Colorado Return Part 3 The Monestary Cattle Drive and Windstar

As we headed up valley I was totally shocked to see what El Jebel looks like now! When we lived in Aspen it was a trailer park and not a nice one at that. It is now a small city - they even have upscale groceries.

We stopped at St. Benedict's Monestary - it is just up the road from the Windstar site and where we lived for a while on Snowmass Creek.

It was one of Michael's favorite places and he was friends with many of the Monks.

They are a Cistercian (Trappist) monastic community, part of a 900 year old tradition.  The roots of the Order reach still further back to the Rule of St. Benedict, written 1,500 years ago.

St. Benedict's Monastery occupies a spectacular valley high in the Colorado Rockies.  "Our community of about 15 members is fairly small, and like all monasteries we have our own personality.  Monasteries are like that - each one is unique. 

Our Mission Statement:

"Through daily life in our Cistercian community, we aspire to be transformed in mind and heart by embodying Christ Jesus in ways appropriate to our times."

On our way to Windstar we followed a cattle drive which was pretty neat.

It was fun watching the dogs keep the cattle going in the right direction, weaving back and forth behind them!

It wasn't too hard to find Windstar, even though there are no signs. There is a ridge with a slot cut into it, we just looked for that.

Here are before (from the 80's when we were there) and today. Wow.

What the property looks like now.

A map showing where you can walk or ride a horse.

The pad the big tent was on.

The house

 Where we stayed when we first arrived.

The only things left are this garden shack, the main house which is badly deteriorated, and the cement pad from the big tent. Kind of sad but glad we got to experience it.