My friend Mike used to live and work playing music in Colorado. He has introduced me some of the folks he is close to from his years there and I feel fortunate to have gotten to know them, too.
Mike lived in a small town outside of Vail. I have always sort of thought of that place as a playground for the rich. It's a place where you will see Prada ski jackets and carefully manicured nails. And that's just the men. The women have so many after market parts they sometimes resemble femmebots or lab experiments. If Aspen is Beverly Hills in the Rockies then Vail is Aspen lite.
It is an unusual town in that it was built specifically to be a ski resort. It did not grow up out of an old silver mining town like so many resort areas in the west. American military troops training for battle in the european Alps discovered it's beauty and later led the development of the area as a playground for skiers from all over the world.
When you drive just a few miles out of town you find the real Colorado again. It is the land of real cowboys and cowgirls. These people are inexorably connected to the land. They ranch and hunt and fish and ride snowmobiles in the winter and 4 wheelers in the summer.
Their homes are often an homage to that world: mounts of beautiful elks, mule deer or bears and native American paintings or relics side by side with an old branding iron or saddle or spurs. Many of them are made in western lodge style from indigenous trees and materials. They all seem to know where the elk herd was last seen and where the best place to view them from is. They are a weathered looking people. The altitude, dry mountain air and summer sun and winter wind makes their skin as tough as the horse they ride and the boots they wear.
I have also noticed they are all very close to their animals. They all seem to have lots of dogs and they are as important to them as their family members. There are a lot of border collie mixes- presumably for their excellent cattle herding capabilities.
Mike met Wendy when he lived there and she became a fan of his music. She has done well for herself in real estate and became his business partner in his pursuit of his musical dreams. Wendy has been my hostess for quite a few days and nights now and is a gracious and giving one. Her home is beautiful and she opens it completely to me when I am there. She loves to entertain and is a fabulous cook, too. In the mornings when I am there I wake up, hit a button on the wall and watch the automatic shades over the massive picture windows slowly rise to reveal snow covered mountain ranges directly behind her ranch. I wander downstairs and find coffee usually made and drink the first cup of the day watching horses outside her window.
Mike's friends Ed and Eva always have us over for dinner and cook fabulous elk steaks. They are an outgoing and warm couple who love the Colorado outdoors with as much enthusiasm as anyone you can meet. There is a moose head and wolf mounted in their living room alongside elk and mule deer. The chandelier is made of antlers and the lamps are fashioned from a local artist who does fantastic work with metal and are western scenes.
Ed has old stagecoaches and a game room with a jukebox, pinball machine, pool table and even a mechanical cowboy who talks and moves. It is not uncommon to discuss how big the cut bow trout in Ed's pond or the way to dress game for the best flavor when you are having a conversation with him.
Alan is a career musician who has also been a rancher. In his and Debra's home there is not another inch in a closet or under a bed for another guitar or gun. Alan has a great collection of all kinds of cowboy and hippie guitars. He also has Winchester rifles from the old west in every room.
Once Alan was working on his ranch when a goshawk began to dive and circle him. The hawk would go away and then come back again and repeat the process. Alan finally followed the hawk to see if he could find out what the bird wanted. Eventually it dropped a lone feather that he walked over to and reached down to pick up. Lying by the feather was a beautiful ceremonial Ute arrowhead like the tribal shamans used. Big medicine.
These men and women laugh easily and give freely. They not only live in the mountains- the mountains live in them. I count myself blessed and very lucky to have met Mike and his friends. I know if I ever was in need I could call any one of them and count on them. It's nice to have friends in high places.
