"Town Shopping" is a great article, but John forgot to mention geezerdom as the number-one factor affecting his high country experience (HCN, 3/20/06: Town Shopping). You’re getting old, dude, just like the rest of us. Remember when Loveland Pass was the only way to Denver? When Vail was a high-valley cow pasture? When a night in the Hotel Jerome cost $30? You do? Then you’re a dinosaur.

It’s not about sprawl; it’s not about the economy; it’s not about real estate locusts or globalization. It’s about new generations washing over the old. That’s life. One minute you’re on the crest of the wave; then you blink your eyes, 30 years have gone by, and you’re on the backside.

You want a time-warp rural experience? You want cheap? Try the south flank of the Tatras in Slovakia or the Carpathians in Transylvania. But hurry, because prices have doubled in those places in the past few years, too.

Barry Vaughan
Los Angeles, California