Vegas Baby

Day 164 - Las Vegas, NV to Kingman, AZ - Sunny Mid 70's:

For our last day in Vegas we decided to go check out a couple more hotels/casinos before we left town. The first stop was the Rio hotel where the world series of poker is now being held. It wasn't that exciting as we had hoped so we just walked around for a bit and headed out. Nest we made our way over to the Palms Hotel because this is where all the celebrities stay when they are in Vegas. It's home to the Fantasy Tower where you can find the Kingpin Suite (it has two bowling lanes), the Hugh Hefner Suite, the Barbie Suite, and many others. Many of these suites have pools that stick out the front of the hotel as if you are going to fall of the edge of the building. We went into Palms Place and checked out where the rich stay...they even let us up to the pool. I thought this was the best part of the hotel...it had an amazing view of the strip. Heather and I decided that if we ever come back this would be the place we would stay.

Next we stopped by the Vegas sign. When we came into town we entered the strip at the opposite end of the strip and missed it so we made sure to get it on the way out! We got our pictures both coming and going. From here we decided that we had had enough of Vegas and started our trip to Kingman. Kingman was about halfway to the Grand Canyon...our next exciting destination.

Day 163 - Las Vegas, NV - Sunny Low 70's:

Since we were up late losing our money we slept in again this morning and finally made it out of the room around noon. We made our way down to the Midway in our hotel to play our free fair game. Heather picked the Horse Race game and I kicked her butt in the end. I won a small stuffed dog but we ended up giving it to a kid because we have a limited amount of space. In the end we probably should have kept it because it was the only thing that we would win while in Vegas.

At one o'clock I decided to enter a Texas Hold 'em tournament and was doing really well for the first half hour but then I got hit with a bad beat on the river and only had four hundred chips left and was out in the next couple hands. Heather thought I was going to be there longer but unfortunately I was able to meet her for lunch. After lunch we made our way back to the Bellagio to check out the flower garden, it was pretty cool (You'll have to check out the pictures because its tough to explain.) We then headed over to the MGM Grand to meet up Heather's friend Nicolle who is in the Cirque du Soleil show KA. They had been chatting back and forth for some time about seeing each other and Nicolle was going to help us get tickets at the local price to see her show. We met up a bit before Nicolle had to be at work so we were only able to catch up for a couple minutes. We decided to buy tickets for the 9:30 show because it would allow Nicolle could give us a backstage tour after the late show.

We then made our way back to the Excalibur to get cleaned up and dressed up for dinner and the show. It was then back to the MGM Grand for dinner at Diego. This was an upscale Mexican restaurant and the food was decent but the margaritas were really good. After dinner we made our way to the KA theater and were amazed by the set that was constructed around the seats. Heather got a couple texts from Nicolle letting us know which characters she was going to be because she knows five different routines and doesn't know which ones she will be until a couple hours before the show. The show was amazing and I could not even start to explain it but the general idea was a coming of age store about two children who were separated during a tribal battle. Nicolle was amazing and we couldn't believe how much acrobatics that went into show. After the show we made our way backstage. Nicolle who was still in her makeup when she met us...she showed us the stage, the practice facility, the costume room and where they hang out when they're not on stage. The stage is really amazing there are three levels under the audience where the performers get ready and can get on to the fully mechanical part of stage. There are so many technicalities that you have no idea about when you're watching. From airbags to hand-held remotes that control the amount of spring in the wiring...it's really amazing. We didn't get any pictures of the set because it's not allowed but it was a once in a lifetime. It was getting late and we had to leave so we snapped a couple of pictures with Nicolle and said our goodbyes. We are so thankful for the time she took to show us around!!

It was then over to the Tropicana to try our luck at another set of tables and slots. Unfortunately the result was the same and we went to sleep a little poorer then the night before.

Day 162 - Las Vegas - Cloudy Low 60's:

Today we decided to sleep in a bit because there really isn't much going on in Vegas during the day, so we took it easy and Heather did some hotel work while I worked on my taxes knowing that April 15th was fast approaching. We then headed down to the strip to find a hotel for our Vegas stay. We figured we stood just as good of a chance of getting a low rate in person as we did online! After some searching we decided on the Excalibur. It was cheap, nice hotel and close to all the strip happenings!

Once we were checked in and unpacked we decided to wander down the strip for a bit and see what all the Vegas hype was about. We walked through the Bellagio and Caesar's Palace and they are both amazing hotels with lots and lots of gambling going on. They also had VERY EXPENSIVE stores which Heather drooled over as we walked by. Once we were back outside I was going to try to ride the NY NY roller coaster but it was extremely windy and it was closed. We also checked out the Paris Hotel and were thinking about going up in the Eiffel Tower ride but that was also closed due to the wind. We were bummed as a few people had recommended these places but when mother nature says no...she means it!!

It was now time for dinner and we decided to check out a German place just a couple block off of the strip. We walked down past the Hard Rock Casino and found the Haufbraus House. Matt had told us that they had a mug holding contest here and we were hoping to check it out! We made our way in and found that the dining room was set up like a beer tent at Octoberfest. We got seated at a table with a couple other people and were promptly greeted by our waitress who was dressed in the old fashioned German outfit. I quickly ordered a beer and then tried to decide on dinner. We ordered our meals and then sat back and enjoyed the German band that was playing. Overall we had a great meal and it made us think of the LaCasse family that are in Germany and hopefully we'll get to go there next summer. Unfortunately the mug holding contest is only on the weekends so we didn't get to participate!

We then headed back to the strip and made our way to the Bellagio to see the famous water show. It was awesome the way they have the water guns shoot with the beat of the music. We then hopped on the bus and headed toward Freemont street. We arrived at Freemont street and made our way into the Golden Nugget casino to get a Dunkin' Donuts coffee, it had been a while since I had seen one so it was a necessary stop. We then walked down the street and waited for the show to start. We got to see the Kiss Freemont Street Experience and it was amazing. There are over 12 million LED lights that cover the five block canopy and every hour they put on a light show. It always starts by turning off the neon lights of the casinos which is pretty neat to see at night. The show was amazing...we have some videos which should be up soon!

After the show we headed back to our hotel and decided to hit the blackjack table and slots for a bit and even though no winning happened we had fun giving them our money.

UP TO DATE!

All pictures and video are now up to date!

The Beauty of Bryce and Zion

Day 161 - Zion National Park, UT to Las Vegas, NV - Sunny Low 80's:

We actually managed to get up fairly early today and were packed up and in the car by 9:30am. We drove over the visitors center to fill up our water and head out on a short hike before making our way to Vegas. Watchmen’s Trail starts at the visitors center and goes up to a lookout which allows you to see Springdale, the visitors center, and the campgrounds. It wasn’t the longest hike but it was a great way to start our day!

We got back to the car and headed out of Zion. It was about a three hour drive to Las Vegas and instead of heading to the hotel we made our way directly to the Hoover Dam. We figured that with the gorgeous weather (80 degrees and sunny) we shouldn’t waste our day at the hotel! The dam was rather busy but we arrived around 3:15pm. Things sure have changed since the last time I was here. At that time there was just a little visitors building. Now there is a center, tours, and a parking garage. We skipped all of them opting for the FREE parking and FREE self guided walk. The dam is an amazing engineering structure. It is so big!! The dam actually spans two states, Arizona and Nevada. At this time of the year the time is the same in both states but when daylight savings is in effect you can actually stand in one spot with half of your body at one time and the other half at another time. We couldn’t do that but we were able to stand in two states and we even managed to get the car in two different states at the same time. I didn’t realize how much power the Hoover Dam actually creates. It supplies power to ALL of Arizona, Nevada, Pasadena, Glendale, Los Angeles and a few others that I can’t remember at the moment but either way that is SO much power from one place. The dam is holding back water from Lake Mead which is the largest man-made reservoir in the United States. It was fun to explore and made me miss the Setta clan as the last time I was here I was with them!!

After the Hoover Dam we made our way to the hotel. We are spending one night at a Residence Inn so that we could cook dinner, do laundry, and get caught up on life. We will venture into the strip area tomorrow to try and find a hotel. We are excited to be here and here’s to hoping Ben wins LOTS of money without putting much money into the game!!

Day 160 - Zion National Park, UT - Sunny Low 80's:

Today we attempted to get up earlier than yesterday but didn’t do so well with that…I LOVE TO SLEEP. We hopped on the bus at 11am and got off at Weeping rock heading for Observation Point. This trail was an eight-mile round trip hike. The first four miles were SO TOUGH…uphill for probably three and a half of the four. Ben has decided it’s time to start getting in shape for his Mt. Washington race and so he carried rocks in his bag…I don’t know how he did it…everyone was giving him crap for being a show off…it was pretty funny. It took us about an hour and forty-five minutes to reach the top, which was well worth the work. The view was amazing and we could actually look down on the people who were climbing Angels Landing. We stayed at the top for lunch and then headed back down. On the way down we took a detour to Hidden Canyon. This was about a mile and took us to a small freestanding arch, which made Ben very happy. From Hidden Canyon we made our way back to the base of Weeping Rock and turned to head up the Weeping Rock trail. Here is a beautiful sign of life within the desert. The porous rock holds water that comes from rain and snow and as it finds it’s way out plant life grows seemingly out of the rock. It was beautiful and WET as there is a waterfall at the top of the trail as well.

After finishing our nine or so miles at Weeping Rock we made our way back to the bus and took it up to the Temple of Sinawava stop where we picked up the River Walk. On the way there we saw a few different groups of rock climbers. They were scaling the side of a cliff and I was nervous for them. They were SO HIGH and they still had so far to go!! The River Walk is a two-mile handicapped accessible trail that leads you to the mouth of the Narrows trail. Ben REALLY wanted to do this trail but we learned that it is actually a water trail. You go to the end of the River Walk and then get in the water and start walking. There were a few problems with this from my perspective. We didn’t have waterproof attire, we didn’t have waterproof bags for our stuff, and the water was only forty-nine degrees. Fortunately for me the Narrows trail was closed due to the high water level. We still wandered on the rocks so we could get a few pictures though!!

Once we finished the River Walk e returned to the bus station and made our way back to the campground. We had been informed that in Springdale there were a couple of places that offered pay showers. Considering we had done eight miles on Friday and close to twelve miles on Saturday we decided to suck it up and pay for a shower. I am so glad we did because we both felt much better once we were clean. We headed back to camp and Ben cooked up a GREAT chicken dinner while I organized the car in preparation for our departure the next morning. Once dinner was done and the sun had set we hopped back on the bus to do some star gazing at Big Bend. It was so beautiful. Without the glow of city life, the stars are almost alive. We tried to take some photos but apparently we need a different lens or something because we couldn’t get any!! While we were there I saw a light on the face of the cliff. Turns out it was the climbers we had seen earlier in the day. We ended up seeing three different lights in two different groups (see video). I was in complete an utter shock at the idea of people sleeping on the side of a mountain!

We hopped the last bus back to the campground after our star looking adventure. Once back Ben started a campfire and we sat enjoying our last evening in Zion. It was a spectacular day and the fire was a wonderful end to our hard work!!

Day 159 - Zion National Park, UT - Sunny Low 80's:

Ben woke up bright and early to find us a new campsite. I thought I woke up just a few minutes after him but it turns out I slept for almost two hours longer…OOPS! Once I was awake Ben cooked up a delicious breakfast and we got ready for the day. Due to Ben’s early call time we were able to get a campsite two spaces down from ours so we didn’t have to move very far!!

After packing up and making lunch we headed over to the visitors center to pick up a shuttle ride. The park offers shuttle services starting at 7:30am until 9:30pm. One shuttle goes into the park (they only allow guests at the lodge up the main road to the trails) and the other goes into the town of Springdale. It is a wonderful system and it makes it so easy for campers. We can get to all the trails and to all the services we might need without ever having to move the car. Our first stop was at the Zion Lodge where we took the trail toward the Emerald Pools. There are three, the upper, middle, and lower. We hiked to all of them!! There are beautiful waterfalls that you can see and even stand close to being under…you do get wet but you don’t get drenched. From there we took the Kayenta Trail down to the Grotto. Here there are picnic tables and a restroom. We took advantage of both enjoying lunch and freeing our bladders!

DID I MENTION THAT IT WAS ALMOST 80 DEGREES WHILE WE WERE HIKING? IT WAS SO NICE TO BE WARM AGAIN!!

Once we were refueled, we headed up Angel’s Landing. It was described as a strenuous…normally we find that these are moderately hard but nothing that is too terrible. This without question lived up to STRENUOUS. It is almost a 1500ft elevation change over two and a half miles. To say we were working hard and sweating would be an understatement. We arrived at Scout’s Lookout where there were LOTS of people. To my dismay the Angel’s Landing trail continued on… The next portion required us to hold onto chains as we scaled some rocks being careful not to fall off the side of the cliff. We reached another landing area that I assumed was the top…WRONG. The trail continued literally up the side of a cliff. This is where I stopped my journey. I was not all that comfortable and decided that it would be better if I stayed put. Ben continued on and I watched with binoculars as he climbed with MANY others to the top. He took lots of pictures so that as he said, “I could feel like I was there.” Once he returned we made our way back down to the Grotto to catch the bus back to the campground.

We got back to the campground and hopped in the car to head into town. We needed so ice and wanted some firewood as well. We made a pit stop at the library to use the Internet. We wanted to book our camp sight for the Grand Canyon so we don’t run into the same problem we did when arriving here! After getting all our supplies we came back to camp and enjoyed a GREAT dinner. We are now sitting by the fire thinking about how much we need to catch up on the blog! SORRY.

Day 158 - Salt Lake City to Bryce Canyon, UT - Sunny Low 50's:

Today we woke up bright and early to head out of Salt Lake City. Our first stop was at Dee’s Diner where we met Roy for breakfast. Unfortunately Jen had class so she wasn’t able to join us. It was so wonderful to see both of them…I had no idea they were even in Salt Lake so it was a big surprise for me!!

The trip to Bryce Canyon was about four hours. We made one stop at Cabella’s to pick up a few supplies but other than that it was non-stop until we arrived. To our delight before we arrived at Bryce we drove through Red Canyon. It is spectacular. The rocks are so vibrant and beautiful. We stopped at a couple of turnouts and made a quick hike on the picture trail to snap some photos before moving on. As we drove we came upon a tunnel in the side of the canyon…we took our time driving through so we could be sure to get pictures.

Bryce Canyon National Park sits at about 8,000 feet so we knew that most of it would not be accessible to us but we wanted to make the trip anyway. I am SO GLAD we did. It is the most amazingly beautiful place I think I have ever seen. Sarah, a friend from high school told us that we have to visit here because it is so breathtaking and I’m glad she did. The pictures cannot possibly do justice to the beauty that this park has to offer. Fortunately one three-mile trail was available for hiking. We traveled along Sunset Point down to Queens Garden and then up to Sunrise Point. We were warned that at times it might be slippery and muddy. Well, as you can see in the pictures (once we get them loaded), muddy is an understatement. At times it felt as though the mud was going to take our shoes off. It was worth every bit of mess though as the rock formations and colors are like nothing I’ve ever seen. As soon as we finished our messy hike we hopped back in the car and made our way to Inspiration Point. Our initial thinking was that it would look just like Sunrise and Sunset but boy were we wrong. As Sarah said, “I don’t believe in God but if he exists, he’s at Inspiration Point.” It is magical to look out and see Mother Nature’s work at it’s best. The geologic changes that have created these sights are varied, many, and complex. I could spend hours explaining the descriptions in our brochures but after you see the pictures, I’m sure you’ll want to learn for yourself.

Had the weather been even ten to fifteen degrees warmer we would have stayed but with the forecast calling for lows near twenty degrees we knew we weren’t prepared. We were both sad to leave as we could have spent days here exploring and viewing this amazing park. Without question this is a park that we will return to…hopefully in the not too far off future.

We made our way out of Bryce with the intention of staying in Cedar City at a hotel before making our way to Zion National Park in the morning. At the last minute we decided to push on and go straight through. It actually meant less time and miles for us!! We entered Zion at around 7:00pm and again were taken aback by the sheer beauty of our surroundings. We entered through the east gate and had to make our way about twelve miles to the south gate where the campgrounds were located. As we drove we came upon a tunnel like I have never seen before. It was pitch black for the large portion with only a few windows that the passenger could look out!! Every time we would drive by a window I would hear Ben say HOLY CRAP! I took a peak once and saw the most magnificent canyon. We were literally in the side of a mountain. The tunnel is about three and a half miles long so we were in it for a while!

We arrived at the campground and were not pleased to see that both were FULL. We took a drive through anyway and found a handicapped site unoccupied. We went and spoke with the campground host who was SO NICE!! He allowed us to stay at the sight under the conditions that if a handicapped person arrived we would leave and that in the morning we would find a new sight. Turns out the campgrounds had been full since noon! We agreed and unpacked. We had a quick dinner of soup and salad before turning in for the night.

Park City

Day 157 - Salt Lake City and Park City, UT - SUNNY and Low 50's:

We started our day a little later than we had planned…it was so nice to sleep in a bit though so we weren’t too sad about it!! We woke up and had a quick breakfast before making our way to Walmart! It wasn’t the most exciting thing we’ve done but we wanted to stock up before heading out to the national parks. We got back to the Swain’s and unpacked before hopping in the car and heading to Park City. As we got on the highway we realized that we had forgotten the camera so we turned around and headed back to the apartment. We finally got on the road about an hour behind our planned time so it wasn’t TOO bad.

Our first stop was at Utah’s Olympic Park. Here they have the Ski Museum, the Salt Lake City Olympics Museum, and the sight of the bobsled, luge, skeleton, and Nordic ski jumping events from the 2002 Olympics. We knew that they offered tours and so we wanted to get one…well we were informed that the bus driver didn’t show and that they only had enough room for nine people per tour instead of the normal twenty-four. This meant that we wouldn’t be able to get a tour until 4:00pm. We signed up and headed into Park City to see what it’s all about. We made our way to Main Street and parked the car. It is CRAZY to me because there is a chair lift that literally takes off one block from the street. It was nuts to see people skiing everywhere we looked.

We wandered up and down Main Street stopping to grab some lunch and poke in the stores. Ben had never heard of the Canadian clothing company Roots so we made a stop in there. During the Olympics Roots outfitted the US team and getting a piece of their apparel was quite challenging. According to the information on Main Street people waited three to four hours just to get into the store. Park City is a bit more geared toward the wealthy but it has some neat shops and restaurants. As we walked Ben had a moment of remembering a scene in Entourage of the guys at Sundance. Yes, this is where they were!! It is a neat town and I would really like to come back and stay here if we visit again!

After looking around we made our way back to Olympic Park and got on our tour. We started at the base of the Nordic Ski Jump sight. To say it’s high is an understatement. There are two jumps, one at 90 meters and one at 120 meters. We were standing where the crowd was during the Olympics. The only thing missing were the GIANT bleachers that they had to build to hold the fans. Olympic Park is not that big and so to accommodate the fans they built bleachers TEN STORIES HIGH! The bleachers reached as high as the top of the jump so when people were at the top they were at eye level of the Olympians. We learned a lot about the training for this event. To our SURPRISE we learned that athletes start on this event at the age of five years old. They start on the 10 meter jump, progress to the 20 meter, move to the 40 meter and then to the 90 and 120. I figured that they must make it to the 90 around fifteen or so…NOPE the AVERAGE age of a jumper on the 120-meter is NINE!! The course record is held by and ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD! There are two reasons they start so early. First they are fearless and second they are light. We were told that if you aren’t on the 120 by age 10 you aren’t going to the Olympics.

From here we headed up to the bobsled, luge, and skeleton track. This is the second fastest track in the world only behind the new Vancouver track. We learned that it is hard to compare because no two tracks are alike. To be an international track all it has to have are fourteen corner, a labyrinth (tight switchbacks), and ends going up (so they slow down). Other than that it’s up to the designer. This track has seventeen turns but is not as long as Vancouver’s. The length gives them the advantage! We did learn that in all the events at Olympic Park there is no such thing as a world record only course records. Due to the fact that there are no real course similarities it is impossible to compare times. Unfortunately because of all the recent snow (85 inches in six days) the top of the course was buried in snow. The athletes stop training here around March 20th because they shut off the refrigeration system that keeps the tracks iced. They return once the track is free of ice for training. Standing at the top of these events gave me a whole new respect for these athletes. It is scary just looking at the track let alone actually going down. These athletes travel at speeds of over ninety miles per hour and with the skeleton and luge have nothing but a helmet for protection. It’s NUTS.

After viewing the luge/bobsled/skeleton track we made our way to the top of the Nordic Ski Jump. Even Ben was taken aback at this sight. You can’t even see where you are going to land it’s so steep. I still can’t even imagine the thought of skiing down one of these….let alone letting my little kid try it out! We got to see and hold a Nordic Ski…they’re much lighter and longer than I anticipated. The length should be one and a half times your height. We learned that for some of the men who are over six feet tall, their skis don’t even fit underneath the building standing straight up! We also got to see the “meany.” This is the surface that the athletes train on in the summer. It’s kind of like a grass skirt but harder and weaved. They call it meany because it hurts so much to fall on when you miss your landing.

Interesting Facts:

1. The refrigeration cost on a COLD day is $5,000 - $7,000. Yes that’s PER DAY. It costs even more on warmer days.
2. There is over 60 miles of piping underneath the luge/bobsled/skeleton track.
3. Athletes train here in both winter and summer. In the summer they just use different equipment and surfaces.
4. The cost of a new Olympic quality bobsled is over $100,000. A used sled can cost anywhere between $20,000 and $30,000.

We made our way back to the lobby and as we did we got a funny story. About four months before the Olympics they had an “athlete” attempt to qualify. As employees looked on via a security camera a DEER got a little to close to the top of the bobsled track and slipped. The deer traveled the length of the course coming to rest just before crossing the finish line. The workers and EMT’s made their way as quickly as possible to help the deer. He couldn’t get his footing on the ice so he was stuck. They laid a piece of carpet in the track and he made his way out unharmed. Well, apparently he like the trip because when workers got to work the next morning they found the deer at the bottom of the track AGAIN! This time they got a picture. They laid the carpet again and he made his way out never to be seen again! The picture is pretty funny…he’s just lying on the ice calmly waiting for help!

We made our way through the Ski Museum playing with some of the interactive features and learning about Utah’s unique snow. Due to the location of Salt Lake and way the storms come through the desert, the mountains in this area get POWDER and lots of it! There was a neat exhibit, which showed that in Lake Tahoe, and inch of rain equals ten to twelve inches of snow whereas in Alta (where Ben skied on Monday) an inch of snow equals twenty-five to thirty inches of powder. We played some games before making our way upstairs to the Olympic Museum. Here they have costumes and props from the opening ceremonies, uniforms worn by the Olympians, a REAL curling stone (it’s HEAVY), and samples of the medals handed out to the athletes. Each medal was hand made and so it slightly unique. They had twelve or so on display. They are beautiful. They also had the Para-Olympic medals and the volunteer medals as well.

The attire was neat to look at as the Olympians signed most of it. They had a jersey from both the men's and women's hockey teams, the costume worn by figure skater Timothy Goeble, Bode Miller’s racing outfit and many more. They also had a neat sample of the Olympic trading pins. We learned when on Main Street in Park City that people waited in lines for hours to trade pins. There were over 6,000 pins made just for the Salt Lake City Games.

Once we made our way out of the museum we took a few more photos before heading back to Jon and Larissa’s. Once there I got working on dinner while Ben made a trip to the Laundromat and to do some returns. I made two lasagnas, one for us and one for the Swains. We put in it in the freezer with some dessert for when they get home to help Jon’s healing! We had planned to head over to Roy and Jen’s to hang out but Roy got out of work later than anticipated so we decided to meet in the morning. Instead we cleaned up the apartment and got ourselves organized so that we could make a quick departure in the morning!

Powder Land

Day 156 - Salt Lake City, UT and Solitude Ski Resort - Snowy to Sunny Mid 40's:

Today was another early day! It snowed all night because Swain was headed back to Gunnison for surgery we wanted to get a full day skiing. We loaded up the car and made our way to Roy's house to pile into the Ski Mobile. We were excited when we learned that it had completely dumped snow overnight and the mountains had received 24 - 28 inches of fresh POWDER. We were going to make our way back up Little Cottonwood Canyon but the road was closed until at least noon because of avalanche bombing so instead we made our way up Big Cottonwood Canyon. We were still planning to make our way into the backcountry for some skiing but once we got to Solitude Resort to park we decided that given the amount of new snow it was probably safer to ski on the resort for the day. Solitude was also running a spring special for only thirty-nine dollars, so we couldn't go wrong. The skiing was amazing to put it lightly, it was by far the best day of skiing that I have ever had! We got tons of runs in the fresh powder and had a hard time leaving. Unfortunately we had to so that Swain could get on the road to Gunnison for his surgery. It was truly an epic day of skiing and I'm glad that I got the chance to ski with Roy and Swain again this year. Once again work called for Heather and she spent her day catching up on Bar Harbor stuff and doing some laundry.

After a bit of resting we made our way back over to Roy's house to make some dinner, drink some beers, and watch some Biggest Loser. Jen made it home early form work and we enjoyed hanging out for a while before it was back to the Swain's for the night. It's so nice to see people who you rarely see. We've been so luck to be able to visit with our friends as we travel the country and even luckier that they have let us CRASH!!

Day 155 - Salt Lake City, UT and Alta Ski Resort - Snowy & Windy Low to Mid 30's:

We woke up early and Swain helped me gather up some of his ski gear since I left mine back home. He got me fitted into his resort gear and Heather drove me over to meet Roy. After I got to Roy's house he fired up the Ski Mobil (which is a old 1970 army ambulance that Roy has painted and remodeled. It pretty sweet it has all time 4-wheel drive, so no problems getting up the canyons in the snow and Roy has set up a place to sleep inside if there is ever a need.) We decided to try and head up into Little Cottonwood Canyon and hit up Alta ski resort. This resort if the ultimate ski resort because there are no snowboarders allowed!! There was a big storm blowing in and it was snowing the whole day. They even had to close the lift a couple times because of lighting on top of the mountain. It kind of sucked because it takes awhile to get up to the top of the mountain and then they would close the lift and we would have to make our way back to the lodge. It was a great first day of Utah skiing but with the weather forecast tomorrow was shaping up to be an epic day.

While I was out playing all day Heather was back at the Swain's house working away and making us some money. She wouldn't have enjoyed the weather outside so it's better that she was at home taking care of business. After she finished a bit of work Larissa returned from school and they made their way over to the Botanical Gardens at the University of Utah. There were a few varieties of blooming flowers but the cold is still a little tough on most of the plants. It was nice for them to be able to get outside though before the rain hit!!

After I got back from skiing and Heather returned with Larissa we went out to rent a back country setup for me to use tomorrow when Swain, Roy and I were going to venture into the back country and all the powder. Swain was working tonight, so we hung out with Larissa and she whipped up some homemade Pad Thai which is Heather's favorite and really delicious. We finished off the night playing a game of Phase 10 waiting for Swain to get back from work.

More People Than Portland

Day 154 - Salt Lake City, UT - Sunny Mid 40's:

This morning we woke up early as we had planned to have an Easter brunch with Jon, Larissa, Roy and Jen. Larissa and I worked on the egg dishes while Ben went to the grocery store to get fruit for a salad. Larissa also made potatoes and biscuits. Once Roy and Jen arrived the meal was topped off with perfectly cooked bacon! It was GREAT. We had a nice time relaxing and again enjoying each others company. Unfortunately our "family" time ended too soon because Swain had to head to work and Jen needed to get home to study!!

Once everyone headed out Ben and I got dressed and made our way into town. This time he dropped me off at the hotel (the company I work for has one here in Salt Lake) so that I could go for a run while he took the car to get a much needed oil change. The timing worked well because by the time he was on his way back to get me I was all done. While at Sears he also picked up the parts he needed to change our brake pads. While he was doing this at the apartment I worked on Mexican Roll-Ups while Larissa studied. Around the time he finished the brakes dinner was ready! We enjoyed our dinner and then hung out on the couch watching The Interpreter. If you've never seen this movie let me be clear...IT IS WEIRD. It's a great movie but it's different than ANY other Matt Damon movie I've ever seen. As the movie finished up Swaino arrived home from work. We chatted on the couch for a bit and he helped Ben get all his stuff together for skiing. Due to his schedule he wasn't able to ski with Ben the next day and so he let Ben take all of his gear so he wouldn't have to rent!! After getting everything organized we all headed to BED!

Day 153 - Salt Lake City, UT - Sunny Mid 40's:

For the first time in a while we got to sleep in today and it was much needed. Once we were awake Larissa made us an EXCELLENT breakfast of pancakes and bacon. It was nice to have some good home cooking again.

Once we got ourselves together we all headed up to a hiking trail not too far from their apartment. It was a bit muddy as they had recently had snow and it was melting in the sunshine. From the trail you could see all of Salt Lake City, the University of Utah, and the incredibly amazing mountains. Being up there allowed us to see how crazy the city is...it is completely surrounded by mountains. It just sits down below.

After our hike Jon (he'll often be referred to as Swain) headed to work. His schedule is a bit of a bummer because he has to leave at 2pm and doesn't get home until 11:30pm. Once he headed out, we stayed around the apartment with Larissa chatting and catching up on email. We didn't stay around too long because we wanted to explore downtown. Man did we pick the weekend to be here. Turns out this is one of two weekends for the Latter Day Saints BIG conference. Let me clarify BIG. There were over 80,000 people in town just for the conference.

We didn't let that deter us as we walked around Temple Square. It is a beautiful space full of gorgeous architecture and lovely landscaping. While we were walking we got the TREAT of hearing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. If you have never heard these men and women sing you are missing out because they are amazing. We learned that they are not able to try out until age twenty-five and once they are in they can stay for twenty years before they have to re-audition...they can continue to be a member until age sixty-five when they are retired. Other than age the only other requirement is that they live within 100 miles of Salt Lake as they need to be available for their commitments. They do performances every Sunday in the Tabernacle. These are free to the public and are NOT church services but inspirational shows. We actually got to go into the Tabernacle which was a nice treat as it is an amazing acoustic building. We stayed in the Temple Square for while just wandering and exploring before eventually making our way out! We walked around town trying to find where the Olympic Medals were handed out...we did find it but did not realize this until we were long gone!!

We made our way back to the Swains after our nice afternoon walk to relax before dinner. Once dinner time arrived we headed to Fiddler's Elbow to watch the Duke West Virginia game. We were also hoping to catch Roy at work in hopes of surprising him. We didn't end up seeing him as he had already headed home but we did get to see a great game! Having missed Roy at work we decided to head over and surprise him and Jen at home. It was quite fun!! We spent the next few hours at their apartment enjoying friendly faces and good company. Swain actually came over after he got out of work which was a nice surprise. We hung out for a bit before making our way back to the Swains for some much needed sleep!

Salt Lake City Here We Come

Day 152 - Reno, NV to Salt Lake City, UT - Varying Snow and Rain Mid-30's:

Drive, Drive, Drive. It's pretty much all we did today. The trip from Reno to Salt Lake is about eight and a half hours. With stops for the restroom, dinner, and the time zone change we arrived at Swain and Larissa's around 10:15pm. Jon was still at work so we sat and caught up with Mrs. Swain (it's the first time we've seen them since they were married). Jon arrived home around 11:45pm and we chatted for a bit before hitting the sack for the night!

Day 151 - Reno, NV/Lake Tahoe, CA - Snow Showers Mid-40's:

We woke up fairly early today and hit the road for Lake Tahoe. We had heard it was a BEAUTIFUL area and we wanted to check it out for ourselves. We left the hotel around 11am and made our way to the Lake. We arrived and went straight to Northstar Resort to check it out. It was a beautiful resort...rather ritzy and pricey but beautiful nonetheless. We wondered around the shops and stores for a bit before heading out. We spent some time wishing that we had our winter gear with us so that we could enjoy the beautiful mountains but we just couldn't fit it in the car when we were packing.

Not to far from the resort was the Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park. We took a drive through and walked down to the beach. It was so weird to see snow, sand, and water all at the same time. I think it's the first time I've ever been to a beach in the winter! We took some photos but unfortunately the weather did not cooperate with photos. The sky was very cloudy and we really couldn't see the mountains :( It's another place on our list of stops we'll have to make in the future.

From here we made our way back to Reno. We took a drive through the mountains to get back (we took the interstate to get there) and actually passed over the highest year round open route through the Sierra-Nevada at an elevation of 8900 feet.

Once back in Reno we did a little grocery shopping and got Ben a new pair of gloves as his were left at home when we were there for Christmas. We then made our way back to the hotel and cooked dinner. After that Ben made his way to the casino while I worked. It was a long night for both of us but I got a lot accomplished and Ben left the casino a winner!!