sping skiing in January

Last weekend our friend Paul came out for the long weekend. We both work 4-10's so the combo of not working Fridays and having Monday as a holiday made for a great 4 day weekend. Matthew on the other hand, had to work friday and his company doesn't celebrate MLK day, so didn't get the nice break we did. I guess there are some benefits to working for the government.

Paul and I went for an afternoon of skiing at Sundance on Friday. It was a beautiful warm "spring" skiing day which was a great day of skiing, but makes me a little concerned for what will happen come spring if we keep this cycle up. We hadn't had any fresh snow for about 2 weeks (and is raining this weekend) and there's been a terrible inversion in the Wasatch leading to a thick blanket of smog in the valley. When we got to the top of the lift where there is normally a nice view of the valley below, all we could see was the smog trapped down in the valley. Another benefit to living in the mountains.

Saturday we took a quick trip out to the desert to show Paul the San Rafael swell overlook and some pictographs. Although it was a quick trip, going out to the red rock desert especially in the snow is alway a pretty magical experience.

We spent the rest of the weekend skiing at Brighton and cross country skiing up our road. It was the opening weekend for the Sundance Film festival as well. Most of this goes on in Park City, but they do have screenings here at Sundance. I did have my first Robert Redford citing on the chairlift on Friday and the film festival here always just means a few more people wandering around in furs and big furry boots or heels, none of the Park city craziness. Paul and I went to see a movie called Taking Chance which was based on a true story about returning the body of a solider killed in Iraq home to his familiy in Wyoming. It was very well done, touching and very sad. We've come to expect this from the sundance films though. Ususally even the comidies are dark.