winding down as it is a Sunday night. So far, so good.
The view from my porch in Aspen
Aspen: Day 2
After getting settled in at the Wildwood, I was scheduled to work at 1:00 in the afternoon. This allowed me plenty of time to check everything out, and get a yummy breakfast burrito at a little spot called “Fuel“. I recommend the ‘California Burrito’ if you happen to ever go there. Work was real easy, and my supervisor is a pretty cool cat. I worked until 5:00 pm and that was it for the day.
I went down to the local grocery store and bought a small bag of food. The price with tax for everything was something like $26.00! To give you an idea of just how expensive it is here, one ‘Pink Lady’ apple was $1.50! Holy crap!
One cool thing about these little mountain towns, is that there is a free bus service that runs every 15 minutes. I made my way down to the bus stop, when I saw two red, glowing eyes emerge from the darkness right towards me. It was a friendly, little fox who literally came right up to me. I have never seen a fox in real life before, so I was completely blown away. Clearly, he was familiar with people, and I am guessing he saw my grocery bag and knew I had food. As I was fumbling with my camera, the bus came around the corner, and scared the little guy away. I managed to snap one blurry picture before he scampered off into the darkness.
My street in Snowmass Village
Aspen: Day 3)
Day 3 was my first day to work down in Aspen. After taking the free bus down the mountain from Snowmass, I was happy to see that the property that I was working was only like two streets away from the bus station. The property that I am working down there was beyond belief in terms of opulence. (There is a Steinway piano in the lobby to give you some idea.) I have worked a few Beverly Hills properties that were nice and all, but nothing compares to what I have seen here so far. Additionally, the employee cafeteria is fantastic, and it turns out I can get my suits dry-cleaned for free as well. The dude I am working with is super-cool and appears to know everyone in Aspen. So far, the biggest downside is I am working with a skeleton crew here, so I am definitely earning my “free rent” and food.
Yummy dessert
Aspen: Day 4:
The rumor is, they want to move me from Snowmass down to Aspen, and have someone else take over my room at the Wildwood. I went back down to Aspen to finish up some work and whatnot. During my shift, I had to take a trip back up to Snowmass with a supervisor to grab a few things, and I saw a huge elk herd! Amazing!
My impression of the people here so far, is that a lot of these people aren’t particularly friendly. And, I am not talking about rich people, either. I’m talking about some of the people that are here performing menial jobs such as myself. I will smile and say “hello” to people, and they will just completely ignore me. Oh well…
Trashcans in Aspen be like:
Aspen: Day 5)
So, I am convinced that every woman in Aspen is blonde, and looks like a supermodel. Additionally, I have heard some pretty interesting conversations here mostly with regard to lifestyle. The rich people here definitely don’t live in my world. I have also heard a lot of interesting accents, and foreign languages that I can’t discern. It seems to me that there are a lot of South Americans and Italians visiting here. I have also seen a lot of people from Australia so far.
The event that I worked today was pretty interesting. I can only imagine what the net worth of the people in the room was collectively. These people are definitely the 1%. Also, it is confirmed that they want me to leave Snowmass, and move down to Aspen. Apparently, they found a little studio apartment for me to rent. To give you some idea of how ridiculously expensive this place is, you can qualify for housing assistance here if you make less than $144,000 a year. Just let that sink in for a minute, Doctors and anaesthesiologists live in studio apartments here. I will be living more or less one rung below a doctor here.
Went to dinner with some bosses and co-workers and ordered the jalapeno mac n cheese with bacon bombs. It was absolutely incredible.
Yummmmm
Aspen: Day 6)
Today is the day that I am leaving the Wildwood to move in to my apartment. After working for a few hours, I headed down full of excitement to check into my place in Aspen. To my horror, the place is an abject DUMP! I had heard that this property had been renovated, but apparently, this was a lie. The actual apartment is more like dormitory style. The room has two beds, and two closets. It also has a night stand and a dresser. They’ve assured me that no one else “should” be moving in with me. I was under the impression that I was living alone, and don’t like the idea of sharing a room with some stranger. The bathroom is “shared” and looks like something out of a horror flick. I am not a happy camper. I don’t even have a TV or a desk to sit at to work.
My company feels bad about the situation, so we will see what happens. In the meantime I am going to try and make it work. It’s hard to complain when something is free. I decided that I wanted to go check out a local happy hour, but when I went over there, I wasn’t digging the vibe.
One weird thing about these mountain towns, is that many of the businesses share space under one roof. I stopped off at the local store on the corner, and I have to say that it is a weird mix of liquor store, bodega, drug store, and convenience store. Even stranger, this particular establishment had a koi pond built in! So bizarre!
Koi pond in the liquor store
Aspen: Day 7)
I woke up to the sound of CDOT snowplowing my driveway at 4:00 am. My, how lovely!
Finally woke up around 9 am and went down to the local coffee place. (There is no Starbucks down here, can you believe it?) I ordered an iced tea and a bagel. Well, it turns out the ice machine was broken, so I couldn’t get iced tea. (Weird!) I saw that a bagel looked reasonably priced, so I ordered that. Apparently, if you want cream cheese, it doubles in price. This place is a big money-grab for sure.
Made my way down to the local Aspen thrift-store, and saw that you can definitely find some high end stuff here for cheap. I found a Robert Graham shirt for like $15, but it was pretty beat to hell. I also found some Patagonia gear that was pretty reasonably priced.
I went back to the apartment and took a shower. It took forever for the water to get hot. I also found out, that the temperature control thing on the bathroom sink is broken, so I am stuck with whatever temperature happens to be coming out of the sink at that time.
In front of the St. Regis
Aspen, Day 8)
It’s Sunday, and my first day off since I’ve arrived in Aspen. I got up around 9 am, and I took the bus down to the Aspen Animal Shelter and volunteered to walk a dog for them. It turns out that you can “borrow” a doggo for a short walk, the whole day, or even for an overnight camping trip! They also have a ‘kitty room’ where you can go and play with the kitties. I got paired up with a sweet Rottweiler mix named ‘Sheba’ and we were on our way. Sheba and I took a nice little walk around the area across from the Aspen Airport. After I took Sheba back to the shelter, I decided to take a quick peek inside the kitty room. There weren’t many kitties up for adoption, and one of the kitties I tried to pet wasn’t having it! She was a very feisty kitty to say the least. Click here to see the feisty kitty in action:
After I dropped Sheba off, I grabbed the bus up to Snowmass. I wanted Starbucks and a breakfast burrito. (Walking a doggo gives one an appetite!) I hit up Fuel for a burrito, and then went over to Starbucks. I got my coffee, and had a nice time in front of the fire talking to some nice ladies from Glendale who were there on vacation. After I finished my coffee, I took the free gondola down to the other part of the village. I noticed that they have free smores everyday down in the lower part of the village. Duly noted…
I eventually took the bus back down to Aspen, and took a long nap. The high elevation is affecting me a little bit. I am used to living at 5300 feet already, but Aspen is around 8000 ft above sea level, and you definitely notice it.
Who’s a good girl?
A couple of takeaways about Aspen:
That’s it for now! Tune in once a week for updates on my adventures in Aspen.
Cheers!
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