Big Springs

Wendy and I enjoyed the Big Springs trail today. It is one heck of an up-hill slog for 2 miles, but once you get up to the top the downhill makes it all worth it! I just feel like I'm flying through the meadows and the trees. And sometimes we even see some wildlife this big meadow - as we did one Friday night.

A Beautiful Morning Greeting

This is what I woke up to this morning. Aren't they beautiful????? I love them.

Life List Achievement: See Wicked

Wicked came to Salt Lake City, but no matter how I tried both on-line and on the phone, I could not get through to buy any tickets!!! Only those that camped out at the actual box office had any luck buying tickets. And then they've been scalping them for crazy prices.

So I heard that it was playing in San Francisco through the end of June, so... I thought I'd visit my sister and her family and see if she and her husband wanted to go see it with me. And they did!

We loved it. It was so fun, light-hearted and energetic! Glinda was a hoot! The set and visual effects were impressive as well. We thoroughly enjoyed it. It was so worth seeing!

I Left my Heart in San Francisco

The day after I rode the Little Red Riding Hood, I flew out to San Francisco to visit my sister, Joni, and her family. It was such a beautiful day when I flew in we stopped by the beach along the Great Highway and walked around.

Joni and I had the pleasure of joining Ethan on his 6th grade class field trip to Chinatown where we went on a tour of Chinatown. And would you guess the coincidence - the moment I stepped off the elevator from the parking garage to the little park there in the middle of Chinatown, I hear someone shouting my name and see her running to me - it was my roommate, Amanda, from freshman and sophomore year of college!! Can you believe the coincidence? She lives in Provo as well and we rarely see each other there, so to come all the way to San Francisco and run into her there was wild! I saw her again the next night at Wicked. It was so fun to run into her!

The Chinatown tour was fascinating. We stopped by a temple, a pharmacy, a market and a fortune cookie factory - but the factory was not what you would guess it to be - it was more like a long closet with only 3 or 4 workers as opposed to the big production was expecting to see.

The next day my sister and I took their convertible into Napa Valley. We went on a tour of a winery where this extravagant man shipped bricks and stones from European countries and European masons, carpenters, fresco painters, builders, etc., to build a castle! On his vineyard property. $40 million dollars and 14 years - that's what it took to build that place. The poppies outside the castle were beautiful! Then we went to lunch at another winery, window-shopped along the main street in Calistoga, and enjoyed some little ice cream before we headed back home.

Then that night.... YES!!!! I saw Wicked!!! To be documented in the next post - since it is a life list achievement.

Life List Achievement: Ride a Century

My good friend, Janie, and I did it! We rode a full century, 103 miles, on our road bikes! Janie has done it before, but I hadn't.

We participated in the Little Red Riding Hood Century Ride that they hold every June up in Cache Valley in Utah. It is a women only ride and super fun. They held a luau the night before and we definitely partook of the yummy luau food that night. And we picked up our registration packets and I picked up my jersey. I ordered the jersey thinking it might be fun to have it but I told myself that I could only get the jersey if I rode the full century. And we did! I deserve my jersey!! :)

Saturday morning, we woke up to rain. Ugh. That was going to be bummer deal to ride through the rain. The weather forecast said it would be partly cloudy in the morning but then scattered thunderstorms would roll in around 11 am and stay for the rest of the day. So the ride was not going to be fun. But! The weather cleared up just as we started the ride at 7:30 in the morning. It was definitely a little chilly, but it warmed up and then guess what! The thunderstorms never came in!! We had a mean headwind for the last 40 miles, but a sweet tailwind for the first 60 miles.

The ride was beautiful and they had some yummy snacks about every 20 miles. We rode from Wellsville, Utah by the mouth of Sardine Canyon all the way up to Preston, Idaho and then back down to Wellsville. I felt great for the first 60 miles, and then I started to really feel the fatigue as we fought the headwind. And then after mile 80, my knees really started to bark at me. But we finished! And thank goodness for drafting. We had several women ride with us and help pull and draft. A couple times we drafted off a large group of women and that was fabulous! It was so much fun!

And then we crossed the finish line and had our picture taken with the Big Bad Wolf!! :)

Sundance Spin - Mtn Bike Race #4

I have fallen in love with Sundance. I've always avoided it for skiing, but I now see its beauties for mountain biking in the summer. The course was spectacular! I was biking through trees (and over them!) and forests, over bridges, by ponds, and with views across the canyon that Sundance is in!! I am definitely going to go back there.

This last race that I am committed to went much better than Soldier Hollow did. I was a little more prepared for what it would be like to have all the Pros and Experts pass me on the single-track. And this single-track was a little more conducive to allow passing. I got 5th place again. I think that must be my lucky number. :) Oh! And I was sooooo official looking in my team jersey and shorts.

As soon as I finished the race we had to hurry out of there and get home so I could change my clothes, clean up what little I could, and then go perform in my second ever piano recital. Lindsey and I finished the race around 11:30, left Sundance around 11:45, got to my house by 12:10 and left for my piano recital by 12:30 - which is when it started... up in Orem. We were a bit late. But it sure was fun to have Lindsey there! I did okay. Had a few mess ups, but overall it went just fine.

Memorial Day Weekend of Biking

Memorial Day weekend was spent on my bikes!

Saturday some friends and I went mountain biking at Lambert Park. Camille got a sweet war wound, but was not deterred. Lambert park is so much fun! I've missed it. The last time I went there it was just a bit difficult ... since it was my first time on my new bike. But this time... with some more practice... was super fun.

I spent the morning getting my oil changed in my car and re-organizing my junk down in the basement and getting rid of some things.

Then that night we saw the newest installment of Night at the Museum.... it was fun. Pretty good.

Sunday I had some of the same friends over for dinner that went biking with me the day before and we had dessert and played some fun games.

And then Monday. Oh Monday. First, I begged and begged and then felt guilty for begging a couple of my friends to join me on a long road ride that I needed to do to train for the Little Red Riding Hood Century Ride I have coming up on June 6th. I ended up going by myself. 60 miles. SIXTY miles. By myself. The first 20 miles were rough, but I took a little rest at Lincoln Beach, laid down to flatten out my kinked back, ate some food. Got back on my bike.

After that it seemed to get easier - probably due to a combination of factors: I had a tail wind for the next 10 miles, it was all new terrain that I've never seen before in my life so it was fun to look around, and pedaling became a way of life - my lot in life that day... in stead of walking that day, I pedaled. Kind of interesting. At one point I was biking through free range land and there were cows on the side of the road! Chewing their cud and watching me as I rode by. The whole time I was pleading that they wouldn't chase me, ram me, or anything of the sort! I don't think I could out run a cow... even on my road bike! I can get up to 20 or 23 mph pretty easily on a flat road, but I was on a slight incline at the time. Kind of wild.

And then I started to see the orchards and the outskirts of Genola, Utah. It was a pretty little farming community! I got a little lost there, my Google maps on my phone were deceiving me... saying one road might go all the way through and then saying one road was called State St. when it was actually Center St. But I found my way and continued on my path around West Mountain. I didn't rest again for another 30 miles... and it just about killed me because I was fighting a head wind coming into the community that I know had a church in whose lawn I could lay down in. But! While I was laying there, the wind switched directions on me and so I had a tailwind for the rest of the way home. Yes!

That evening I rented The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, watched it and had a yummy dinner. That movie totally made me cry at the end! I enjoyed it. The story totally intrigued me. But after it was over, I was feeling like too much of a loner - having spent my whole holiday by myself. I needed some social interaction! So I called around and got a hold of Lindsey who had just put a group together to go miniature golfing. I haven't done that in so long! We had a great time.

The other momentous occasion for the weekend was that my car passed 150,000 miles on its odometer. Kinda crazy!