Hi Gram!

Last we spoke, I was headed into Salt Lake City to see some friends and do a little snowboarding. I had a great time in Utah! I settled into the hotel on Friday night and re-arranged the stuff in my car. I knew I wouldn’t be using the sleeping bags, pillows, or mattress pad for a while, so I put those on the bottom, brought the bags inside and straightened out a week’s worth of living out of bags, then set everything so I could reach what I needed easily. Saturday morning, I got up early and headed to Park City / Canyons to do a little snowboarding. Even though I used to live in Utah, I’d never been to this resort, so I didn’t know where to park. I ended up a short walk from the “village” where people buy their passes, get food, and get on the lifts. I quickly found a lift that would take me all the way to the top of some blue runs, and started riding!

After a couple runs, I heard from Timmy and Cortney that they were arriving, so I made my way back to the village to meet up with them and their friend Reese. Timmy used to work there, so he knows the mountain better than any of us, and he led us on a tour all over the place! I don’t know if we rode the same chairlift or gondola twice, and we definitely didn’t take the same way down more than once. Timmy and Reese are a little more daredevil than I am, so they did a few black runs while Cortney and I stayed on mostly blue runs. We did a few shorter black runs to help us connect, but they were groomed and by the end of the day, Cortney and I were handling the steeper runs just fine.

We stayed on the mountain until they started closing the chairlifts and made our way back to the bottom, exhausted, and celebrated a good day of riding. I headed back to the hotel to clean up and change, then met them at Porcupine’s, a restaurant in the area. It looked like an old ski chalet, and we were up on the second floor. They had all kinds of history on the walls like those sorts of restaurants do, and it was good seeing so many happy people sharing their stories, fresh from a day on the mountain. The soup was delicious, Cortney’s hot cocoa was bigger than her head, and the conversation was titillating.

After a good night’s rest, I got up Sunday morning, had a little hotel breakfast, then headed out to wash the car and pick up a few things at Target. I must’ve washed about ten pounds of dirt and ice and grime off the car, and it looked like it felt much better after that. I stopped for lunch at a place called Even Steven’s and had a sandwich. It was a funky little place with cool people and a delicious sandwich. I had their version of the Cubano with a side salad and lemonade, and it hit the spot! I did a little shopping with Timmy and Cortney, then headed north to see my old stomping grounds.

As I drove north, I was reminded of one thing I loved so much about living out there – everywhere you look, there’s a mountain in the background! I drove past the first place (a Taco Bell) that ever turned me down for being overqualified, saw the first house I ever owned, and stopped by the joint that served the best chicken I’ve ever tasted. They were closed because it’s Sunday, but I got a picture from the parking lot in case I can’t remember the name of it. Finally, I went and saw a movie, “On the Basis of Sex”, at the theater that we used to frequent when I lived out there. The movie is about Ruth Bader Ginsberg and the beginning of her career when she won her first case that would lead to equal rights for women. I thought the movie was well done, and it was one of those theaters that has the reclining seats, so I was very comfortable! After the movie, I hit the road and pointed my car toward Idaho. I’ll tell you all about that drive in my next message!