january houseguests

It's been a little while since we've had ski guests (since Christmas 2017), and even longer since my brother J came out to ski with us (since February 2014).  This time he brought his daughter S with him; as we understand it, she's been wanting to ski out west for years now - she's twelve - and finally convinced her dad that this was the right time.

They almost didn't make it with weather cancelling the second leg of their trip from Chicago to SLC; instead they went Portland (ME) to Washington D.C., to Pensacola, to Dallas, to SLC.  Unfortunately, their ski gear didn't make the exact same journey, getting hung up in D.C. and finally getting here Sunday afternoon.  This meant that we three didn't ski.  We managed to fill the afternoon after J got their missing luggage sorted out: a walk in Dimple Dell with Milton, a walk up the very snowy Millcreek Road, from the gate closure to the Lamb's Canyon/Mt. Aire/Elbow Fork trailheads, and lunch at the Porcupine.  I had never been up in Millcreek Canyon in the winter before since we're usually skiing and I was amazed: all the trailhead parking lots were full and there were tons of people out, with back country skis, with fat bikes, with dogs, with nordic skis, with sleds.  It was wonderful to see so many people getting out in the winter (and even better to note that none of them seemed inclined to be downhill skiing).

When the sky is the same color as the ground

While J, S and I were thus entertaining ourselves, H went up to Alta.  It was very busy in the morning, the light was extremely flat and the snow had stiffened up overnight.  Nonetheless, he skied opening to closing and was pretty tired by the time he got home.  We all had dinner together - tacos - and then, after H went to bed, the other three of us (oh, and Milton) kept going outside to check out the super/blood/wolf moon eclipse.  It was pretty clear all through the evening - sure didn't seem like it was going to be a big snow day for Monday.