Big Island Flowers

Some more pics from our Big Island adventure…

Alta

The last several weeks we’ve received some spring storms which brought us good snow through the end of March and early April.  Our last visitors of the ski season were our friends Squirt (who was in town for a wedding) and Christina.  Unfortunately Squirt and I forgot our cameras the day we went up to Solitude, but here are photos of Alta the day we went up with Christina.

Chris getting ready to head down the hill

At the top of Supreme chair

From the top of Supreme chair

View from top of Supreme Bowl looking at East Castle

East Castle

Devil’s Castle

From top of Collins chair looking at Devil’s Castle

Mt. Baldy with Ballroom below

View from top of Collins chair

View from top of Collins chair

View from top of Collins chair

Devil’s Castle

Devil’s Castle

For Sale

My parents’ house

Jackson!

  

 

At Grand Targhee with the Grand Teton in the background

 
The last weekend of February we went to Jackson Hole with our friends Jody and Mike and 11 friends of theirs (or friends of their friends) from Seattle. It was a fun weekend skiing at Jackson Hole for two days and at Grand Targhee for one day.  

This was our first trip to Jackson Hole (and Damon’s first trip to Wyoming).  We rented a place walking distance from the Jackson Hole base, enjoyed the food and libations at the Snake River Brewing Company , Mangy Moose, Osteria, Q Roadhouse, Cowboy Bar,Silver Dollar Bar and the Merry Piglets. The fare was all pretty standard (brew pub, Italian, barbecue).  Oddly the Merry Piglets is a Mexican restaurant.  We had a great time skiing, exploring Jackson, and hanging out with some fun folks.

To get to Grand Targhee you have to drive into Idaho and then back into Wyoming.  On the way back to the house, we stopped at the Victor Emporium in Driggs, ID to have some huckleberry shakes before meeting up with the rest of the crew at the Mangy Moose.  Years ago Jody had stopped there during a cross country road trip and she remembered the shakes being delicious- she wasn’t mistaken.  It is always a good sign when they give you a fat straw with your milk shake.

Martin attacks the bear at the Cowboy Bar

At Grand Targhee with the Grand Teton in the background

Damon, Bryan, Jay, Me, Jody, Jordan, Mike, and Kathy at the base of Grand Targhee

Jody and Mike at Grand Targhee

Bryan outside of the Victor Emporium, Driggs, ID

The Mangy Moose

Most of the crew at the Mangy Moose, Jackson

Sundance Visitors

This year we had a full house during Sundance again.  Eryn and John came out the first weekend.   We had some celebrity sightings in Park City- not that I knew who the people were but other folks did.  We went to see “Tyson“, a documentary about Mike Tyson and he was at the Q&A which was really cool.  We got to go skiing with John and Eryn at Deer Valley on a day when it was really clear which was great.

Eryn & I on Main Street

Mike Tyson at Q&A

John and Eryn at Deer Valley

Eryn & I at Deer Valley

Chair lift

Deer Valley Veiw

During the week we went to see “Mystery Team” a comedy/mystery about high school detectives,  ”Burma VJ” a documentary about video reporters in Burma during the 2007 uprising, and “Taking Chance” a really well done drama about a soldier escorting home a soldier who has been killed in action.  I also got to see “It Might Get Loud” a documentary about guitarists Jimmy Page, the Edge, and Jack White , “Prom Night in Mississippi” a documentary about a high school that holds its first integrated prom in April 2008, “Yes Men Fix the World” a documentary about 2 men who sneak into corporate events (or on BBC) and pretend to be spokesmen from industry and tell us what we always wanted to hear, “Afghan Star” a documentary about contestants in Pop Idol- Afghanistan’s version of American Idol, “End of the Line” a documentary about overfishing of the oceans and what we can do about it, and “Dirt the Movie” a movie about the health of our soils which I was really hoping would tell me something new.

My favorites of the festival were Burma VJ, Taking Chance, and Prom Night in Mississippi- but they were all good.

The second weekend of the festival Maia and Gavin came out to celebrate Chinese New Year and Renee came down to see some movies and do some skiing. Apparently I didn’t bring my camera out much while they were here- we did go skiing, play Wii, and enjoy hanging out.

Gavin and Damon play Wii

Colorado

In December (yes, I’m that behind) I was in Colorado for work and managed to time my visit with my friend Meg’s vet school externship. I got to spend some time in Fort Collins and hang out with Meg, Mary Beth, and Justin (whom I didn’t manage to catch on camera).  Damon came up for the weekend andwe had a mini-reunion with our grad school friends, Paul, Kavita, Jen, Dave, Michelle, and Jeremy in Lousiville.  We spent the rest of the time with Damon’s buddy from high school, Ken, and his family in Denver.

Phoenix, Tania and Santa

Michelle, Damon, Paul, Kavita, Dave, Jeremy, Amy, Meg, Sarah, and Jen

Phoenix and Ken

Checking out Downtown Denver

Damon and Ken Chatting Up Some Ladies

Adventures in 2008

2008 was a year of domestic adventures- for the first time in a long time (maybe since 1996?)  Damon didn’t use his passport for a calendar year.  The majority of my travel was for work to Seattle every other month.

January-2008 started off with lots of  great skiing and the Sundance film festival here in UT with friends coming through town to ski and watch movies.  We had a weekend in SF with my family to attend my uncle’s installation as pastor of a church there. 

February and March- We stayed close to home to enjoy the skiing.  My sister, nephews, and parents came to celebrate Chinese New Year with us.

Damon had a long weekend in Vegas for a bachelor party- but as with all good Vegas trips, there was no documentation.

April and May- I had a long weekend doing some hiking and backpacking in southern Utah with two of my co-workers.  That served as a warm-up for our big non-wedding/family related trip this year which was one week exploring Utah’s national parks.

May kicked off our wedding season as we celebrated with Rebecca and Scott in Newport Memorial Day weekend.  We stayed on the east coast (oh the wonders of working remotely!) and attended my 10th college reunion the next weekend.

June- Damon made it up to Seattle for a concert.  During a work trip to Seattle I made a side trip up to Vancouver for my cousin Melissa’s Despedida de Soltera.

July- July was a big month for weddings and visitors with my college friend Tom and his wife Grace passing through SLC as part of a Utah trip, our friend Jon flying down from Seattle and our friends Madeline and Baron driving down from Seattle with their son Lucas. 

We made it to my college friend, Christl, and Steven’s wedding in Santa Cruz, CA on Sunday and then to Damon’s cousin Mike and Sibylle’s wedding the following Saturday in Sudbury, MA.  We hung out on the east coast and we hosted friends from our Singaporean teaching days in Providence.

August- After returning to SLC from Providence we turned around and went to Pasadena for our friend Gita’s wedding to Andy.  Another quick work trip for me to Seattle and then it was back to the east cost for Damon’s family’s annual trip to Maine.  My college friend Sasha and her family came to visit for Labor Day and the following weekend.

September and October- We finished up the weddings in 2008 with a fun trip to Nantucket for Colleen and Mike’s wedding in September. 

November- Work hit a crisis so I had two back to back weeks in Seattle but had enough time on the ground in Salt Lake to attend the USA Rugby versus Uruguay match.  Our grad school friend Jenkay came to visit when I got back from Seattle and then we hosted Thanksgiving.

December-  I flew out to Colorado for work at the same time the last of our Thanksgiving guests were leaving. Damon met me there for a fun weekend in Louisville and Denver before I headed to Seattle for one more visit.  We finished off the travel for the year by going to the Bay Area for Christmas.

Thanksgiving 2008

We hosted Thanksgiving last year which was really fun.  Both sets of our parents, my sister, and her family came out.  Damon’s parents made use of a bed and breakfast around the corner from our house- and probably got the best deal since there’s only one bathroom at our place. 

There were only two nights that everyone was in town- the first night we went out for Thai food at one of our new favorite restaurants.

Everyone out for Thai food at Bangkok Thai Talay

Despite the fact that we had a full house, we hosted a dance party in addition to Thanksgiving.

Catching up…

Despite the fact that there haven’t been many posts the last few months, we have been busy.  I’m hoping to catch up before January gets too far away from me.

In mid-November we were lucky that our friend Jen was passing through Salt Lake City for work.  She stayed for the weekend and we were able to sneak in a hike since it was still pretty warm down here in the valley.  We hiked for a couple of hours along the trail to Centerville Peak.  We had great views of the Great Salt Lake and Antelope Island.  Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to make it to the peak- but it was a great hike.  It was great to catch up with Jen- it was the first time we had seen her since Costa Rica!

Frozen ground

Lunch with a view

The Great Salt Lake with Antelope Island in the distance

Happy New Year!

I find it hard to believe that 2008 is over- somehow I feel like it just started…  Wishing you and your families a safe, healthy, and happy 2009!