Meet Young at Heart, YaH, a band of brothers from different mothers in this week’s message. I just spent 4 days with these gentlemen on a ski-cation in Utah. I have been encouraged to tell you about our amazing ski days at Powder Mountain and Snowbasin. Too much information for just one blog, expect the concluding episode next week.
Powder Mountain is a resort close to Eden, Utah with a base elevation of 6900 feet, which makes it cold and is a main reason for the excellent fluffy powder. The top of the mountains are close to 9000 feet. The resort boasts over 8400 skiable acres. This ski area meanders through mostly rolling hills and quaking aspen in a quixotic array of slow lifts and long cat tracks. A guide is a good idea so you can tell where the hell you are going. We did not have local knowledge; visibility was very low and the snow was blowing in gusts up to 40 mph. We continually remind ourselves—no bad days on the ski hill.
The next day was SnowBasin with a bit of hope that the snow would continue to fall but the wind would abate. Up early, we met my nephew Adam for a solid breakfast at the main lodge. His advice was clear, get there early so you can find a place to park. A place to park is more important than even first tracks. The base is 6400 and the summit is 9570 feet. We lucked out and the high wind skiing skills earned first day came in handy, it was again snowing, blowing at Mach 2 and low to occasionally no visibility. The ski area has many modern high speed lifts and two gondola’s to move you up the mountain. There is less terrain to ski than Powder but access and variety of runs is memorable. The venue for the Olympic Downhill races in 2002, there are some very steep runs and lots of trees.
The YaH agreement was we would ski each resort and then decide where we would ski the last day. Hands down, Snowbasin our choice.
Urban dictionary calls those who wander about aimlessly, “meandrathals”. There is also the thought that people who read and listen to blogs with no specific purpose or theme are meanderers. YaH meandered through many topics and places to dine. Matt now lives in Florida and the political environment there is unique. Anti-vaxing, book banning, suing Disney, and rewriting Black history are some of the downsides. Upside, not many places you can paddle your sea canoe and not worry too much about the gators and the weather is great. John and Kim live in Boise and are recovering Lawyers. Two of us are senior citizens and the other two are closing in on it rapidly. We are basically of one mind in terms of moderation of views and protecting our democracy from the Orange Wanker.
Night three was spent at the Saddlebag Saloon, we walked in and found a U shaped bar with maybe 20 bar stools and a boisterous group of locals. It got very quiet, a bit uncomfortable and we did get some threatening looks, no way we could leave. Sat at the bar, met Darcy, ordered the house specialty, baked Mac and cheese and had a beer. When we talked about skiing the locals cut us some slack and joined us in the conversation. Among other unique things, the ceiling is covered in money, some with writing and ranging from $1 to $50. The legend goes the guests staple or tape the money to the ceiling so when they are too drunk or broke to go home they can reclaim it to pay for an Uber. There is no Uber service in Eden, but that would just ruin the myth. We know we made it, as we left the crew invited us to come back the next night for live music, quite an honor.
Next week if you don’t unsubscribe over this week. Expect an exciting finale. I am going to tell you about, Kam, Carlos and Harley, jalapeño poppers, molcajete, great blue marlins, the brotherhood plus an introduction to our wait person, Olive Tree. Yes her name is Olive Tree. Stay tuned.
All good things must come to an end. Parting is such sweet sorrow as Juliet told Romeo. Meandering turns out to be very uplifting and entertaining, we heartily recommend it. Enjoy the week and please vote for Biden, our planet needs the leadership he can provide.
Cheers, Mike