It's been a while since we've posted anything here, but we're back! Since Thanksgiving, Breanne and Craig have both been steadily working, which has adversely affected their play time in the Wasatch Mountains. However, we did have a couple of memorable visits from Dirk & Steph (our Michigan snowboarding buddies), and from Joel Fortuna.
Dirk and Steph were here in Park City over Christmas, and we were able to spend some great days on the slopes of Snowbird and The Canyons with them. Actually, it hasn't snowed here since they left town, so we're really hoping they come back soon!!!
Joel visited last week, and, for three days, kidnapped Craig and drove him to Portland, Oregon. But Craig didn't object much, and as it turned out, Craig and Breanne inherited many fine pieces of furniture and other housewares from Joel's former apartment in Portland...Thanks, Brother!
How's the skiing, you ask? In a word...terrible. Neither of us has bothered to strap on the skis and dodge rocks in the past 2 weeks. But the forecast looks REALLY good for next week!
Today, Craig, Gordie, and Greta hiked to the peak of Parley's Summit (Breanne was working, unfortunately). Here are some pictures from the adventure....
It took about 3 hours trying to keep our footing over snow-covered singletrack to reach the summit. Along the way, we met many dogs, a few other hikers, and a couple backcountry skiers. The skiers were nice enough to let Craig in on the secret stashes of backcountry powder. Next time he WILL bring his skis, but probably not the dogs...

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Well, we got only a taste of the snowstorm that the midwest is experiencing right now, but it has been frigid here for the past week. Daytime highs in the teens, nightime lows around zero. Skiing today was pretty cold, due to the -14 deg wind chill, but I needed to get in some turns on my new skis. So, I think it was worth it, but Breanne stayed home (perhaps wisely).
It was really nice to have Stan and Nancy here over Thanksgiving, and we all had a traditional turkey day at our house (including a Lions loss!)
Hopefully, we'll have some decent pics to post here from our upcoming epic powder days! Everyone do your snow dance...please.

It's dumping snow in Park City!! We're watching the MLS Cup final inside, and watching the snow fall outside. This is great for me (Craig) because I get to go skiing tomorrow. However, for Breanne, this isn't good news because she has to be at work at 6 AM tomorrow. But not only that, but Breanne was the one who shoveled the deck and carried in the firewood tonight. Here are the pictures to prove it!!
The dog poop picture is interesting...We found it at a local trailhead, and notice it says "no dog poop", not "no dogs"...that seems to be the philosophy here in PC.
We are looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with Stan and Nancy this week, and we'll do our best to get them out on the slopes before they return to Hawaii.

Finally...The snow has arrived!

The warm, sunny weather for the past 3 weeks has been nice, but really we've been waiting for the white stuff to start falling...and yesterday it began. At our house, we got a couple of inches yesterday and a few more today. That means that the ski areas got even more snow than that! But just to be sure, we'll be driving to Solitude or Brighton tomorrow to investigate. Of course, we may need to strap on the skis and make some turns if the conditions are favorable.
As for today, all we did was lounge around by the wood stove and well, that's about it.

The Ski Season Has Begun!

November 8, 2009 officially marks the beginning of the ski season for the Flatlanders. We spent today riding the 2 available runs at Solitude. OK, they were green runs and it was all man-made snow, but at least we were out there! Actually, it was a bluebird day, hardly a cloud in the sky, and this is apparent in our sunburned faces. Breanne skied better than she ever has before! Maybe it was the new boots, maybe it was her superb physical conditioning...who knows? But she was tearing up the mountain today!!

Halloween Eve Party Time

Halloween 2009 proved to be the most exciting Halloween Craig and I have yet experienced together. We went out with our new friends to a slightly posh restaurant on Main Street in Park City, "350 Main." We met up with Amy, who befriended us at the gym, her mom, Stacey (super nice and ex Miss Arizona), and Aubrey and Jeff (really cute couple). When Craig and I discovered that the restaurant probably wouldn't appreciate a decked out rugby chick complete with black eye and a cardboard-box-enclosed Craig with Excedrin, alarm clock, and bottle of water taped to its top and lampshade for a head (one night stand), we decided to make a quick costume change. I ended up as a cocktail party zombie and Craig a safari joe.

Our night ended up with a monstrous (forgive the pun), only permissible annually tab. Because, rather than deciding responsibly to end our night there, we decided to head down the street to "Harry-Os," an exclusive (insert pretentious snort) nightclub armed with its very own VIP list. We were assured by our sweet, lovable friend Amy that her gym and spa co-worker used to work here as a cleaning lady and that she had secured our spot on the VIP list, thus avoiding a steep $20/person cover charge. So, Amy put on her best "authoritative" face, pronouncing that, "Yes, so-and-so" had arrived. The doorman, after reviewing the list a short time later, revealed that we, in fact, were not on this list. He graciously told us that he could put us on the list, and sweet Amy decides that this would be the right time to explain further that "my friend used to work here, she used to be the cleaning lady here, and she said she could get us on the list." So, needless to say, the doorman explains that the club rarely lets its employees on the VIP list, "especially the cleaning lady."

We were all good sports, though, and started cracking up in semi-buzzed laughter at this ridiculously snotty comment and the hilarity of the situation. Our night proceeded, however much more expensively than the intended plan, and the following are the pictures of our bourgeois nightclub celebration.

All right, folks. As promised, here are the pictures that we've taken so far. The first set in the montage can be summed up as our introduction to our new premises.