Paul E. Anna: High Points
Perhaps the most exhausting job in America belongs to those of us who live here in the Roaring Fork Valley. I mean, how much stuff can one person do during an Aspen summer?This is the season of double, no triple, booking. Every day, there is more stuff to go to, more people to see, more events to buy tickets to, more restaurants to eat at, more trails to hike or ride or climb. It can get exhausting just trying to keep a date book.The big three events, I would guess, are the Food & Wine Classic, the Ideas Festival, and the Music Festival. One of those is in the rear-view mirror, one has yet to begin, and the third is ongoing. Just attending any one of those events would be a highlight for someone in another town, but here it seems that it is mandatory to have tickets to all three if one wants to keep up with the Joneses.And that is just the Big Three. What about Jazz Aspen Snowmass (both the June and Labor Day versions), the Summer Words Literary Festival, the lectures on physics, the Aspen Center for Integrated Health events, the Thursday night concerts at Snowmass, Theatre Aspen, classes at Anderson Ranch, the health discussions at the Given Institute, the film series at Paepcke Auditorium, the Belly Up events (you do have tickets to Todd Rundgren on July 15, dont you?) and the list goes on.And all of that is just the adult entertainment. What if you have kids? That means camp, day care, classes, play dates etc. How do parents do it?Even if there were no events in this valley it would be hard to keep up with the summer schedule. Everyone wants to get together for a little fun. Walk through the Aspen Saturday Market and just listen as folks meet and greet and extend dinner invitations. Hows Tuesday? one may ask. Not this week or next, will come the reply, but Ill be here all August. Call me then. And then there are the recreational opportunities. Have you been rafting yet? Have you done your weekly hike up the Ute Trail or gotten on your bike for the complete Tour de Rio Grande? If this was the summer you were going to paraglide for the first time, better get with it, July is right round the corner. And how does your garden grow? Have you planted your tomatoes yet?Yes, keeping up with all the stuff around here can be pretty taxing. But given the choice, would you have it any other way? That is, after all, one of things that makes living here so special.I mean, who moves to Aspen to sleep?
