Salt Lake City- Or, A Tale of Travel Adventures Pt. 2

In which a visit is made to slippery slopes; elegance is found; of Olympics, and downhill racing; and it is determined that one can go down, while going up.

Wednesday, March 26, 0700-2300 Mountain

So, once again we rise and face the day, fortified by much coffee. Oh, and a small amount of protein and french toast, and/or eggs, and/or cereal, and/or fruit. Really, it doesn’t matter, I only mention it to show that even I eat breakfast once in a while.

Today, we ventured to Snowbasin, which is slightly further out of the city than we’ve been, but still an easy drive. This resort is interesting; it really was a second-rate, out of the way place, until the winter Olympics of 2002 were being prepped. At that point, “Earl” (Earl Holding) decided to dump some of his gazillions into making the resort an appropriate venue for some of the events. The mens and womens downhill races were held here, and I’m not sure what else; but I do know that the rustic chalets, the high-speed gondolas, and the incredible coverage of snowmaking equipment is mucho amazing. (Yes, snowmaking in an area that has an annual average snowfall of 500″, go figure).

Anyway, it’s another very elegant location, for a ski resort. Gold fixtures, carpeted(!) floors (skiboots are not gentle things, lol); huge fireplaces, monster timber supports, floor to ceiling window walls- and the ceiling is 40′ tall, in places. Yes, ol’ Earl did himself proud.

Not to mention, some great terrain, for the skiing portion of your day. When we arrived, though, the snow wasn’t great. Remember the heat from Monday? Well, all that softened snow froze, over the next day and night, and so we were skiing on crusty hardpack. That, is tolerable although not the most comfortable; however, we also ran into lighting that was so flat, you couldn’t see any variance in the surfaces.

That’s not so fun.

Skiing along in white-outs, is what we refer to as “sporty”, in my family. Other families may call it crazy, but that’s okay- we have fun anyway.

Besides, it was softening throughout the day, so by lunchtime it was back to the fantastic Utah snow we’ve been experiencing, in most places. So that all worked out well, right?

Oh, and after lunch, was even better- the boys, all three of them: Jeremy, Rob and Nick- decided that they needed to, they were required to ski the downhill run that was the Olympic course. Naturally, I said “Go for it.” So naturally, they did- although, we found out later, that was the only run they did after lunch. We’d been skiing hard all day, anyway, and they were wiped out after that run.

We didn’t know that till later, though, because there were other adventures about.

I mentioned the gondolas, right? If you don’t know what they are, they’re a covered, enclosed car that rides on cables, and carries the skiers to the top of the mountain so they can ski down. The ones here at Snowbasin hold eight; or, in one very particular case, the car held two.

Lynn was working on Beth and my Dad like crazy, after lunch, (with very enthusiastic help from me) in order to get them either in before us, or in a lift without us for one ride. Basically because, when we arrived at the area in the morning, she took one look at a gondola and looked at me, with the smoldering in her eyes that only she can do, and winked, and said “Soon. In one of those. Today.”

Soooooo, the maneuvers were strategic, and well executed tactically, and it transpired that we rode up in a gondola car named for “Somebody-or-other Sailor”, an Olympic Champion skier. I can’t remember his first name, perhaps Anton- but we only noticed, because as we cleared the base of the loading station, and Lynn started unzipping my pants, she said something about how it’s appropriately named, as my nickname for blogging and photos is Sailor;

Yeah, the fantasy fulfilled, that I didn’t even know I had. Nor did Lynn, as she’d never used a gondola-type lift before, was to experience (or give, in her case) a moving, sexy, loving and hot and exciting blow job, as we rode the lift up the mountain.

So she did; I did; we laughed, at ourselves, at the mess, at our outlandish behavior, and at the fact that we can still be silly and adventurous and in love and want each other.

And had a fine last run down, to meet up with the rest of the gang, and head back to the hotel for dinner and a bookstore run and bed.

What a great vacation this is!

Filed under: "Salt Lake City", blowjob, family, gondola, lift, mountains, sex, sexy, ski, snow, snowbasin, utah, vacation

Salt Lake City- Or, A Tale of Travel Adventures Pt 1

In which various people begin travels via various means; arrive at an interim point and are surprised; reach the final destination and miss somethings; through several compromises manage to be hot in the snow; are reunited with comfortable feet; find the snow again; and avoid conversion although have conversation with sundry Mormons.

Saturday, March 22, 0350-2400 Eastern; The alarm, evil thing that it is, manages to wake us up in spite of exhaustion and illness. Not the greatest beginning to the trip, with Lynn and myself both tired, cranky, and in her case not feeling great. However, we did get the kids up, and got all six of us into the Pacifica, with the roof-rack loaded and skis and bags and carry-ons inside.

The drive to Kennedy, while uneventful, was as always a pain in the but. We have to leave our house a full three hours before our flights are scheduled to leave, in order to get to the airport, park and shuttle to the terminals and still manage to schlep six people and all our luggage through check-in and security. Granted, it’s getting easier and easier- the kids are great and handle their own bags now. Everyone is allowed one duffel, for all the clothes/ski wear, and one carryon for important things like cameras, computers, books and snacks. The skis combine into four bags, two doubles and two singles, so we check ten and carry six- and so far, we’ve not forgotten any of the children anywhere.

We arrived in Minneapolis on time, and found my dad in the gate for the next flight. This was fun, because the kids didn’t know we were on the same plane for that part of the flight; so they had a lot of “Wow!” “GRAND-DAD!!!!!” And grabbing and hugging and laughing going on- which is always a blast.

The flight to Salt Lake was also uneventful, just a bit of musical seats as the kids swapped around to sit by dad.

However, once we’d arrived, the inconvenience began. Thank you, Delta, for sending a duffel to timbuctoo. Or somewhere. All of Rob’s clothes, toiletries, ski wear, etc were nowhere to be found. Worse, in terms of the skiing portion of the trip- MY ski boots were also in that bag. Which truly, utterly, completely sucks. It was okay for Rob, because he was going to rent anyway, because he’s been snowboarding the last few years he doesn’t have equipment of his own. But dang it all, those boots are custom-fit, Solomon boots that I love.

So after fussing with Delta for a while, getting a claim filed, etc, etc, we made our way to the Hotel. Where they managed to put us into two rooms that each had a king-size bed. Nice for Lynn and myself, but not so great when we have to share with the kids and dad, though. So, a room swap or two later, and we’re in the originally reserved rooms with two queens each. With the convertible sofas, we have enough bed space for the seven of us.

That night, we took the UTA Trax train, and attended the Easter Vigil service at St. Mark’s Cathedral. What a beautiful service that was, very very well done. The building, in this state and city that is so dominated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is not a particularly imposing structure externally; but the inside was fantastic, and the choir and music was great.

Finally, dinner- and back to the hotel, to fall into bed. Wheew!

Sunday, March 23, 0700-2300 Mountain; No alarm, but we’re all up easily, mostly because of the time change. Breakfast at this hotel (Embassy Suites, nice place) is included in the room charge, but it’s more than just the cereal/juice/rolls of some. Here you can order a couple of eggs, omelets, bacon or sausage or pancakes, as well as the cold cereal type stuff- which is great.

SO then, Rob, dad and I walked to the local ski shop, all of 2 blocks. Rob rented a package for the week, and since they refused to adjust my bindings to their boots, I decided to skip renting for that day, and see if the ski area would do so; at least this way I could try to use my good skis.

Luckily, Brighton did allow me to do that, so I rented boots there.

And, Finally- let the fun begin!!

Oh WOW. What an incredible, wonderful ski area. Salt Lake’s ski areas average around 500″ of snow annually; and this year they’ve been getting more than usual. We had perfect snow, perfectly clear skies, perfect temperatures. It was around 40, that first day, and what a blast. I haven’t skied in the Rocky Mountains for waaay, waaay, too long; I know, I knew I loved them, but what a piece of heaven on earth. I miss “My” mountains, more than I realized.

Just to see the terrain, the majesty, the peaks, makes me homesick; and, I’ve never lived here, or in the mountains, only vacationed, but still- I love them.

Dinner that night, was delivered pizza and salads from a bag. No one had the energy to get out, so it was a quiet, early night and to bed with all.

Monday, March 24, 0700-2300 Mountain; HOOORAY!!!
The bag was found, and delivered to the Hotel at 0200 this morning. Cheers, instant thrills and (no, I didn’t orgasm over them, but I did pet them) my boots are here!

Monday, we headed up- up the canyon, up the “POSH” scale, to Deer Valley. Known as the poshest ski area around, I can believe it; where other areas use industrial chrome plumbing, Deer Valley pays for the less durable brass; where concrete steps and walkways are enough for strength and utility elsewhere, Deer Valley lays down garden pavers. And replaces them, as needed, for ski boots are not known to be easy on brick.

A second perfect day of skiing, oh my. Temp again to the 40’s, perfectly clear blue skies, snow that is deeper than needed everywhere, and nowhere scraped to grass; superb!!!!

The only drawback- the heat. We were all so hot, that we were finding different ways to try to lose layers. For me, luckily, my turtleneck was an old ratty one- so I didn’t have any qualms tossing it in the garbage; in fact, it would have prior to the trip, but I was thinking I’d need all I owned.

There’s something decadent about skiing in a t-shirt, and for a bit without that, no gloves, hats or goggles, no sweaters and down jackets- just boots, pants and sunglasses. Gotta love that! ROb took a picture with his camera, and I’ll get that posted at some point, but still wonderful.

AND- My feet didn’t kill me all day. Yes, renting boots is a fine expediency when needed, but oh man, did my feet hurt at the end of Sunday. I was so pleased to have my good boots back, I suspect my family is just as happy- cuz I stopped whining!

Dinner in again, and early bed- not much happening on most of our evenings, we get pretty tired and try to sleep early.

Tuesday, March 25, 0000-1700 Mountain; Grrrrrrr.
What did I say about trying to sleep? Well, no one had a great sleep, except dad. Perhaps altitude, perhaps something else, but I was up all night, Lynn slept about an hour, the kids were up and down as well. So we decided to take a sight-seeing day, in the interest of not hurting ourselves.

Two boys opted to stay back and read and watch movies, so Dad, Lynn, Beth, Rob and I all headed to the Union Pacific Terminal, which is the gateway to an outdoor shopping plaza. Just wandering, and taking photos- I’ll put some of the Olympic Memorial Musical up too-

And then, into the jaws of the lion. Or, in this case, into Temple Square, for a thirty minute tour with the missionaries there. It’s an interesting history if nothing else, regardless of your opinion or beliefs regarding Joseph Smith and the Mormon Church; and yes, we managed to escape with our “Episcopalian-ness” intact.

Whew!

So, for later- dinner out, probably something sim
ple like Olive Garden, and then tomorrow- Alta, or Snow Basin.

Wow, this got long- so, I’m done for now, but rest assured, I’ll be back to bore you more later in the week!

Filed under: dad, family, kids, lynn, mormon, mountains, photos, ski, skiing, SLC, snow, utah, vacation