the last ride

Today Mark and David took their last mountain bike ride together before David heads back to Austin, Texas. They headed out to Park City to tackle a 24.9 mile loop of the Mid Mountain trail which rocks up and down the sides of the mountains at the 8,000ft level between Park City Mountain Resort and The Canyons Ski Resort. (No snow in Summer!) It was a 4.5 hour "epic" ride.
Here's a shot of David on the trail. You can just make out the town of Park City in the valley below (at 6,800ft). Hope to see you again soon David!

dinner with the neighbors

On Friday night we had dinner with our neighbors Matt and Kathy. Matt and Kathy both work at IM Flash (where Mark works) but in different sections. They both worked for Micron in Boise, Idaho before transferring here to Utah, although Matt is originally from Colorado and Kathy from Indiana. We found that they keep a very good cellar of Californian wines!

Their pet parrot Asa joined us for dessert!

myrtle beach

This week I travelled to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to visit my friend Mary. Mary and I met at the gym when Mark & I first moved to Virginia and we soon became friends and "scrapbooking buddies". (Mary taught me everything I know about scrapbooking!) Mary & her husband Kevin (a keen golfer) bought a holiday home just north of Myrtle Beach 4 years ago and this year decided to make a "sea change" and move permanently from Virginia to Myrtle. I decided this was a perfect opportunity for me to catch up with a dear friend, see another part of the country and get in some sun, sand and surf - the latter of which I haven't seen for 3 years. We spent a wonderful 5 days, chatting, relaxing, scrapbooking, dining out and (of course) going to the beach. Although I love the mountains, snow and scenery here in Utah it was great to feel the humidity, smell the salt air, feel the sand between my toes and swim in the surf again.

A huge stretch of the coastline along the Carolinas (both North and South) is made up of a long stretch of sand "islands" with a marshy inland waterway separating the ocean side from the rest of the mainland. There is a lot of boating traffic moves up and down this Atlantic Intracostal Waterway so many of the bridges that cross the waterway contain a center section that is "opened" on the hour to allow boating traffic through. (see pic below)

Looking across the dunes towards the many holiday homes that stretch along the oceanside at Sunset Beach.

The beach was quite busy with families on their summer vacations. In the car park there were license plates from Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and even Michigan.

Yes that small dot in the water is me, enjoying a refreshing swim in the surf. The water was actually quite warm.

We also went for a couple of evening walks after dinner along the beach. Sunset at Sunset Beach -what more can I say?

disc golf

On Friday afternoon Mark, Mark's brother David and I headed up to Solitude Mountain Resort for some fresh air, exercise and a game of disc golf. Solitude, a popular ski resort in the Winter attracts visitors through the Summer with hiking, mountain biking, dining and of course disc golf. For those of you unfamiliar with this game, disc golf is a lot like traditional golf, except players use specially made plastic flying discs (like "frisbees") instead of balls and clubs, and throw them for 'par' at an above-ground metal basket instead of a hole in the ground. There are different types of discs used for different throws - driving, mid-range and putting. There are over 1200 disc golf courses in the US. Most are in large public parks but several are located in ski resorts, where in Summer, the grassy ski runs make for natural fairways. Most courses are free to play. Mark and David played a lot of disc golf when they both lived in Texas, however the steep slopes at Solitude provided for quite a different challenge to what they are used to in the "flat lands" of Texas. We spent quite a bit of time looking for lost discs that drifted off course down the mountain into the trees!

We started at the pretty Solitude Village where a couple of mountain bikes were parked outside the popular pizza shop.


The course starts about 1,000ft above the village. I bought the "beginner package" which included discs and a lift ticket so I rode the Sunrise Lift to the top of the mountain. Mark and David (who have their own discs) decided to save their money and hike it to the top, leaving me sitting waiting for them for 30 minutes!

Here we are at the tee for Hole #1. You tee off from the large rubber pad aiming to throw the disc 300ft down the hill, avoiding the trees to the left and right (see pic below).

Can you see the basket at the bottom of the "fairway"? Neither could we!


Dave shows how to "drive" from the tee.


Here I am "putting" for the basket on Hole #8 - if you look closely you'll see my disc in the air.

more mountain biking

We've been in mountain biking overdrive during the last week - with hundreds of pics taken. So for those of you interested in getting a taste of the activity here is a "summary" in a slideshow. You'll find Mark's Dad (who's in his 70's), Annie (Clair's 16 y.o. daughter), Mark, David & Clair in these pics (not everyone did every ride). The ride locations include, Lambert Park, and trails at the top of American Fork Canyon, Park City, Big Cottonwood Canyon and Mill Creek Canyon. Apart from the exercise there is some great scenery to enjoy.

mini golf

While David and Clair took off to do an "epic" bike ride in Park City today, Mark and I took Clair's children - Annie (16) and Antonio (5) to Boondocks Fun Center here in Draper for a round of mini-golf (aka Putt-Putt). It was Antonio's first time at mini-golf and he got the hang of it quickly, although he did seem to think it had to be played at high-speed, running after his ball as soon as he had struck it. It was a lot of fun.

mountain biking visitors

Mark's brother David and his girlfriend Clair are visiting us for a week from Texas. They're both very keen mountain bikers so they shipped their bikes from Texas too. To help them adjust to the altitude (exerting yourself at 6,000 to 8,000 ft is a lot harder than at sea level), Mark took them on an "acclimation" ride in Corner Canyon (about a 10 minute drive from our house). Interestingly it was Mark who found the ride the toughest! (He just doesn't like riding in the afternoon heat). Heather is noticeably absent. Despite doing a bit of trail riding in Virginia, the mountains here in Utah are just to darn steep! (She's sticking to hiking).

Yes, we managed to fit 3 bikes on the back of the car!

David & Mark head up the trail towards Lone Peak.

Mark in action

Clair in action

David crossing a small stream

There are some pretty neat views along the trail. Here looking back down into Salt Lake Valley and the Oquirrh Mountains to the west.

brighton lakes hike

We did another hike this week, this time in Big Cottonwood Canyon to the lakes above Brighton Ski Resort. I call them the "lady lakes" because they are named Lake Mary, Lake Martha and Lake Catherine. In the winter time they are covered by snow and really only accessible to hikers in the Summer months when the snowline recedes. The trail starts at the car park at Brighton at 8,750ft and ascends 3 miles to highest lake (Catherine) at 9,950ft. It took us about 2.5hrs to complete the climb to Catherine (with lots of stops for photo ops) and about an hour to climb down again. It was strange seeing the Brighton ski areas with no snow around. Brighton itself had over 500 inches of snow this last winter and now there are only pockets left in crevices on the highest peaks. The waters in the lakes however was very cold!

This signpost suggests the spelling should be Lake Katherine not Catherine but all the guide books and maps we have suggest Catherine. Here we took a short detour from the trail to visit Dog Lake. This small lake sits in an alpine basin that is quite marshy. We're told that hikers will often see wild moose here, although we didn't find any - perhaps because it was a Saturday and there were LOTS of hikers on the trails. In the background is Clayton Peak that tops out at 10,721ft.

Although we didn't find any moose, we did however come across lots of these critters (which we believe are Prairie Dogs - burrowing members of the squirrel family)

Mark, overlooking Lake Mary (9,545ft). Mary is a glacial basin that was dammed in 1916 to provide a water supply reservoir, swallowing up another lake (Pheobe) and making it the largest of the lakes on this hike.

Lake Martha (9,595ft) with Mt Wolverine (10,795ft) in the background.

Lake Catherine (9,950ft) is a cirque lake with a wide grassy meadow on the upslope side. We encountered some people fishing here (catching brook trout). We sat for a while here enjoying the view and the beautiful sunny day, then did a circuit around the lake and headed back down the trail.

This final shot is from the rim of the Lake Catherine cirque looking down the mountain towards Lake Martha (on the left) and Lake Mary (center of picture).

wildflowers - brighton lakes hike

This is definitely the time of year for wildflowers in the mountains. I was overwhelmed by the number and variety of flowers we came across on this hike. By chance we met a lady who is a member of the Wasatch Mountain Club and she taught me the names of some of the flowers - aster, columbine, indian paintbrush, cinqfoil, bluebell, primrose, buttercup... I'm going to have to get a book on mountain wildflowers so I can identify them all!

hike to scout falls

On Saturday we went for a hike in American Fork Canyon (about a 15 minute drive from our house). Most of the canyon and mountain area are managed by the National Park Service and there are lots of hiking, mountain biking and horse riding trails. We have done several hikes here in the past, but have still not explored all the trails. From the carpark at Timpooneke campground (approx 7200ft) we hiked for about an hour up the trail to Scout Falls (approx 8200ft). I still haven't gotten used to how green everything is in the mountains in the summertime - I'm so used to seeing all in a white blanket of snow! There were dozens of wildflowers, butterflies and birds along the trail, and (being a Saturday) quite a few people too! The melting snow provides for lots of small waterfalls and streams along the trail, culminating in the "big one" at Scout Falls. From there the trail continues upward (for the more adventurous) all the way to the summit of Mt Timpanogos (11,749ft) crossing meadows, a scree slope, cirque, lake and a glacier along the way (not to mention the wreckage of an airforce B25 that crashed on the mountainside back in 1955). We're saving the hike to the summit for another day (when Heather is a bit fitter!) Never-the-less the falls and the view from 8,000ft up in the mountains still made a pretty spectacular hike.

wildflowers - american fork canyon

I've now figured out how to add a slideshow to my blog. This will allow me to put up extra pictures without taking up too much space. The slideshow below is of some of the wildflowers (and a butterfly) we saw on the trail on our hike to Scout Falls in American Fork Canyon.

friends & neighbors

It was a busy week socially this week with several of our neighbors. On Sunday my dear friend Christine invited me to go to church with her family and then to lunch at her parents afterwards. The occasion was the farewell to her younger brother Dan who is leaving to go on a two year mission for the church in Hawaii. (For those of you who don't know Utah is the world headquarters for the LDS church and a large proportion of the population here are Mormon. Serving an overseas mission is a tradition and "right of passage" for the young men in the church when they turn 19). Thank you to Christine, Jill (her Mom) and Dan for including me in this special celebration.

Our next door neighbors Shaina and Edwin own & run a deli/cafe called Maxi's in a commercial area near the airport. On Monday another neighbor Cheryl, friend Cheri and I went out for a "girls lunch" at the deli. The place was very busy we when arrived at 1pm. We had a lovely long lunch and by 2:30 it had quieted down enough that Shaina was able to come and join us. (Here's some pics of Shaina taking Cheri's order, and Cheri & Cheryl - hmm lot's of "sh" sounds in their names!)

On Thursday we had our neighbors across the street over for a BBQ. Matt & Cathy both work at IM Flash with Mark (although in different sections). They brought some lovely California wine for us to taste. We ate outside on our deck, watched the sunset on the mountains and then the twinkling lights as night set over the valley. It was a lovely evening of food, wine and good conversation.
On Friday, Christine and her husband Brad invited us over for dinner and a games night. We had some delicious Alaskan Halibut that Brad had caught himself on a recent fishing trip to Alaska with his parents & brothers. We then played a board game called "Settlers of Catan" - a new one to us involving strategy and "empire building". It was a pretty close game but Brad's superior skills err I mean superior luck won out in the end.

Thanks everyone for a week of fun and good company! (Sorry there weren't more pictures to show we were too busy having fun to remember the camera!)

twin cakes

Our neighbors Ben & Melissa have young twin daughters. When looking through my scrapbook album Melissa noticed the pictures of the fancy birthday cakes I had made for my twins Ben & Kate when they were small. I showed her my trusty Women's Weekly (Aussie magazine) "Favourite Childrens Birthday Cakes" book that I had used all those years ago and offered to help her make something from the book for Ava & Ella's next birthday. (They were turning 5 - quite a milestone for a mother of twins!) So with a "princess" theme in mind we decided to go for the "dolly varden" cake (times two of course). Basically the cake is the skirt of the doll with a Barbie look-alike inserted in the top. Unfortunately Ava is allergic to eggs, dairy and peanuts so the biggest challenge was finding a cake receipe that didn't use eggs, butter or milk! Eventually we found a vegan receipe that with some experimenting (and an extremely long cook time) turned out quite well. With a little bit of instruction on how to use the piping nozzle and bag to decorate the cake with icing rosettes Melissa soon had the girls (and herself) squealing with delight at the results. I think she did a very professional-looking job. You'd never know it was it her first attempt. For me it was a great walk down memory lane remembering the "fun" of choosing a design, having it actually turn out like the picture and seeing the delight the children had at having such a "special cake" made with love by Mom. I think the princesses had a lovely day.

jazz in the gardens

Red Butte Gardens is a local botanic garden in the foothills behind the University of Utah. There is an open air amphitheatre there and during the Summer they run a series of music concerts in the gardens. On Friday night Mark & I went to see the New York based Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. Wynton is a trumpet player who has won 9 Grammy awards and is the artistic director at the Lincoln Center. He went to the same high school in New Orleans as Mark's brother & sister. We took some wine and a picnic dinner and enjoyed a very pleasant 3 hours of jazz music in the gardens in the cool of the evening as the sun went down.