Open the doors and life will be revealed. That is my new motto for my transforming travel blog and boy are we having fun as the doors swing open.

Why get on an airplane and be exposed to terrorism threats and obnoxious, smelly, disease ridden people when there is so much to explore in our backyard?

By setting goals for each day, my entire constitution has changed and as I load up Vini-Man I have a renewed energy. There is so much to see, so many people to meet, so many exciting adventures to be had and so I accelerate it out of my subdivision, careful not to careen into the ditch on that lethally icy curve that I encounter every morning.

Winterskol is happening in Aspen this weekend, January 14 – 17, and on Friday my family and I will be heading up there to stay at the Limelight Lodge and experience the festivities first hand.

If my children could sit still and behave for a few hours, I would like to begin Winterskol by attending the Aspen Institute Dinner Discussion on “Why Goethe? Why 1949? Why Aspen?” Aspen would not have the culture that it has today without Walter and Elizabeth Paepcke and I am curious to learn more about their adventurous spirits as well as Friedl Pfeifer who discovered Aspen while he was training for the 10^th Mountain Division back in the 1940’s.

The children are better suited for the outdoor activities like the 48 hour “Winterskulpt” competition that will begin on Thursday at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center.

If we were staying in Aspen Thursday night we would dine at our favorite restaurant, The Hickory House, and continue on to see  the surfing movie, “Surfing 50 States,” at the historic Wheeler Opera House.

In the evening we would sneak out of the hotel room, just like my parents used to do to me and my sisters, and go dancing at 9pm to Keller Williams at Belly Up. Ha! Times are different now. Maybe I should drive up to Aspen and go by myself to be a “Freeker by the speaker.”

But we will be there on Friday night to experience Aspen at it’s most beautiful, at night, when all of the streets are lit up with trees that look like they came out of a Hans Christian Anderson storybook.

The Limelight Lodge is perfectly located in town for us to let the boys loose outside to play football in Wagner Park and run around Aspen’s winter wonderland and since it is just a hop, skip and a jump to the historic Wheeler Opera House, we’ll attend Nathan McEuen’s free concert and get revved up with bluegrass.

On Saturday we’ll go check out “the ultimate party in the snow” where we’ll do some of our own wintersculpting, go skating and eat yummy soup at the Soupskol annual cook-off. I’ll have to investigate if we can all partake in the Apple Strudel Downhill and maybe even the torchlight descent.

Saturday afternoon Wade and I will be all over the apres ski party at the Gondola Plaza where we’ll embarrass the kids by dancing to “Aspen’s hottest DJ’s.” I think we’ll have to leave the other partying out of the itinerary like the Snowmass Pub Crawl and the dancing to The Spazmatics at The Belly Up…unless anybody wants to take our kids for a few hours in the evening. Anybody?

The night will be topped off with yet another Fireworks Extravaganza display over Aspen Mountain and we will once again watch with our mouths open as the dazzling show fizzes and pops right above us.

So much to do with so little time, I’m beginning to feel spoiled again…..and I like it!