Chip Timmons - For the loyal readers of this blog, I apologize for not writing at all the past week.  I didn't schedule this moratorium, but due to technical difficulties at my hotel, limited computer access, and the failure to bring a spare battery for my camera, today is the earliest I could report on my trip to the Snowmass Institute last week.

My colleague, Rachelle Merkel, and I traveled to Snowmass, Colorado to attend the 31st Snowmass Institute.  It's not a ski school, but rather a comprehensive enrollment management conference designed to provide participants with updates on the latest trends in our business as well as opportunities to share best practices with peers from other colleges and universities.

Having never visited Colorado, this trip was one I had been looking forward to for quite some time.  The people who run the Snowmass Institute include at 5 hour break between meetings leaving you time to hike, shop, swim, bike, whatever.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans and this trip got off to a rather inauspicious beginning.  

I'm an early riser, so getting up at 5:00 am to catch my plane on Sunday morning wasn't a big deal.  Spending 90 minutes on the runway in Denver only to learn the Aspen airport had been closed due to fog was a big deal.  Eventually, the skies cleared and our plane arrived at the rain soaked Aspen airport, which by the way had a large collection of private jets on display, but no celebrities were spotted.

I shook off the long day of travel and primed myself for a morning filled with acquiring knowledge and an afternoon filled with fresh air and sunshine on Monday.  Well, I got the morning right. Just after 2 p.m., powerful storms dumped lots to rain and as you can see, lots of hail across the area.  I took this picture about 3 minutes into the storm.  The stuff just kept coming down all afternoon.  It could have been worse.  A group of 5 fellow participants got caught in this storm about 45 minutes from the hotel while hiking on the mountain.  They soldiered on and still made it back in time for the evening sessions.

The week wasn't all doom and gloom.  Rachelle and I joined some colleagues for dinner in Aspen one night.  That town caters to a lifestyle of which I will never be familiar, but I still enjoyed my time there.  If you should travel to Aspen, I recommend dining at The Wild Fig.

The weather cooperated for the rest of the week and I certainly learned a lot. Although, I sometimes attend conferences where the presenters tell you what you need to be doing and I learn that we're already doing most of what they recommend.  I know we do a great job here, but it's always nice to be reassured of that by your peers.  

Now, it's back to the normal routine at work and the predictable heat and humidity of summer in Indiana.