round one of the may visitors

What was that I was saying about how H and I are cursed, vacation-weather-wise? To further prove my point: Saturday was 30s and raining; Sunday started out 20s and snowing, then warmed up to low 50s and overcast; Monday was clear, breezy and mid-60s ... but the bugs were absolutely horrendous. Yes, Virginia, we found biting, itch-causing bugs in the desert - and we were quite displeased. Which is not to say that we didn't have a good visit with our friends from back east; we just felt AWFUL that P and C came all that way for such terrible weather.

Mountain goat, Big Cottonwood Canyon

P and C got in fairly late on Friday night so we let them sleep in a bit on Saturday before rousting them out of bed.  After a bird-watching stroll in Dimple Dell Park (P is a huge wildlife-watching enthusiast), we took them up Little Cottonwood Canyon: the snowclouds were nestled so low in the canyon that you couldn't see the canyon walls so they just had to take our word for it that there were, in fact, world-class ski resorts just minutes from our house. The rain let up as we drove to downtown SLC for a walk up City Creek Canyon. A late lunch of beer and nachos at Squatter's was next, then a drive west across the valley to Butterfield Canyon where the sun was peeking through the clouds over the Oquirrhs. We walked up the canyon a-ways, managing to avoid attack by the paint-ball warriors swarming through the underbrush. The clouds closed back in as we got back to the truck, so we headed home. While C and I had a glass of wine and some girl talk, H and P went back out to the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon, hoping to see some mountain goats. They did - lots of them, although pretty far away for good pictures with our cameras - and that put them in better moods. Some Wasatch pizza and a few beers later, we all called it a day and went to bed, hoping for better weather on the morrow.

I don't know what it is, but it's purty

If by "better weather" we meant "a couple of inches of snow in the valley and 55 inches up at Snowbird," well then, we got better weather for sure. Unbelievable. Still, we were determined to show our guests around our new state so off we went to Ruth's for breakfast (two corned beef hashes, a heuvos rancheros and a French toast). Thus fortified, we continued on to Park City and Olympic Park. It started to clear a bit as we left the Park City area and we headed south on 40 to try to find moose and/or bald eagles for P. We didn't see much other than ducks and a couple of osprey but the sun actually came out in Midway and Wallsburg (a teeny farming town in the middle of nowhere) ... for about a half hour. Frustrated, we drove up to Sundance, hoping for a beer, but what with the ski season over and the summer season not yet begun, the Owl Bar doesn't open until 5 p.m. and we weren't about to wait that long.

When we got back up to Cottonwood Heights (and the Hogwallow, for some beers), the clouds had lifted a bit and H decided to try again to show off the canyons - Big Cottonwood, this time. We were able to make it all the way up to Brighton, finding 2+ feet of fresh snow blanketing the ground (and us without snowshoes, so an intended walk around Silver Lake was impossible). When we stopped to stretch our legs at a picnic area, P aimed his binoculars at the cliffs above us and spotted several more mountain goats, scampering boldly on the rocks.  I don't know how they manage to stick on there.  Cheered, we swung by home to feed the dog and then went back out to feed ourselves on pizza and pot pie at Lumpy's.

Yearling bison stampede!

Monday dawned dry and not completely overcast and we knew we had to make the most of it: off to Antelope Island for wildlife viewing (bison, pronghorn antelopes, bunnies, lizards, various and sundry birds, and lots and lots of no-see-ums).  There were about 40 yearling bison being held in the corrals, culled from the herd and shortly to be sent south to where they're starting a new herd in the middle of Utah.  Yearling bison do not like to be in corrals.

After we checked out the Fielding Garr Ranch (along with about 8 million school kids), we grabbed our cameras, hats and water bottles and took on Frary Peak, the highest peak on Antelope Island.  It's only at 6,596 feet in elevation but you have an elevation gain of 2,068 feet in 3.25 miles; we knocked off the round-trip in 4 hours.  Fabulous views - although the rumored bighorn sheep were nowhere to be found - and, when the breeze occasionally subsided, horrific swarms of those gnats, no-see-ums, what have you.  When we got back to the truck, C and I had dozens of tiny, red, itchy bites all along our hairline.  Awesome.

At the summit of Frary Peak, Antelope Island

Still, we were fairly undaunted since we'd been able to be outside, warm and dry, for several hours at a stretch and we cruised back home in good spirits.  After feeding the dog, we swung by the parking lot at the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon to see if we could see more mountain goats; we could, probably around 25 of them, grazing in the light of the setting sun.  Then we took ourselves to the Porcupine (seven month Utahnniversary, after all!) for dinner, toasting to the ability to endure adverse vacation conditions in the company of very good friends.

Aww - supercute!

Postscript:  P and C flew back to Maine this morning ... and there hasn't been a cloud in the sky since.