AAM, Aspen Music Festival, and Jing: Jan Greenberg’s Aspen

WHERE TO EAT & SIP

The newly redecorated Asian fusion restaurant, Jing, presided over by the charming Frank Lu, is right on Main Street. The bar has cozy seating for two if you want an early or late date night out. It’s great fun to celebrate with a group and enjoy their succulent Peking duck with all the trimmings. The hamburgers and fried chicken sandwiches for lunch are worth the wait at the White House. It’s a great people watching corner when you eat outside there in the summer.

WHERE TO SEE ART

The Aspen Art Museum, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban, has a number of great exhibitions. Have lunch at the rooftop café, SO, with views of Aspen Mountain or go to SO for an evening of jazz in the summer.

Walk around town après ski and you’ll find art galleries on every block. The newest is in a stunning reconverted cabin that New York gallerist Marianne Boesky opened last year.

Head out of town to Snowmass for the Saturday afternoon auctions at Anderson Ranch of artworks by well-known ceramicists, woodworkers, printmakers, and more who teach or take workshops there in the summer.

WHERE TO HAVE FUN & RELAX

My two favorite activities: Aspen Music Festival‘s concerts under the amazing tent designed by Aspen’s most admired architect, Harry Teague. Sunday afternoons at four practically the whole town turns out. Bring a picnic, your kids, and dog to sit outside on the lawn. And then there’s the hiking. Go on trails just a few miles out of Aspen and you find yourself in the wilderness (almost) where wildflowers bloom all summer long. Every once in a while a big black bear just might lumber by. Friends call summers there “Camp Aspen.”