“I don’t feel well Mommy,” Tucker announced yesterday morning.

“Nice try Tuck Tuck. That one doesn’t work with Mommy. I try it all the time,” Brevitt responded.

And boy was he right. After a week of being home with sick children, if one of my boys was going to complain of a new sickness he was going to have to prove it to me big time. Any sign of effervescence was going to be taken as an, “I’m okay”.

It all began with the day that Tucker and Axel went back for their H1N1 second vaccination and the next day they went down hard. Honestly, I don’t believe that it was related to the shot as they had been exposed to a similar illness a few days prior, but who knows? I do know that it will be difficult for me to convince them to get the vaccination next year.

Thankfully, everybody recovered by the time we went up to Aspen to enjoy ourselves over Winterskol and we had a thoroughly enjoyable time. What I enjoyed the most was listening to the bagpipes that brought memories forth of a trip that I took with Michele to Ireland when we were in our early twenties.  We hitchhiked our way around the country and fell in love with the people. “Are you Irish?” they would ask us and we hesitated to tell them the truth, that we actually had a British mother. When they found out, it was never an issue, “What does it matter anyway?” they would say. “We’ll adopt you as our own, regardless.”

One day we were happily sitting on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere with pristine blue skies above and brilliant green fields surrounding us. We were waiting for any car to come by and take us to our next adventure. Looking down the long stretch of road I saw a vision and had to wipe my eyes to make sure that it wasn’t just an illusion. Clip clopping down the road was an old, white donkey. His hoofs had not been clipped in ages and were curled over giving him the appearance that he was wearing clogs. He came right up to us for some affection and probably for a treat. I thought of the Carlos Castaneda books and I looked over at Michele and laughed. Could it be that this donkey was our spiritual animal?

Eventually, a big white van stopped for us. We most certainly should not have gotten in but when the door slid open there were a dozen musicians playing and singing inside. Who were we to refuse this opportunity and so we got in and ended up at a music festival in Lisdoonvarna.

It was by far one of our most spectacular moments in time as we met the wonderful  musicians who had traveled far and wide to join the others and play the  beautiful  music from their country.

We made many friends that evening and were invited to listen to the music into the wee hours of the morning inside the homes of the locals. To this day, Irish music will bring tears of emotion to my eyes and I will always remember those wonderful days of travel when life was all about the next adventure.

After Lisdoonvarna we visited the breathtaking Cliffs of Moher and Michele and I felt as though we had found heaven.

Anyway, I didn’t expect to take a trip down memory land but since my mind is on travel these days, I couldn’t help myself.

Enjoy my photos of Winterskol:

(The old and the new. The hotel was remodeled on Thanksgiving of 2008)

I picked up the boys from school on Friday and we headed on up to Aspen to stay at The Limelight Lodge.

The hotel was so conveniently located to town that we weren’t going to need a car and so we parked Vini-Man in the heated garage and entered the lobby.

It almost felt like home with its light and spacious living room and I plopped my tired and worn out body down onto the comfortable couch in front of the stone fireplace and stared into the flames as the kids raced around like dogs, exploring every niche. I reminded Brevitt of what happened the last time we stayed at the hotel and told him to be careful around the pool.

the boys get comfortable in the lobby

We checked in and Brevitt took Tucker to race down the hallway and find the room on their own, apparently tweenagers do not need the navigational help of their parents anymore.  Tucker was elated that he had carte blanche control over the elevator buttons since Axel was staying by my side, happy to get my undivided attention for forty eight hours.

The room was just as I had remembered from our previous stay, clean, contemporary and comfortable with big leather furniture and a kitchenette.

The boys raced to the window, “look mommy we can see the pool and the hot tub,” they exclaimed but what I was most excited about was the incredible view of Aspen Mountain that we would wake up to the next morning.

I was antsy to go down and check out the complimentary wine and cheese that was being served for happy hour from 4-6 in the lobby and so I left the boys happily in bed watching television telling them that I would be back soon.

The Limelight Lodge was hosting Gay Ski Week that was beginning on Sunday and beautiful, well dressed men were filtering in to check into the hotel. The lobby was alive and bustling with guests mingling and chatting at the little café tables.

Weston Paas, the Food and Beverage Manager and the son of one of the current owners, Dale Paas,  greeted me with a welcome smile, a glass of wine and fresh baked cookies and we talked of the changes that were taking place within the hotel. I told him that what the locals find most appealing about the Limelight Lodge is not only the friendly atmosphere where children and pets are welcome but also that it has been family run since 1958.

He was hopeful that the family would still actively help to run the hotel once the contract closes and the Crown family, who owns the Aspen Ski Company, purchases the property.

Weston Paas and General Manager Brad Wyatt

I was feeling the pull to go back up to the room when a man with a thick New York accent introduced himself, “How ya doin’,” he asked me and proceeded to buy me a shot of Tuaca. He and his German girlfriend were visiting from Long Island. He was a firefighter in Aspen for two few years and wanted to stay but firefighters out here are all volunteer and he could not sustain that lifestyle.

As I was deep in conversation and thinking about what I loved the most about traveling was the people one meets, Brevitt showed up at my side totally disappointed that I had taken so long to return to the room.

Wade had to stay late at work and so I left our drinks at the bar and the boys and I walked across the snowy field of Wagner park to join the crowd and try out the soups at the Soupskol competition.

Finally Wade called us to come back to the hotel and go swimming, which is really all the children wanted to do, and so we ran back to the hotel, because we always have to run.

Throughout the day guests had entered the elevator in their bathrobes with to go cups of wine in their hands and Wade and I followed suit, slipping into the hotel’s incredibly soft bathrobes and  descending to the pool.

It felt so good to melt into the hot tub and look at the stars while the boys launched cannonballs into the heated pool with Wade. The pool was even warm enough for me and I joined them, playing their favorite dolphin game where they hold on and try not to drown me as I dive under water over and over again.

We took showers in our roomy bathroom and came out smelling like Sicilian blood red oranges from the provided Tarocco products and then we got into bed and watched The Fantastic Mr. Fox on the television.

When the movie was over Wade and I reached across to each other to touch hands smiling and secretly acknowledging that hotels may not hold the same sensuous and romantic allure as they did pre-children but it was still wonderful to all be together without the daily stress of bedtime and homework.

The next morning we fueled up on a complimentary Continental Breakfast of hard boiled eggs, deli meats, cheese and bagels while the kids gobbled up  cereal, muffins and hot chocolate.

It was sad to check out and Tucker repeatedly asked throughout the day if we could go back. I tried to convince him that although our hotel stay had ended we still had Winterskol to explore and that the fun was by no means over.

Limelight Lodge just won the Business of the Year award from the Aspen Chamber Resort Association and it is not difficult to understand why. It is a hotel that understands the value of appealing to the locals with its affordable rates and 126 rooms. It employs more than thirty five locals and donates to all of the community and local charitable organizations.

I don’t know if the other hotels in Aspen can toot the same horn but I am determined to find out and let you know.

The hotel entranceView from the hotel

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!