In the span of a few hours we went from dispersed camping in the forest and bathing ourselves in an icy river to rolling into the fancy-pants resort city of Aspen. We discovered that a sizable fraction of the well-off Beautiful People from LA appeared to be hiding from 2020 there. Aside from the outdoor dining on the streetside patios that restaurants have set up and the sea of masks on the faces of people passing by, you’d be hard-pressed to notice any difference between present-day Aspen’s nightlife and some fancy Hollywood bar from a year ago.
I think it was a bit shocking to see how well-dressed everyone was. After the pandemic started, just about everyone in the Bay Area stopped dressing up. With a real fear of the disease and a sense of more important things to focus on, people just threw on whatever would properly cover their bodies to meet basic societal standards so they could run to the grocery store for essential goods. Things have since slackened somewhat, but with nightclubs, bars, and restaurants still mostly or completely closed, it’s still rare to see people go through the social routines of going out and looking their best.
It wasn’t just the clothing though. People were exuberant in a way I’m not used to seeing, the feeling of a city buzzing on a Friday night. My wife wanted to get a drink and engage in some anthropology, and, picking a patio at random, we somehow ended up getting a walk-up table at some well-regarded high-end place. The drinks reminded me of the sort of thing you’d find in NYC, and the dessert delivered Bay Area level quality with Colorado-sized portions. That’s cool; I also enjoyed eating jet-boiled instant ramen out of a tupperware earlier in the day.