This weekend two of my very best (and oldest) friends Joey and Bill came to visit from Atlanta to ski and otherwise enjoy Salt Lake City, the Wasatch Front, and the greatest snow on Earth! :) I've been friends with both Joey and Bill since high school (they were a year ahead of me, so they graduated in 1933, and I graduated in 1934), and even though I now live 2,120 miles away, we've maintained close ties. I've been wanting to get Joey out here terribly (Bill came skiing last year, sorry no pix), and he finally made it! Bill is one of those avid ski-freaks, so he has to be on the slopes every day they're open. Joey and I, not so much. We both like to ski, but a couple of days here and there is just fine with us. They arrived on Wednesday the 27th and flew out on Sunday the 31st, so Bill skied every day. Joey and I just did one day, and that was on Thursday. The day they arrived, we took a drive up to the Aspen Grove Timpanogos trailhead, just to introduce Joey to the Wasatch mountains. The snow was quite deep, and we had a great time just being stupid and acting as if we were teens again. As you can see below, Joey was particularly enjoyable, although I have been chastised since by my family for laughing and taking pictures instead of helping him out of snow-holes.
The next day we all went skiing at Alta, which was my first time skiing since I moved here. We chose Alta (a) because it's awesome!, and (b) because they don't allow snowboarders, which is total heaven! The powder was literally waist- (and even chest-) deep in places, and I had a really hard time learning how to ski in it. Joey was better than I, and Bill was much better. It was a lot of fun, until I did a face-plant and truly couldn't breathe! I panicked a bit, finally clawed my way out, to find my friends laughing at me. I got mad at myself for panicking, thinking I had over-reacted, but later I was told by a colleague at USU that a friend of his had actually died this way! I will be much more careful if skiing in deep powder in the future, I can tell you.
The next couple of days there were heavy snowstorms in the peaks, and due to poor visibility Joey and I opted out, but Bill struggled gamely on, and apparently enjoyed himself. The last evening Joey, Jesse, and I went up to Alta to pick Bill up, and there was essentially a blizzard in the peaks, and it took us several hours to get down the mountain. It was nerve-wracking and fun at the same time.
Anyway, that was the visit from two of my best friends. Now if I can just get them out here in warm weather to go hiking!!
Anyway, that was the visit from two of my best friends. Now if I can just get them out here in warm weather to go hiking!!
Educational Moment: Utah was the 45th state admitted to the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,736,424 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the sixth most urbanized in the U.S. The name "Utah" is derived from the name of the Ute Indian tribe, and means "people of the mountains" in the Ute language. Utah is bordered by Arizona on the south, Colorado on the east, Wyoming on the northeast, Idaho on the north and Nevada on the west. It also touches a corner of New Mexico.
No comments:
Post a Comment