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Single – and likes to mingle

Nate Peterson

Aspen, CO ColoradoEverybody needs a good pair of cowboy boots.At least that’s what I heard on the chairlift last Friday morning at Buttermilk from three women from Atlanta. The woman sitting closest to me bought an expensive pair of boots from Kemo Sabe and then FedEx-ed them home before her husband saw them.She justified the purchase by noting that she and her two daughters all had the same foot size, and that, well, everybody needs a good pair of cowboy boots. (That includes you.)On the High Alpine lift at Snowmass on Saturday, a Chicago-based pilot who roots for the White Sox told me that the old Comiskey Park was a lot better than the new one, which, for the time being, is called U.S. Cellular Field.”One time I was sitting so high up in the stands at the new stadium it felt like I was watching a bunch of ants down below” he said. We both agreed that teams naming stadiums after large corporations was shameless and an insult to history. On an earlier chairlift ride Saturday, I sat next to a mother-daughter combo who live just a few blocks away from my sister in the Boston suburb of Brookline. Just like my sister, they both said Patriots’ Day – the third Monday in April, when the Boston Marathon is run, and the whole state takes a holiday – is one of their favorite days of the year.I tell you all this to bring up a good point: Life is so much more interesting when you ride the singles line.I’ve known as much since I moved to the mountains nearly four years ago.A number of locals who work in the service industry typically grow tired of tourists this time of year -and I can understand why. I know when I waited tables one winter at a ski-in, ski-out restaurant, I got burned out during the high-season rush. Some rich out-of-towners act like they own the mountains when they arrive here for their vacations. At the same time, there are a bunch of people like those I’ve met on chairlift rides over the years – the genuinely nice sort who are just happy to have a vacation in a place so beautiful. That always makes me realize how lucky I am to call this place home.

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