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Only in dreams

Nate Peterson
Aspen, CO Colorado

ASPEN ” If you added it up, the amount of money The Aspen Times sports department spends at Carl’s Pharmacy in a year is likely in the thousands. Heck, it wouldn’t be a full day of work without a stop over to the mini-grocery in the back of the store to pick up a soda and a candy bar, or a bag of that really good white cheddar popcorn.

We don’t just go to Carl’s for caffeinated pick-me-ups, however. We go because of Baba, the affable, eclectically dressed cashier who is inarguably one-in-a-million.

Don’t even know the dude’s real name. He just began calling us Baba one day, and we proceeded to do likewise when addressing him.



Baba is much more than a cashier. He’s a mystic who channels dreams, a sort of dime store spiritual adviser who offers up priceless anecdotes and advice, all while ringing up our Cherry Cokes and Haribo Gummi Bears with a smile.

For the past few months, he’s been trying to get young Jon ” a Baba protege, possibly ” to cognizantly realize when he’s dreaming, then try to control himself in his dream state.




“Baba, once you figure that out, it’s like owning your own roller coaster,” he said, before coughing out one of his raspy chuckles. “Heck, just last night I was leaning over the Tower of Pisa.”

Or something like that.

Anyway, we’ve started to wonder here in the sports department whether Baba’s tutoring hasn’t taken hold.

As in, has this last week been real? Even this last month? There’s so much snow out there, it’s got to be a dream. Every day’s a new powder day, and every night it’s snowing again.

It’s too good to be true. Kind of like owning your roller coaster.

We’re just hoping we don’t wake up any time soon … Baba.

Aspen Mountain received 6 inches of new snow over the past 24 hours, according to the Aspen Skiing Co.’s Friday morning snow report. Snowmass picked up 5 inches, Aspen Highlands got 4 inches and Buttermilk got 1 inch.

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center’s Friday report: “The avalanche danger in the Aspen zone is considerable on all aspects and elevations today. Natural avalanches are possible and human-triggered ones probable. You can expect avalanches on a variety of aspects and elevations.