Monday - Day 2 (07/06/20)
After a leisurely late morning, we had some breakfast (cereal, coffee, and some pastries from lkwd) , I called private dining to bring up the rest of the food we wanted for the day to start defrosting, and we headed out.
Just a few minutes walk from the hotel was the whole boutique shopping area. We had a nice time browsing some designer stores .... alot of them had the feeling that they were like the "flagship " stores of that brand. We checked out a cool art gallery but wasn't allowed to take pictures, got some starbucks.
The whole vibe of the place was basically just upper class wealthy people....(apparently plenty of non frum jews but definitely didn't see anyone frum....arguably one of the best parts of the vacation
). We didn’t really feel all that fancy in our Jaguar when surrounded by Range Rovers and G wagons lol.
We went back for some lunch - frozen pizza and lasagna from bagelnosh (bit shvach - should have stuck with penne or something).
The whole day I was planning to try and get into a suite even if I would have to pay for it as long as it's reasonable so I gave Carlos a call .He had given me his direct number to let him know about shortening my stay - he said as long as I let him know a day or two before I wanted to check out I wouldn't be charged . I told him that I was still undecided about the last night but now I have another issue and I explained the issue and I mentioned how I was only offered the $900 upgrade which is way too steep for me even tho there were others bookable online and I understand that my gold status doesn't entitle me to a suite upgrade but I didnt even get any kind of enhanced room...no balcony no nothing . He said let me check what I can do and he came back and gave me a junior suite on the same floor for no extra cost !
The butler came and helped us move all our stuff...it got complicated as there was a mini fridge they had brought me for perishables and both my toaster oven and sous vide were on but we managed.
Here's some pictures . (For reference-Room 425 on floor map attached previously )
Here's the view from my room
As you can see the suite is way bigger than the first room and definitely worked much better for us. Even though there wasn't actually a separate room that we can close the door but still we just put the crib in that first room which was kinda around the corner from the main room .
The bathroom was very nice sized and gorgeous - I liked it better than the one at the St Regis in PR even though that one was way bigger and redone almost 10 years after !
Even the living area I enjoyed more because even though it wasn't new and modern but the couches were actually plush and comfortable as opposed to nicer looking but very stiff ones in PR.
The whole suite in general was done nicer than the base room....it had tv in bathroom... fancier coffee machine etc but funnily enough the storage was actually worse because for some reason it seemed as they didn't get a new dresser for this room (it was visually worn out) and it wasn't as good as the dresser in the first room , but as a whole having the suite changed the whole vacation for us.
We decided to stay all four nights once we were in the suite and also because it didn't really make sense to start going somewhere else for one not just to do something which isn't in the area we were staying.... we can always do that another time if we are based out of Denver but for this trip it made most sense to just do some things around Aspen and enjoy the hotel.
If we wouldn't have brought our baby we would have been able to do some more fun activities such as biking down the ski slopes (supposedly amazing), horseback riding ,or some real hiking but hey you win some you lose some....we only got the suite because we brought him !
We decided to try out the pool area as it already later in the day and was emptying out. Officially they were limiting the pool to 8 people at a time but no one was actually enforcing that. When we came to the pool it was just before 6pm and the attendant informed us that the pool closes at 6. When I asked about the hot tubs (which are kinda meant to be used at night when it gets cooler) he said I'm new here let me ask my supervisor. He came back a bit later and said that his manager is also new here (due to covid) and he didn't either know but then he goes -" between me and you if you paid to stay here then you should be able to use the pool and hot tub whenever you want so I won't bother you. Lol !! 😆 🤣
The pool was nice.... nothing special and the hot tubs were also enjoyable
Wine makes everything more enjoyable
. (Tip - the average wine bottle fits in the standard hotel safe....eliminating any issues of non mevushal wines)
Hot tub with a view (and a doona )
The other guests at the hotel also seemed to be very classy wealthy people... the type that the whole family was sitting around eating at the outdoor seating all dressed up.
The lobby area was definitely beautiful and luxurious but clearly was built long before "open concept " was invented. More of a cozy feel...fireplaces and plush leather couches.
Dont forget the chandelier in elevator !
We went back and had a great supper of freshly sous vide steak seared with blowtorch , yapchik and pulled chicken in baguette.
Searing with blowtorch (pro tip: it's best to do this on a balcony or some other outdoor area so the DW don't get nervous; ))
My food preparation setup
The yapchik was heavenly and the steak was very solid if a bit overspiced . And as always... wine makes everything better
Still to come : Tuesday and Wednesday... the best is yet to come...
