Last Saturday I flew to Utah for a training class. Utah was more beautiful that I ever expected. As we decended from the clouds the mountains were on my side of the plane and I just sat there with my mouth open. As soon as I got my rental car I drove out to Saltair to see the Great Salt Lake. So still, so flat. So quiet. No one was around the marina as Feburary in Utah is not prime boating time. I stood on the edge of the marsh lands looking out and as far as you could see was the lake and moutains. Perfect.
Drove around the city, saw the temple, tons of weddings happening, check out the info center about the building of the temple and the mormon religion. Then I drove out to Park City. Watched some people ski and snowboard and walked around a bit. Drove up to Tremonton to visit and stay with a friend. Soaked in a hot spring that evening. Fabulous. Hot Springs are awesome. They smell minerally and feel great. No aches after that.
The next morning I got up early and took a snowboard lesson. I have never snowboarded, nor skied. i have skateboarded but that was like 15 years ago in my college days. Park City sealed the deal. I had been kicking around learning to snowboard while I was out there but wasn't sure if I'd kill myself by falling down a mountain or break something, miss my training class, and be royally screwed. I decided to learn at Beaver Moutain in the Cache Canyon. The class was me and a girl from San Diego who surfs. She'd snowboarded before but wanted a refresher. The pace for the absolute beginner class was sort of like my dad teaching me to ride a bike. Take off training wheels...shove me off down the street. I figured we'd used the surface mount lift for a bit, learn some basics, and at the end of the hour try the little hills. Oh no. After learning how to hobble to a lift with one foot strapped in, we were off for the moutain. Now in Utah, the little green runs, might as well be double black diamond compared to Ohio runs. The verticle drop of the Little Beaver run is much larger than Ohio ski runs. Well at the end of a few runs, I could do J turns and falling leaf down the moutain. The toeside stuff totally escaped me and I mostly wound up falling down or flipping over. What I hadn't taken into account was that asthmatic slug girl from practically sea-level Cleveland, was now doing something rather physical at about 7500 ft. My ass was getting kicked. At the end of the lesson my binding broke about halfway down and I had to ride the board with only one foot strapped in. My instructor was pretty impressed that didn't phase me, he said a lot of regulars would ride down with out being strapped and would walk down. I took that as an omen to stop for the day, get out of my soggy clothes, and regain breathing normally. But now I am hooked and so want to do that again. I found a board on craiglist I think I might call about. I need something to get me out of bed in the winter. Even if no one else I know does it.
Later that afternoon I drove to Idaho. Just because. As I drove into Idaho, which is even more desolate that Utah I realized that I was the only person in the whole state that knew me or that I was there. It was like I was completely alone. Ah solitude. It's awesome. So if I ever fall of the grid and become a hermit, northern Utah or Idaho is were I will be.
Tuesday night I went ice skating and determined once again I am a slug, but after about 30 minutes, I was able to skate like my old self. I got used to the rental skates, regained my balance, and had a lot of fun. It would have been nice if they had run the zamboni over the ice because it was pretty chewed up and boucing a long on the ice wasn't helping. I was feeling a little dorky since the average age at the rink was probably 14. People my age were there with their kids and sat in the bleechers watching. But then the Thompson Twins came on the music they were playing. I had to laugh because that was so Winterhurst circa 86 when I spent most Friday night ice skating there. But what they played next made me about fall over. Stigmata. After a few more songs I realized they were playing the Fred station from XM radio and didn't have a DJ like they did at Winterhurst. No Sun Always Shines on TV though, which is my favourite ice skating song. After about an hour, the place cleared out and there were only about 10 people left on the ice for the final hour. So I could practice skating backwards (which I finally got better at) and spins.
The rest of the week was just class and killing time in Logan utah. The mall, some snowboarding stores, taking pictures, eating at Sonic (cherry limeade!), surfing the internet (Hey Hampton inn, get WIFI in the rooms, corded internet isn't conducive to laying in bed surfing), and watching TV with commercials. Sucks.
Thursday I drove back to Salt Lake and flew home on Friday. 4 airports, 3 planes later, I finally got back to Cleveland. I like airports. I like flying. My single serving airplane friends were nice, no barking little purse dogs, no screaming children. I don't hate Southwest airlines as much as I thought I did. Although I got really sick of peanuts that day. Ok I did get wheat thins on the Denver to Chicago leg. But I swear if I see a little purple bag of peanuts, I might lose it.
I am back for a bit then I am off to LA. I think surfing lesson is in order for trip.
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