Canyons!

I had another day off today so this time, we went to the Canyons to check out their hiking terrain. In previous posts I have ranted and raved about how much I love it as a winter resort, and I was not surprised at how much I liked it in the summer too! They do not allow little baby girls or big ugly dogs on their gondola, so we had to hoof it. We hiked up the switchback trail that went under the gondola and wrapped around and we stopped at the Sun Peak lift. We were the only ones coming up.....many many mountain bikers and a few European hikers were coming down our trail. Mischa and I are very good at throwing ourselves off the trail into a bush to avoid the mountain bikers!!

The trail was so beautiful! We hiked through the really dense forest which lies between the Orange Bubble lift and Sun Peak. I was surprised by how lush it was through there. The best part about it was that we didn't find any poisonous oak, like we did at Park City.

The whole way up I was tracking the trail across the ravine, which I came to realize was one of my favorite snow runs on that mountain. It starts at the top of Super Condor and switchbacks all the way down and then into the forest we were in. It is so peaceful and serene through there. One of my most memorable days of the season was the day I played Clair de Lune and the Twilight soundtrack the whole day while riding through the thick forests while it was snowing.

We stopped at Sun Peak and Mischa sat on her first chairlift for a little break in the shade! She is a natural and is ready to train as a mountain avalanche dog :)- we just need to find 100 extra pound to put on her!

We followed the stream which runs through the ravine back to the base. I laughed because there I was, hiking up the rope tow hill again. I am determined to learn how to ride that stupid thing this season!!!

I had never really taken note of all of the great private residences that are located right at the base of the gondola. Deer Valley and Canyons seem to be the best places for ski in- ski out living. The Bird stopped their private residence building, Brighton doesn't have any, Park City has some but they're not great. Once Mischa found the shady grass at the bottom, she pancaked and laid in the cool grass for a while to cool off. It was 85 and we were in the sun most of the hike. But, she was a good girl again, and didn't ask to be picked up once! Both of us are in good hiking shape! My mission for the next few months is to build up my leg muscles for back country hiking and more pop on my ollies. Thigh Steam! (Simon)

The Hills Are Alive....

...With the Sound of Music.

I had such a wonderful day yesterday! Mischa and I went up to Sundance, one of our favorite hiking places in Utah. Instead of hiking above Sundance along the ridge to the waterfall, we followed the bike trail that switchbacked all the way up the mountain under the chair lift. It was a beautiful hike with snowy mountains in the background, wild flowers at our feet, aspens and pine trees to walk under and no poisonous plants to infect the baby. It was the hottest day of the summer, yet Mischa was a trooper and didn't asked to be picked up once. I just love it up there and I am making the commitment to ride there at least once this season!

After that, I grabbed my favorite bottle of wine (Fetzer- Gewurztraminer), bought a childs size lawn chair, cheese, crackers, fruit and a twinkie and headed over to Deer Valley for their annual summer music festival to watch the von Trapp Children Singers! The three granddaughters and one grandson of Curt, the youngest von Trapp who in the movie says, "I'm Curt and I'm incorrigible," came to Deer Valley to sing the music from the movie, The Sound of Music accompanied by the Utah Symphony.

I have always loved the movie and when I was in Austria, I went to Salzburg and went on the Sound of Music tour and saw the real house, the gazebo and the famous trees. The kids (ages 16-23) said that their dresses were actually ones worn by Maria, and no, they were not made out of curtains!

The whole show was kind of a hodge podge of different music, not all from the movie. My favorite song that they sang outside of the soundtrack was a traditional Austrian song that the original von Trapp family sang during their 20 years of touring and singing once they escaped Austria. The whole family ended up in Vermont and Curt moved his family to Montana later on.

I still love the song Edelweiss from the movie, which pictured above, is the national flower of Austria. The importance of the flower is that it only grows at or above 9,500 feet in elevation and only in limestone. The Austrian tradition is that when a man loves a woman, he will profess his love to her by braving the elements and elevation to retrieve an edelweiss flower for her. Many do not live through the journey and those that return are guaranteed their lovers hand. The von Trapps sang; Edelweiss, The Hills Are Alive, My Favorite Things, Do- Re-Mi and upon their exit, So Long, Farewell. I absolutely loved sitting out there, watching the sun set on the mountains, listening to the beautiful symphony and ending under a clear sky with millions of stars. I hated to leave! But....

I was able to catch the last showing of the night of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; Part 2. It is actually over. There are no more Harry movies or books!!! (Unless J.K. Rowling listens to her devoted readers and writes about Albus Severus Potter and the other children of Ron and Hermione and Harry and Jenny! We can only hope! It has been quite a journey for me and Harry. I got on the Harry bandwagon very late, but still loved it nonetheless. I will never forget making a promise to myself that when I graduated with my Bachelor's that I would reward myself that summer with the first book in the Harry Potter series! For the past five years I had been unable to read for fun because double majoring takes up too much of my reading time! So, being able to read for fun was a BIG deal! I am thrilled that I chose Harry, upon Spjute's recommendation and prodding! It's been 6 years and I could read that series over and over again and I am sure that in my lifetime I will read the whole series again.

Park Silly Market

It's the middle of July and summer is finally here for Mischa and I. Today we finally made it to the Park Silly Market, held on "Historic Main Street". I had been riding every Sunday so far and it rained last week, so her and I headed down to see what all the fuss was about.

It turned out to be a sweltering day in Park City, a whopping 85 degrees. It was really fun to walk around all of the tents filled with jewelry, hippie clothes, random artwork and a few booths with food. There were a few bands, but I was really hoping for more of a farmer's market, since I am literally out of food at the house, but the only farmers market type tent only sold jalapeno jelly. So, Mischa and I shared a hot dog and sat in the grass and watched a band.

Mischa was definitely the hit of the event, everyone absolutely LOVED her!!! Unfortunately, she is not very friendly and wouldn't let too many people pet her. We chatted with many people about her heritage and floppy ears :) One man was so funny because his little boy dog was sniffing Mischa and the guy says to his dog, "Get a good sniff in, this is your day too!" It was so, so cute. Everyone was very friendly and we had such a fun time!

We went into a store on Main Street called Mary Janes (We were looking for a dress) and Mischa was greeted with treats and a request for a picture of her that they could put on their website and facebook.

I am thinking that we should go to this and similar events more often because it is A) FUN!!! and B) Will hopefully help the baby girl to become more friendly.

We were both hot and tired and took a 10 minute nap before work after all the walking around we did. It was a fun day for us girls!

Hole in ONE!!!

As if winning the Seymour Family Golf Tournament this past May and carting home the trophy wasn't enough, SKIPPY HIT A HOLE IN ONE!!!! Yesterday, July 6, 2011 at Mountain Dell Golf Course on the 3rd hole on the Lakes side she hit a perfect 120 yard hole in one. She debated whether to use her 6 but then opted for her 5 "iron" hybrid. The ball bounced once and jumped right into the hole. Squirrel and I were both watching and Skippy saw it go in too. An absolutely amazing sporting feat! So, congratulations Skippy, you are the golfing master of the Seymour family! I'm so glad I was able to witness that!!!!

"BEFORE I TURNED 60 !!!!!"

Kissing Winter Good Bye!

783" of record breaking fresh at Snowbird, 650" at Brighton and 386" of snow at the Canyons made for an AWESOME winter for me!!!! I am sad to see my season finally end, after 8 glorious months, but the next few months will recharge my riding battery! Here is a statistical recap of this memorable season!

Season: November 9, 2010- July 4, 2011

Best Day: April 8, Canyons

Best Run: March 22, Dutchmans, Canyons

Best Pow Day: February 8, Snowbird

Best Park Day: April 17, Park City Mountain Resort

Best Hike: January 6, Canyons

Best Friends Day: April 1, Canyons & May 15, Snowbird

Total Days: 93

Total Miles Driven in Search of the Pow: 7,840

Tanks of Gas: 26

Cost of Gas: $2,080

Cost for Lift Tickets: $2,531

Number of Season Passes: 5

New Resorts for the Life List: 1

Number of Stitches: 0 (Yay!)

I was pretty conservative with buying new gear this season. I DID buy a new helmet that is cute and I will wear it next season. Other than two new hoodies, 2 pairs of boots and a set of ear buds, I didn't have to load up on the gear. This year, however, I will need a new Travis, gloves and bindings. But, since I live so close to 2 of my main mountains, I will be saving a TON of $$$ in gas, which can go towards new gear! Yay!!

I had high hopes for this season, but due to a few different factors, I did not accomplish as many of my riding goals as I would have wanted. But, I lay in bed every night and visualize what I want to be doing as soon as the season starts. I am not going to mess around until March before I start playing in the park. Day Numero Uno I am going to ride switch and try going off some kickers and maybe a rail at Brighton. It will be a few short months until I'm back on the snow!

Actually, I am hoping to ride August 31 and September 1 at Mnt. Hood and then hike in October in order to ride in every month of the 2011 year!

My 4th of July

Today was the 4th of July, or better known to me as...."The last day of my snowboarding season..." I have been the ultimate weekend warrior since the Bird started operating only on the weekends. A title that I hope to only hold during spring skiing and not during the regular season due to the dreaded 9-5 jobby job. Anyway.....on Friday when I went up there were 12 people on the tram. There are about 20 of us die hards that go every day that the Bird is open. There's Asian guy in his yellow shirt, there's pink spandex guy, there's the Bird drunk, there's flaming red hair Aussie guy... (the list goes on). Anyway.... so it has pretty much just been me and this core of guys with a few random bangers and beaters. Well today....THERE WAS AN ENTIRE MOUNTAIN FULL OF BEATERS WEARING COSTUMES!!!! I still cannot figure out why the last day at a ski resort warrants the wearing of bikinis, capes, strange hats, thongs and random costumes that are completely unrelated to snowboarding or skiing. The same thing happened at Brighton 2 1/2 months ago when they closed.

So, when I arrived at the Bird around noon, there was still an enormous line to get on the tram. Due to the lessening snowpack, they were only letting people ride the tram up once, so it wasn't like people were lapping this thing. I was shocked. Then, to get up there, take my first run and WAIT IN LINE FOR 45 minutes behind people who haven't been skiing in months just infuriated me!!! I realize that if this would have just been some random last day of skiing in June, this wouldn't have happened, but it was the 4th of July, so everyone and their costume were on the mountain. I haven't seen a crowd like that since the epic pow day on January 1, 2009!

This has been a really beautiful spring with bluebird days at least once per weekend. Today, it was cooold up there. I was in my full face gear with a flannel shirt and was shivering! The girls in bikinis and the "hot piece of ass" in the above picture were all freezing and had purple legs. It was about 42 degrees and was even raining up there. The tram operator said that there was a possibility that we might get stuck on the mountain if lighting and rain started and to "find shelter, but not on the metal tram deck."

Surprisingly, the snow was absolutely amazing due to the cooler temperatures. I could have ridden up there all day, but only got 5 runs in. This was more than I should've but since I was "a single" I was able to sneak to the front of the line the last few runs and link up with another single who had waited through the whole line like I had.

So, my last run of the season was down Book Ends. I was very sad to see my season end, but what an awesome season it was! I will post stats and all the high points in a post tomorrow...

Proud to be an American

Here are just a few things that make me love being an American

• The way we love and pamper our pets
• Floating rivers and lounging in lakes
• Wildlife preservation and activism
• The White House
• Meathead sports- BSU Football!
• Rednecks and Country Music
• Hollywood- Music and Movies
• The Greatest Snow on Earth
• Capitalism
• Competitive medicine
• A powerful military
• We are a young country but became the most powerful in a short time
• Diversity of culture, language and religion
• God fearing and church going
• Conservative values and a low tolerance for sex and nudity
• Competitive education
• Baseball
• Pride in our country
• Diverse and beautiful landscape
• **** "The American Dream" Really is Attainable!!!! ****

4th of July!