Quintessential Wasatch Crest

Kendra and I took today off of work and rode the quintessential Wasatch Crest trail in Salt Lake City. We took the shuttle to the top of Guardsman Pass so we could do the 24ish mile ride one-way and mostly downhill. Max elevation was 9,880 feet and we descended all the way down to Wasatch Blvd in Salt Lake City - which is lower than 5,000 feet. The views were so beautiful. We took our time and took lots of photos. Afterward, we went into downtown to eat at the Chow Truck. Apparently it was Food Truck Festival today because there were several other food trucks lining the same street as the Chow Truck. I love my life. :)

12 Hours of Sundance

Yesterday, I participated in the 12 Hours of Sundance race. Kendra was on my team and she recruited two men that she used to ride with - Kerry, who actually works at BYU with me, and Eric, who works at Ancestry with Kendra. The day and venue could not have been more beautiful. The weather was perfect. The trees were on fire with fall colors and leaves were beautifully strewn across the trail. The lap was 7.7 miles and 1,214 feet of climbing. The two men on our team and I each rode three laps, and Kendra only rode two since she was last in the race order - but we designed that on purpose since Kendra had been sick for a couple weeks. Last year it took me 1 hour 15 minutes to do the lap, this year I was less! My first lap was timed at 1:08, my second at 1:09, and my third at 1:11. So awesome! I'm impressed with myself just because I was able to do a third lap this year, whereas I only did two last year and was kind of glad to only do two since I was quite tired. So my third lap was my challenge for this year and I rocked it. During my third lap, I told myself just to have fun, not push it, and don't get hurt. I did have fun, and I didn't get hurt! Overall, it was a fabulous day of racing. And we so happened to be the only team racing in our category, Co-Ed 4-Person Masters, so we automatically got first place! Ha ha!

My bike and race plate.

My team: Eric, Kerry, Kendra, and me - see the pretty fall colors?!

The 1st place medal. 

Tarantula Sighting

Yesterday morning I went for a road ride with Kendra and a friend of hers up Hobble Creek canyon. A little ways into the canyon, some other bikers, going the opposite direction, warned us of a photographer ahead, which I thought was strange since there wasn't an organized ride happening. When we pulled up to the "photographer" she said she was taking pictures of a tarantula! Holy Moly! I've never seen a tarantula in person! So we pulled over to take pictures too.

It was sick and fascinating at the same time to watch it walk: lifting it's huge legs off the ground - like fingers on your hand!

Not the best picture of Kendra, but she finished taking her photo and looked up just as my phone decided to snap the shot. But at least this shot gives you some perspective on the size of the tarantula.  

Laid Back Labor Day

I ended up not having any big plans for Labor Day weekend. Originally, I had plans with some friends to go hike the Narrows in Zion National Park, but too many of them bailed to still try to go. Then I tried to make plans to go camping Friday night up American Fork canyon, but then I just drug my feet for some reason. Saturday morning at 5:30 the reason for dragging my feet struck - a monstrous thunderstorm with serious lightning, hail, and thunder. That would have been miserable in a tent - for sure.

So instead, I went mountain biking at Sundance with Dorothy on Friday night - in a little rain storm, but it was heaven-sent, not obnoxious. Saturday, Janie and I went to the Swiss Days festival in Midway where we ate some serious food (I had knockwurst - bratwurst with sauerkraut) and some even more serious booth shopping for hours where I found some cute little cloth-covered button earrings. We also listened to some performers, one of which was a professional yodeler! Check out the short video below - he's wearing lederhosen!

On Monday, I took Jen and Spencer up American Fork canyon to hike to Silver Lake. I was pretty excited about this because we'd have to drive up a dirt road to get to the trail head so that meant I got to take Ruby on her first real dirt road experience - one with a purpose anyways. So we drove all the way up to the trail head - having a blast the whole way - and then we discovered the trail was closed. Bummer-rillo! The hike is so beautiful too. I was really looking forward to taking Jen and Spencer up there. But they are doing maintenance on the little dam that holds the lake in so they closed it to the public and they don't know when it will be open again. So we found some other trail and hiked it for a while until we found a nice shady spot, sat down, ate our lunch, and then hiked back down. Not quite the same adventure, but it was nice to be out in the woods. We stopped at Tibble Fork Reservoir to dip our toes and Spencer, his whole body, in the quite cold waters. We ended the adventure by driving the rest of the way over the Alpine Loop (since Jen and Spencer have never been over it) and down to Sundance where we stopped to get some frozen yogurt and refreshments.

Spencer chilling out in Tibble Fork Reservoir

Me and Jen on the Alpine Loop with a pretty view

Then I ended my day by doing some homework. Not a fabulous ending, but it's gotta be done!

Fruits of the Season - Dried!

It's peach, apple, and pear season here in Utah and thankfully we have quite a few orchards that sell their fruit fresh. Oh yum. I've been eating fresh peaches by the truckload and they are so divine - however, I don't like them as much when they are dried. But apples and pears? Oh yes please. I dried my first set of apples today: 

Using this miracle corer/peeler/slicer contraption: 

And lookie lookie what I'm gonna work on next: 

A half-bushel of pears. Yum! 

Meet Ruby

Here she is! My new mode of transportation. I finally took her somewhere to take pictures of her that would be worthy of her - on a dirt road in the mountains of course! Her name is Ruby. She's a 2008 Subaru Outback with 56,400 miles, seat warmers, fog lights, factory-installed cross bars so I could easily move over my bike trays, and some awesome organizer cubbies in the back for all my emergency supplies! Not to mention the all-wheel-drive and the higher clearance. I'll have so much more freedom to go places I wanna go now!

I've still been driving my Honda a little bit over the past week and a half, and sometimes I think how much I'll miss my Lola (Honda), but then I get back in my Ruby and realize how much I love her already. It will be sad to watch my Honda drive away tomorrow night. Yep, she's already sold... has been since last Thursday night. Two days on the market and she sold just like that! At least she will be loved.... I know for a fact because I sold her to one of my London buddies (a friend that I went on my London study abroad with) for her husband's commute car. Happy new trails to Lola! And to me and Ruby!

Selling my Beloved Lola

I posted this ad and these pictures on KSL, and within minutes I had a dealer calling me fishing to see if I would be interested in buying a vehicle from him. Holy moly! It must be desperate times for dealers. Don't worry, pictures and blog post to come of my new mode of transportation .... when I have worthy pictures of her. Her name is Ruby. Stay tuned.....

I'm selling my beloved 2000 Honda Accord. Breaks my heart but it's time.  She still runs great and I would keep her but I wanted a vehicle I could take skiing and off-roading a little bit more.

She's an EX model with power windows and locks, a 5-speed manual transmission, anti-lock braking System (ABS), dual front airbags, power-adjusted driver seat, cruise control, air conditioning (it still works great!), a CD-playing stereo with aux jack and iPod charging connector (I put this stereo in when the stock one died), power moon-roof with tilt feature, security system with remote entry, and she still gets between 26 and 30 miles per gallon.

I've owned her since 2003 and she had 75,000 miles when I bought her. I've kept all the receipts for repairs and oil changes; and I even kept a spreadsheet of the repairs and oil changes that I'm happy to email you (maybe I'm a little bit of a nut. Ha!). I just replaced the timing belt and had her oil changed two weeks ago. Plus she has two new front rotors and four new tires in the last six months.

I’m asking $3,400 or best offer.