no skiing today

After last winter, we're really not used to having to come up with things to do on the weekends.  This year, with the dearth of snow (thus far), we've had to be more creative than "get up, eat breakfast, ski at Alta in crazy-deep snow 'til your legs fall off, come home, eat something and fall asleep on the couch by 9 p.m."  Saturday was one of those need-to-be-creative days since we were not going skiing: there hasn't been any new snow since a week ago, and the skiing wasn't that good then anyway.

On the plus side, it was a spectacular day - unseasonably warm (low to mid 40s), not a cloud in the sky and little to no wind.  B and I took a late-morning, hour-long walk while H bundled up and did a 13-mile road ride; we saw lots and lots of walkers, cyclists and runners, all taking advantage of the sunshine and pleasant temperatures.

After lunch, H and I drove up to downtown SLC and walked up to the Living Room (trailhead on Colorow Drive in the University's Research Park, just down the hill from Red Butte Garden and the new Natural History Museum).  There were tons of people and their dogs - Weimaraners, border collies, dachshunds, beagles, setters, mutts and labs galore - out and about on the trails in the foothills.  It took us 35 minutes to hike up on the well-worn and mostly dry trail; after about a half an hour sitting on the stone couches and admiring the view (and throwing sticks for a very persistent border collie named Boomer), it took us 20 minutes to descend.  We've clearly fallen out of our summer hiking conditioning too: even though this hike is not at all difficult, we were out of breath in the few steep bits.

And what do you suppose we did after our little hike?  We went to Squatters, of course.  Because it is apparently impossible for us to go to downtown SLC without stopping in there.  The beers were excellent, as always:  I had a Full Suspension and H had one of the seasonal beers, a lovely Extra Special Bitter (on nitro).

Ain't that a pretty sight?