While planning the trip to Aspen, more than a few websites cautioned about the altitude of the city. At just under eight thousand feet, that’s just about eight thousand feet higher than Philadelphia (39 feet above sea level). Slow acclimation was stressed to avoid certain unpleasant side effects of visiting destinations with higher altitudes, so we landed in Denver and planned to sleep our first night in the little town of Evergreen. We picked up our Kia Soul and after a brief stop for lunch in Denver we set off. Upon leaving the city, the promise of inviting vistas presented itself just off the highway.

Arriving at our hotel, the Highland Haven Creekside Inn we were greeted by what I believe was a female mule deer and a fawn gorging themselves on the local flora. The asphalt in the picture was the driveway to our hotel, so I guess the wildlife is a bit less shy in Colorado.

Check in completed, we decided to explore. There are many hiking trails in the area around Evergreen so we ventured out for a little high altitude exercise.

The Aspen trees posed so nicely in front of the distant mountains showing their brilliant green leaves against the dark evergreens in the background.

After a long day of travel we headed out to dinner at The Bistro at Marshdale which had wonderful food and delicious cocktails. Especially my wife's Cranberry Mojito.

Leaving the bistro just before dusk gave us some nice light to photograph on the way back to our room.

Tomorrow it's off to Aspen!