Mar 30 Wildlife Quiz

Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake is home to amazing wildlife (Mike and Jean not included)! See how many species you can identify in the photos below.

Mar 30 Bikin' Bison!

Since our days in Utah are limited and spring fever has set in, we decided we better check out the Great Salt Lake today. No better way to do that than to drive out to Antelope Island with two mountain bikes in the car. As soon as we opened the car door you knew immediately the Great Salt Lake was salty! Smelled just like we were at the ocean only with snow covered mountains in the background - the best of all worlds. Sand, beach grass, and water salinity between 25-33 percent! The ocean salinity is only about 5 percent or less. No fishing in these waters, but boy can you float!

Looks alot like BVI!

Even sailboats at the marina. Love how you can ski in the morning and take your Hobe out for a sail in the afternoon.

We encountered amazing wildlife today. The most incredible were the bison grazing along our bike path. Check out the next post for a wildlife identification challenge!

Mar 29 Warranties

We are still here in Utah but with the warranties starting to expire on our body parts - specifically our knees! But w.t.h. at our age 57 ski days and over 600,000 vertical feet is going to take a slight toll. Guess it must be almost time to hang up the skis for this season - heaven forbid. In the past two weeks we have gone from winter to spring to summer back to winter to spring to summer yet again. Which of course turns the snow into New England crap and creates challenging wardrobe decisions (since some of these weather changes occur within a ski day)!

But no one is complaining!! We had a 40 inch dump back on March 18 - 19 - thigh deep "powda" which was so deep that unless you were on 40 degree slopes you did not move! Had to hike DOWN to the lift!! First tracks are soooooo Sweeeeet! Various company arrived shortly after that dump, each with opposing views on the powda - love vs hate. But alas, the warm up occurred within days and we were back to spring conditions. The upside to spring conditions is that there is no rush to jump out of bed in the morning. Arriving at the "hill" by 11:00 is perfect timing for the snow and the Kluks.

So as long as the warranty doesn't wear out on our knees, we are still here hoping for one more snow - before April 9th - the day that we turn into pumpkins and head back east via Southwest airlines. The car has been hijacked by Heather for her summer job in Seattle.

Mar 17 Team "Heather's Mom"

I know several of our followers have been waiting anxiously for this blog entry. Where to begin....yes, at the starting gate, of course! It was Tuesday, March 13th, the third week of the Alta Town Series ski races. I had been recruited under the guise of a needed female for a race team that Jason Koza was organizing at the Alta Lodge. Despite loud objections from both Heather (she was already on another team) and myself, Jason and his persuasive friends some how twisted 80 bucks out of me to be the mature woman on their team! (Note: there is NO handicapping for age in this race league). Only days later did I find out that this group of young racers had officially named their team "Heather's Mom." A little poking at Heather on that one!!

So, I survived the first 2 races - one giant slalom and one slalom - feeling pretty snappy about the fact that I had at least successfully crossed the finish line in both races despite not earning any points for our team! Now here it was race #3 on an extremely windy and chilly morning following a very warm day. If you do the weather "math" you'll calculate that the snow conditions on the race hill were going to be VERY firm! I should have re-thought this entire venture as I stood in the starting gate barely able to stand still as a 40 mph gust hit me broadside. But no, just wanting to get my one run done, I shoved off through the starting wand. The first gate was an oh-shit moment as I realized I had no edges and the course was an ice rink. My mantra: take it easy Jean, turn early and high! Ha, ha, ha, ha!! About the 5th gate another gust of wind, easily 40 mph, nailed me broadside and shockingly blew me so far out of the course there was no chance to make the next gate!! Yeehaw - survival instinct kicked in and I just skied down outside of the course. Oh well, DNF'd (did not finish) that race. I stood at the bottom of race hill watching the next racer in his lycra race suit run the course with little problem (oh, were those ice skates on his feet??).

Now 3 days later on Friday, Alta has "open racing" so you can practice. I thought just maybe getting back in the saddle after my DNF might be a good thing before I have to do a slalom race next Tuesday. In the starting gate I joked with the race attendant that I thought I'd better practice for the town league although it probably wouldn't do much good at my age. As I headed down the course, he chuckled at the obvious lack of talent and then turned to Mike to comment on the fact that I was racing with the town league. Mike set him straight that I had been coerced into the league by a few youngsters at the Alta Lodge. Mr. Race Attendant then shouted OMG - that's HEATHER'S MOM! He even radioed down to the finish shack the news that Heather's mom was in the course. Now I'm really embarrassed!

Bottom line, Jason did recruit some high quality racers for the team so we are slowly moving up in the ranks, no thanks to me. Maybe I should just stick to buying shots for my teammates!

March Moose Madness

One of our missions with the BS's was to have a moose sighting! Barbara was having moose sighting envy and we needed to cure this affliction. So we set off on a snowshoe adventure in Big Cottonwood Canyon in hopes of recreating the moose encounter that Mike and I had back in January. In short course, the coffee Barbara had for breakfast took it's toll and the call of nature could no longer be ignored.  When ya gotta go, ya gotta go, and the snow shoes gotta stay on!

After shoeing for several hours and spotting only a few signs of moose activity we stopped to eat our bag lunch along the trail. Returning hikers passed us and behold announced that there were 2 moose just several hundred yards from where we were lunching! Barbara bolted up and off we went! Yeehaw - her moose envy is cured!
               

Feb Magic Mormon Underwear

Elder Bruce and Sista Barbara (more commonly know as Cousin Bruce and Barbara or the BS's or the Massholes) arrived on Feb 28 just 2 days after Bruce turned 60. Knowing that we were going to be engaging in some strenuous and dangerous outdoor physical activity (especially for aging boomers) we presented the birthday boy with his very own set of "Magic Mormon Underwear" to ensure his safety during his visit. After all, how could one get hurt while wearing the "Armor of God"? We're happy to report that indeed those Temple Garments seemed to have kept him whole!

Feb More Snow Days

Mike has decided that one wife was enough (sorry Marie and Uni). He can't take any more excitement than what wife #1 provides - like the day we were skiing at Brighton (Feb 28) after a foot of new snow. In search of "first tracks" I headed down a side trail (away from the maddening crowds) and fixated on the trees and untouched snow on the far side of the trail. In a flash I was in the trees and "yeehawing" through the trees down the fall line in deep untouched powder! OMG it was the best run of the entire season out here - until I came out of the woods at the edge of a lake behind a large dam. Oh sh--, I was definitely OUT of BOUNDS! Thank goodness I was wearing my beacon. The hike back into the ski area was a small price to pay for those "first tracks." Of course Mike was quietly waiting by the lift having had enough sense to not follow me and wondering how I could have missed the Ski Boundary signs!

Feb Snow Days

Almost a month since our last blog entry! Amazing how busy ski bumming can be. The last half of February brought some of the best snow of the season along with extreme avalanche danger! We attended a Utah Avalanche Organization seminar in which the ski patrollers and avalanche experts admitted that they were wearing their beacons while skiing inbounds because of the extreme unstable snow pack. Needless to say, we are now the proud owners of avalanche beacons, shovels and probes. We've even practiced finding "bodies" under the snow up at Snowbird. Here's a great photo of Marie locating Mike.

Marie's friend, Uni, from Dallas was visiting over President's weekend and we skied until we dropped for several days. In keeping with Mormon practice I think Mike is considering a few more wives after skiing with Marie (R) and Uni (L):