SperlingViews - Aspen, Colorado

In Winter the grocery store closest to the ski lifts is so packed full of people it is really difficult to move through the store, especially if you have a cart. It is super crowded, very uncomfortable. The store's aisles are too small, it is old and expensive, of course. IMO most everything I have purchased cost pretty much twice as much as anywhere else. The fun part is listening to all the different languages that you will hear, people from everywhere. The other grocery store is more modern, newer, cleaner and less crowded most always. However, the prices of just about anything is double what you would pay anywhere else. The choices in both stores are limited in what they offer compared to a regular size grocery store, i.e. safeway, whatever. The upside is they do have a lot of organics. And a person can always travel 20+ miles to find a really nice big new grocery store. With more reasonable prices too. I understand totally that people that live here don't worry too much about the cost of anything, but this is how it is. Aside from all that, Aspen is one of the most beautiful places, green, cool, and rivers everywhere. I can hear the river from where I sit and I guess that's what we pay for and why we live here.[read more...]

Per Pitkin County Board of Realtors, in 2008 the MEDIAN price for a home in Aspen, WAS $5,000,000...You read correctly, 5 MILLION DOLLARS. Yuor figure is a tad short, Charlie[read more...]

Aspen ..pros/ cons Pros 1. Aspen is beautiful 2. very low crime rate Cons 1. Ungodly expensive and that's not an understatement 2. Very arrogant people 3. Aspen like Vail is a playground for the rich, so the rich aren't coming to Aspen looking for work 4. awful job market [read more...]

I have only spent a short time in Aspen, so I can't comment on what it's like to live there, but here are my impressions. The residential areas in the center of town are the most outstanding I've ever seen. Every home is truly someone's castle and looks like every one of the million dollars the owner put into it. For this altitude, I was amazed at the care taken in the landscaping. Streets have clean sidewalks and friendly people walking by. In the higher elevations surrounding the city, the houses are more spectacular, but what's the point out there other than a spectacular view? Outside the center of town, the grid of streets quickly gives way to random roadways. The skiing facilities and access to them dominate the surrounding areas. The 'suburbs' (for lack of a better word) on the way to I-70 are rather undesirable and the drive can be harrowing. Speaking of harrowing, I entered town from the east on a two-lane road that was a white knuckle drive--not because of the elevation, but because you cannot for a second be distracted, lest you run off the narrow road and into someone's parked car. Like Santa Fe, it is apparent that "the help" don't live in the same city as the homeowners, which is sad. Ideally, any town drowning in wealth should accommodate those that support that wealth. Aspen is truly a haven for the wealthy elite with no room for anyone else. I would venture that one-upsmanship is the daily sport around here, even BEFORE skiing![read more...]