Alpine Americans

I am so happy to be crawling into bed after a 14 hour work day including a total of 3 college fairs and a 3 1/2 hour drive from Aspen to Denver!

Had a beautiful start to the day in Aspen, walked from my swanky hotel to Paradise Bakery for a cup of coffee and a pumpkin muffin, got ready for the Western Slope College Fair, went for a nice fall drive past the high school up to one of the parks, turned around and headed back to the high school for the college fair. They're very good to the visiting reps during this particular fair. When I pulled onto the street where the high school is located, a man greeted me and sent me to the parking lot where I was met by another volunteer. By the time I got to the second person, she already knew I was from St. Olaf. Talk about organized! A student came to my car to help with my materials, she walked me into the school and downstairs to the gym where my table was located. After that, Tom and I went up to the cafeteria for the lovely brunch of eggs and potatoes and inspiring words by the Aspen director of college counseling, the mayor of Aspen, and several other community members. Every year I chuckle to myself about how they present the western slope high school kids to us. Based on the words used to describe them, you would think they had been through a natural disaster and come out stronger because of the hell they'd been through. They're "resilient" and we should give them our full attention because they are the greatest students in all of the country. There's definitely a Lake Wobegon effect going on at Aspen High School.

Quote of the Day: "Here in Aspen, we may not look all that diverse. But we are. We are the Alpine Americans."

After the 3 hour Aspen fair, I hopped in the car and drove 2 hours to Vail for the next college fair. I was pleasantly surprised by the turnout at this fair as only 26 colleges were invited and the host high school only has 22 kids in the senior class.

From there, I drove another 1 1/2 hours to Denver for the 3rd fair of the day, the Lutheran College Night. I was relieved that the weather and traffic were both tame, making for a smooth drive on I-70. The trees are beautiful at this time of the year, although I'm pretty sure they've already lost many of the colorful aspen leaves to wind and cold temps. I remember the trees being much brighter last year.

Thankfully, Jessica and Robin were there to set up the StO table because there's no way I could have made it in time. As it was, I rolled in about 15 minutes after the fair started, which was much better than I anticipated! The fair was well attended and I was grateful for Jess and Robin's presence!

I hadn't seen Jess in several months so she and I went out for pizza and beer once everyone else dispersed. I really do love that girl! She's hilarious and there are definitely moments when we can relate to each others' place in life.

Nothing else particularly exciting to report for the day. Just that I'm looking forward to sleeping in a little bit tomorrow!

Happy 60th Birthday, Dad!!
Love,
Jill