end of an era

Despite the Friday night snowfall in the canyons, H and I had to bite the bullet and deal with something that we'd been putting off, because we could put it off no longer: we had to go finish cleaning out the apartment. There wasn't much left to do, really, just pick up a few odd ends like the crockpot, a fire extinguisher and a bunch of lift tickets from early season ski days, as well as scrub down the kitchen and bathroom and run the vacuum one more time. It didn't take us long.

It was kind of sad, actually, although we were only there for 4+ months: it was a great apartment and our first Utah home and the view west out across the valley was magnificent. Still, it was time to say goodbye and hope the next tenants like the place as much as we did.

Since we were already out and about, we decided to take a quick drive south to scout the route for a bike ride H has had his eye on. There's a high ridge where the Wasatch mountains come westwards a bit and taper down to "Point of the Mountain." H's plan is to ride up and over the ridge, down to Lehi on the south side, and then ride around the PotM and back home. Plus, we'd seen houses up atop the ridge and figured their view of the Salt Lake valley must be pretty good.

Pretty good? Try spectacular. These homes (McMansions, most of them), located in Draper, have an amazing view looking north, encompassing the line of the Wasatch front, the northern mountains up by Ogden, Antelope Island and the Great Salt Lake, the Oquirrhs off to the west and the entire, glittering valley in the middle. And just on top of the ridge, those houses have an incredible view, down into the Utah Valley, and Utah Lake, and the mountains reaching to the south.

Also, that ridge is really, really steep. H thinks he can manage to ride up it - he did ride his bike up Mt. Washington and all - but the descent could be a little fast.