david byrne at red butte gardens

Every Summer Red Butte Gardens puts on a series of music concerts in their open-air amphitheatre. They get a variety of artists and music styles from jazz to country to contemporary. We pack some wine and a picnic dinner and sit on a blanket (along with about 1500 other people) in the gardens and enjoy a pleasant evening of good food and music.

Tonight we came to see David Byrne. For those of you who don't know him Byrne was the founding member and principal songwriter of the "new wave" band Talking Heads (1974-1991) with songs like "Take me to the River" and "Burning Down the House". Since then he has had a successful solo career as well as working on film (soundtracks), ballet and opera.

The show was very entertaining with good music and Byrne's unusual, quirky style.

bike ride on jordan river parkway

For a change from hiking, Mark & I occasionally like to go for a bike ride together. The mountain bike trails that Mark tackles are a bit steep for me, so a ride along Jordan River Parkway is more my "pace". A section of the parkway near our house takes us from Willow Park to Thanksgiving Point and return (about 10 miles). In this pic Mark is riding alongside Thanksgiving Point Golf Course. The brownish mountain behind him on the left of the pic is Traverse Ridge where our house is.

The Jordan River is a fresh water stream that runs north from Utah Lake in Utah Valley, through Salt Lake Valley and into the Great Salt Lake. It attracts a lot of birdlife in this otherwise dry region. The Jordan River Parkway is a walking/biking trail that runs alongside the river for much of its length. (It's hoped eventually to have one continuous trail along the 50 miles of the river).

Hopefully the bike riding and hiking will help to keep my legs fit for the next ski season!