royal

In addition to Real Salt Lake, we also have a women's professional soccer team, the Utah Royals.  Both teams play at the America First field (formerly Rio Tinto Stadium) which is located in Sandy, Utah, not all that far from our house.  It's been quite a while since we've been to see a game there - since the rugby game, I think - so when my work offered up some free tickets to a Friday night Royals game, we were all in.

First half seats on the west side of the stadium

We parked (for free) at the far northwest corner of the expo center's parking lot.  When we got out of the car, we immediately noticed that almost everyone else was carrying blankets of some sort.  That would have been a great idea: it was in the 40s, with a light but cold wind, and even though we were dressed in lots of layers (I managed to fit a pair of thin longjohns under my jeans) and winter parkas, blankets would have been welcome.

Our seats were pretty good and we had a great view of the action as the Royals took the field against the Chicago Stars.  I say "action" but in all honesty, it seemed pretty slow even though the ball was in front of the Chicago net for most of the first half.  Utah had a lot of corner kicks and a couple of shots but nothing that came close.

View from E&K's season seats

For the second half, we went down to the north end zone and sat with our friends E and K, who have season tickets.  They were smart enough to bring blankets.  And they also shared their beers with us - the pricing for which seemed outrageous ($16!) to us who haven't been to a professional sports game in years.  The second half was a little rougher, with some injury time that resulted in 9+ minutes of stoppage time.  Amazingly, the Royals scored on a penalty kick in the last minute of stoppage time, a much-needed 1-0 win.

We didn't stick around for the post-game drone show and had to put the seat-heaters on for the drive home.

blown away

Sunday was a stunner of a day and we made sure to get after it quickly with a nearly 8 a.m. trail time, despite a later-than-usual night (we went to Rio Tinto to watch Real Salt Lake vs. Montreal - it didn't end up being that exciting a game but RSL salvaged a tie and it's always fun to go to a game).  The skies were clear and blue, with the sun beating down and the wind already blowing.  The wind blew all morning, in fact, and only got stronger as the hours passed.

Working my way up Rambler

There really weren't many people out there, perhaps because they were recovering from/gearing up for the Park City Food and Wine Classic, which was fortunate for me because I was all over the place.  I don't know whether I was unfocused or just tired from the Days Fork hike, but I was definitely off - either making poor decisions or having bad timing.  I never went down but I had a couple close calls on spots that I usually ride fine.  Plus the wind was everywhere: the front side by Quinn's Trailhead, the Rambler uphill, the Rambler downhill (which we actually rode without seeing a single other person, making it much more fun to swoop through the sagebrush switchbacks), the short portion of the bike path, in amongst the scrub oak, on the Nouvelle Loop ... the wind was terrible.

I suspect that's more grimace than smile

I got my hopes up that we would be getting a tailwind for the last uphill back to the truck; when there's a headwind on the Round Valley Express, there is often a tailwind for the homestretch.  Not this day.  This day it was headwinds for everybody everywhere.  I really struggle with headwinds but am trying to improve my attitude about them: at least my legs are getting stronger.

coming soon: moab in may

I promise that I'll get a real post up here soon - we just had a long weekend in Moab! - but in the meantime, here's a quickie video of the scenery out at Jewel Tibbetts Arch in Hell Roaring Canyon, on BLM land just outside of Canyonlands National Park:

With a bonus shot of my fingertip!

curses, foiled again

Darn these mountains and their tendency to gather the weather!  No, not really: it's these mountains and their tendency to gather the weather that brings all the delicious snow in the wintertime.  But in the summertime, the mountains tend to attract thunderstorms and lightning which [obviously] impacts outdoor activities.

We had planned to do the Lofty Lake hike on Saturday; I was stoked about that because we haven't done that hike since 2010 and it's just beautiful.  But the forecast for the Uintas was a 50% chance of thunderstorms - and 50% is too high out here.  So we regrouped and thought, well, maybe we'll MTB at Round Valley instead and then do the Lofty Lakes hike on Sunday.  But the forecast for Park City was a 50% chance of thunderstorms.

So we did valley stuff - H went for a road ride and I went for a walk/run - and then, later that afternoon, considered going up to Snowbird for Oktoberfest.  But then the partly-cloudy skies over the Wasatch Front changed to all-cloudy and the breeze picked up, and I declared that Oktoberfest in the cold and rain is not that much of a party.  We threw stuff on the grill for dinner and, after checking the evening's forecast (mostly clear in SLC; clear in Provo), thought we might cruise on down to Sundance for their full moon chairlift rides.  But then we double-checked the schedule and realized that the full moon chairlift rides happen on the actual full moon - this coming Tuesday - instead of the closest weekend (when they might actually have some folks who want to ride - who's going to drive all the way out there on a Tuesday?), so we didn't do that either.

All these plans come to naught.  It was okay.  We opened all the windows to catch the cool breezes as a monster thunderstorm blew through and watched the Real Salt Lake game on t.v. (RSL won).  Some days, it just happens that way.

bowman fork to baker pass

We decided upon Mt. Raymond for our Saturday hike, but going up from the Millcreek side as opposed to the Big Cottonwood side that we'd done in 2012.  We weren't sure we'd make it all the way to the top since there's still a bunch of snow at elevation but we figured we'd go up as far as we could and see where that got us.  We parked in the small lot across from the entrance to the Terraces picnic area in Millcreek Canyon and hiked along the drive a quarter-mile to the Bowman Fork trailhead.  It was another beautiful day, with a 20% chance of afternoon thunderstorms; we planned to keep an eye on the clouds so as not to get caught in an exposed place.

Southwest view from Bowman Fork 

Right from the start we liked the trail.  It was totally shaded, lush and green, following a small creek up the drainage.  Underfoot was wonderful: packed dirt with a little give to it, which felt nearly cushiony to walk on; the only rocky bits were once we exited the Bowman Fork drainage and were on the ridge into Baker Fork.  The climb was steady but not extreme, although the next day my stiff legs told me that it was, in fact, steeper than we thought it was.  It was a little humid there by the creek but the temperature was very pleasant.  Because of all these factors (good footing, water, lots of shade, manageable incline), it was a fairly popular trail; because it was in Millcreek Canyon and an odd-numbered day, there were friendly off-leash dogs with almost every other hiker we met.  It was great: sweet golden retrievers, lots of labs, a Great Dane-lab mix, border collies, samoyeds, a golden-doodle and mutts of all kinds - we must have seen close to fifty dogs, most friendly, all polite.

And the snow begins

We ran into our first patch of snow at about 8,000 feet, after White Fir Pass, and the trail became mostly snow-covered not too long thereafter.  We climbed a ridgeline and then began to traverse a bowl on the north/northwest slopes of Gobblers Knob.  This bowl was very steep and mostly snow-covered; we were very careful with our foot placement because a fall would mean a very long slide down.  (It looked like it would be awesome back country skiing in there.)  We finally climbed out of the snowbanks to stand on Baker Pass, with Gobblers Knob on one side of us, Mt. Raymond on the other side and Big Cottonwood Canyon laid out in front of us.

Wishing we had our skis for this bit

Even though we were just a ridge walk and a rock scramble away from Mt. Raymond's summit, the winds were picking up a little, bringing more clouds in, plus some of the scramble looked to have a fair amount of snow on it.  Prudence won out and we turned around, heading back down the way we came.  The snow in the bowl had softened in that little time and we were doing a lot of post-holing, scratching our calves and soaking our boots.  Once out of the snow, however, the descent went pretty quickly and we continued to appreciate the soft conditions underfoot.  We really liked this hike a lot.

The summit, so close and yet so far

The round trip had taken us 4 hours 20 minutes for 9.1 miles (3,265 elevation gain) and we were pretty psyched to change out of our wet foot gear when we got back to the car.  We were also psyched to see that we had enough time to get to Dick 'N Dixie's for beers and the second half of the Real Salt Lake game vs. Seattle (except that RSL got their butts kicked 4-0).  That's what's so cool about Salt Lake City - world class mountains just minutes away from funky downtown bars.

the start of the weekend

Hooray for long weekends!  Friday night we cruised on over to the Cotton Bottom for burgers and beer and ended up chatting with a family who'd just gotten back to the city after a camping trip in the Bryce / Capitol Reef / Escanlante / San Rafael Swell area.  The father was celebrating his 70th birthday with his two adult kids; his daughter, who'd gone to school at the U, was now a dance professor at an upstate New York college near where H grew up.  They'd had a great trip and were fun to talk with, especially since they gave us some recommendations on a couple of slot canyons to check out in Escalante.  Stacy, the on-duty bartender (who is one of the nicest bartenders around) chimed in with some camping/fishing suggestions near Orangeville and Electric Lake, two places we'd never even heard of before.

On Saturday we just puttered around during the day. H went for a road ride and came back reporting really windy conditions - one gust almost stopped him as he was riding downhill from Little Cottonwood Canyon; - while I did some yard work and took a walk up the Little Cottonwood Canyon trail.  There were tons of songbirds, especially down at the start of the trail, and lots of folks out walking, trail-running and MTBing.  I don't think I'll ever attempt that trail on my MTB: it's sandy and rocky and there are no flat spots.

Blue skies above Little Cottonwood Canyon

Saturday night we headed over to Rio Tinto stadium to watch Real Salt Lake play the Chicago Fire.  We had similar seats to last time - east side, upper section, near midfield - which gave us a great view of the field.  RSL should have won as Chicago has not been doing that well, but at least they didn't lose.  Our boys finally put one in the back of the net with about twelve minutes left in the game, then Chicago answered with a goal shortly thereafter and the clock ran out before RSL could score again.  I think RSL needs to be better about switching fields and moving the ball down the field - they seem to do an awful lot of short lateral and back passes in the midfield which doesn't tend to get them anywhere.  (But what do I know?  It's been decades since I played any soccer!)

game time

Last Saturday, as we were driving out of Little Cottonwood Canyon after skiing, H made an excellent suggestion:  should we go to the Real Salt Lake game tonight?  It was a beautiful day and so we decided yes, we should go to the RSL game.  Before going home, we swung by the stadium to pick up tickets, getting seats in on the east side of the stadium, upper level, close to midfield.  Since RSL was playing the L.A. Galaxy there was an additional $5 surcharge to the ticket prices, much like the Yankees/Red Sox games or any other rivalry.  We hurried home, got cleaned up, fed the dog and headed out again.

We parked (for $10) in the South Towne Expo Center lot, a short walk from the Rio Tinto stadium that would have us pointed in the right direction for heading home after the game.  There were people tail-gating (whom we later learned were friends of a Porcupine bartender with whom we are friendly) and hordes of folks streaming towards the game, all decked out in the team's claret and cobalt (red and blue).  We found our seats - which were great, giving a fantastic view of the whole field - and settled in to watch the game.

Opening ceremony

The game, quite frankly, was terrible.  L.A.'s two biggest players, Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane, whom I was looking forward to seeing play, were both out with injuries.  This was probably for the best, as it turns out, because RSL got spanked even so, the Galaxy scoring two goals in the first fifteen minutes.  And after that, it was pretty much all over.  The crowd lost all its enthusiasm (and that's half the fun of being at a game) and RSL never recovered.  They did better maintaining possession in the second half, and there was an exciting flurry of numerous shots on goal towards the end, but they just couldn't put it in the net.

This Saturday we stayed home and watched the game vs. Vancouver on television.  The RSL boys played much better than last weekend, winning 2-0 and nabbing 3 points for the shut-out in the standings.  They still don't have much of a long game, however, preferring lots of little short passes and not switching fields to open up the game.  I think they rely too heavily on Nick Rimando too: yes, he's a fantastic goalkeeper but they should trust their midfield more to move the ball upfield and not pass back to the keeper so much.

no worries

After a do-nothing Saturday (yes, every now and again we have one of those), we weren't inclined to sit around the house again on Sunday.  We checked the trail conditions in Park City and determined that while they were likely too muddy for us to want to MTB, they were probably okay for hiking.  On our way to the trails, however, we stopped off for breakfast at a new place for us, the No Worries Cafe.

Just off I-80 in Parley's Summit, the No Worries Cafe & Grill is a tiny little breakfast and lunch spot that looks like it doubles its seating in the summer with tables on its deck outside.  It was quite busy but we didn't wait for longer than fifteen minutes and there's free coffee to sip while you wait.  They had some great-sounding specials on the multiple chalkboards but H and I went with some tried-and-true dishes from the regular menu:  huevos rancheros for him and biscuits and gravy for me.  I'll cut right to the chase: breakfast was really good.  H's huevos came out unassembled, which is kind of fun: a large, folded-up flour tortilla, scrambled eggs, beans, salsa, sour cream, cheese, hash browns, two strips of gorgeous bacon and a sizable dish of sliced jalapenos.  My biscuits and gravy were terrific, quite possibly the best I've had.  Two eggs (over medium), hash browns, two biscuits and sausage gravy, plus two sausage patties - all for $8.50.  The country-style gravy was hot and very good, flavorful and well-seasoned with plenty of sausage chunks.  I would go back to the No Worries Cafe any time.

We also had a minor celebrity sighting at breakfast: Jason Kreis, the head coach of Real Salt Lake, came in with his wife and sons.  I'm not sure how many other breakfasters besides us recognized him, and we certainly didn't let on that we knew who he was, but for anyone who knows anything about soccer he's kind of a cool guy: First team all-state (Nebraska) as a freshman in high school; while playing for his first MLS team, the Dallas Burn, he scored their inaugural goal, lead the league in goals and points, was the first American-born player named MLS MVP and was a five-time all-star; he was the first player hired to play for RSL when that team was founded, scored RSL's first goal and was the first player in MLS history to score 100 goals.  He's still the fifth highest scorer in MLS history, despite having retired in 2007 to take the head coaching job at RSL.  And, by all accounts, he's a really good coach which is not usually the case with really talented players.  Anyway, we saw him, he was eating eggs with his family, and we hope that his team does well in their playoff game this coming Thursday.

bad beer, worse officiating

H and I finally got to a Real Salt Lake soccer game tonight.  Someone at his work had vouchers for free tickets and, as I always say, you should never underestimate the power of free - we ended up with seats about eight rows up from the field near the north goal.  RSL was playing the Chicago Fire and although RSL is currently third in the Western Conference and the Fire is seventh in the Eastern Conference, Chicago blanked RSL 0-3.

This was actually one of the worst games of soccer we've ever seen.  The refereeing was absolutely appalling: nearly every single call was against Salt Lake, including a red card to a key midfielder in the 11th minute.  Chicago is an amazing bunch of actors and dove more than Jacques Cousteau.  RSL did manage to score in the second half, when it was already 0-3, but the ref called it back, we think for offsides although what with the scrum of players wrestling in front of the goal, I'm not sure how you could have been sure.

The best part of the game were the fans.  One corner of the stadium stood up and played music - drums, horns - constantly throughout the entire game.  Our section was not the family section due to the hilarious and obscene cheers and taunts emanating around us.  I don't think I've heard that much swearing since we moved to Utah (and I did feel back for the LDS family next to us, but their kids were savvy enough to plug their ears for the "Oooooooooooooooooo - you suck, @$$%!%#" on every goal kick).

That linesman right there? Awful.

Rio Tinto Stadium, Real Salt Lake's home field in Sandy, Utah, is a gorgeous little (20,000+ capacity) stadium, with a natural grass field and swooping roof sections that glow at night from the interior lights.  Their beer options, however, leave quite a bit to be desired: Budweiser, Bud Light, Shock Top and Michelob Amber-Bock (all Anheuser-Busch products).  We went with the "amber-bock" as it was the darkest option ($5.50 for a tiny; $9.00 for a large) and after the first couple of sips, H looked at me and asked, "Does this beer have any taste?"  No, no, it does not, for the record.

On the plus side, since parking at the stadium is quite limited, we learned that if you go to the Sandy Crown Burger (9604 South State St.) and purchase at least $14.00 worth of food, you can park for free in their lot for the duration of the soccer game, stadium located just about a block north between 9000 and 9400 South.  We had a Crown Burger combo and a Junior Crown Burger combo and were very happy about all of it.  Except the soccer game.  May RSL have better luck, and better referees, next time.

no joy in rsl-ville

Anyone who's interested in Real Salt Lake already knows this, but the boys did not prevail over Monterrey - nor even tie them - thus not winning the CONCACAF tournament and also breaking their 37-game home winning unbeaten streak.  We watched the second half of the first half (ha!) and all of the second half, and RSL just couldn't convert any of their opportunities.  Monterrey snuck in a goal right at the halftime whistle, not surprisingly since the ball had been down at the RSL end the whole time.  The second half was a little bit better, with RSL having some chances.  But they just couldn't do it (that Fabian Espindola was totally useless, too busy tossing his hair around to put the ball in the back of the net) and time just ran out on them.

'bout time

'bout time for a new post, wouldn't you say?  Unfortunately, there's not much to say and not much time to say it: Real Salt Lake is in the match of their lives tonight - vs. Monterrey for the CONCACAF Champions League finals, at home, 8:00 p.m. local time - and we have to scurry out to find a sports bar where we can watch it.

We did try a new sports bar last weekend, Bout Time Pub & Grub, at the Old Mill Village (i.e. strip mall) in Cottonwood Heights, sort of right between the Cotton Bottom and the Hog Wallow.  It wasn't anything special but had super-friendly staff, Full Suspension on tap and decent, if uninspiring, sports bar food.  I was intrigued, however, by the appetizer menu's Scotch Eggs (hard-boiled eggs wrapped in garlic sausage, breaded and deep-fried) and also the Bacon-Wrapped Olives (large green olives wrapped in bacon and deep-fried).  I didn't try either of those but if we ever go back, I may have to - if I got both, it'd be like breakfast what with both the bacon and the eggs.

I'll post again tomorrow with an RSL update - this is a pretty big deal for them, and American soccer in general.  One of these days we'll have to actually go to a live game!

do you believe in miracles?

If you're a Real Salt Lake fan, you sure do!  Total underdogs with an under .500 regular season.  Just barely squeaking into the playoffs in last place.  Knocking off 1st place Columbus in round one of the playoffs.  Beating Chicago in penalty kicks to advance to the finals ... and then beating Landon Donovan and David Beckham (and the rest of the L.A. Galaxy) to take the MLS Cup with a final score 1-1 and a win 5-4 on penalty kicks.  Sure, it sucks to win on penalty kicks, but it's sure better than losing on penalty kicks - and the Salt Lake goalie, Nick Rimando, was just awesome.

Good job, RSL! Bring that trophy on home!

underdogs

How about that Real Salt Lake, huh?  Winning in penalty kicks over the Chicago Fire to advance to the MLS finals!  Craziness.  They play against the Los Angeles Galaxy (Landon Donovan, David Beckham) in Seattle on Sunday, Nov. 22.  Go RSL!!!

utah 23, air force 16

October 24, 2009, Saturday. Because we are determined to throw ourselves wholeheartedly into being Utahans, we went to the U's homecoming football game against Air Force. I had swung by the Rice-Eccles Stadium on Tuesday to get tickets ($28 per) - so exciting, my first big college football game!

We'd heard on the radio that the UTA (Utah Transit Authority) was going to be running extra trains from our neck of the woods up to the stadium, so we thought we'd try that instead of fighting traffic and searching/paying for parking. Tickets were $4/per person round trip and the train dropped us off right at the stadium.



Although most of the crowd - about 45,000 in attendance - was awash in a sea of red, our seats were right by a bunch of Air Force cadets who'd road-tripped in from Colorado Springs. This kept things entertaining: whenever they got excited about something down on the field, they'd fling wrapped slices of processed cheese into the air like frisbees. The nearby Ute fans didn't care much for being smacked in the noggin with cheese, so a couple cadets were escorted from the stands for a while. (Security let them come back for the last quarter and the OT - I guess because Utahans are just nice.)


Even though our seats were in a corner and way up high, we had a great view of both the game (despite it not being that exciting until the Utes scored during overtime) and the storms which struck the nearby mountains with lightning before briefly drenching us in the first quarter. Neither team had much of a passing game, but here are the highlights: Air Force made a lot of first downs but couldn't seem to score; Utah had difficulty making their first downs but managed to score enough to win (eventually, 16-16 into overtime); and we did see the second longest pass reception for a touchdown in Utah's history - very exciting.


Afterwards the crowd was polite and orderly (as there's no beer allowed in Rice-Eccles, except for the cans of PBR the Air Force cadets snuck in) as we filed out of the stadium and onto our waiting trains ... until we picked up a bunch of soccer hooligans* on their way to Real Salt Lake's last regular season game. It took us about an hour to get back to our car at the light rail station's parking lot, plus drive-time home, although I suspect the commuting time during the week is much shorter.

Despite the less than dry weather, the less than thrilling play, the no beer at college venues and the longer than we expected travel times, we had a great time. And H is a little itchy to see better college ball, so I'm off to the ticket office tomorrow to try get seats for next Saturday's game against Wyoming. Go Utes!!!!
PS - BYU got totally blown out in their game this weekend against TCU, so our random decision to become Utes fans rather than Cougars fans is paying off. Note to selves: must buy more red outerwear!

* Loud and raucous (a la "the game hasn't started but I'm already drunk"), singing songs from their printed playlists (these are very well-organized soccer fans) and hooting into their kazoos, they kept us entertained for several stops before disembarking for the Rio Tinto Stadium. Not very hooligan-y in actual fact, just noisy and boisterous. BTW, final score: Real Salt Lake 3, Colorado 0 ... RSL earned the last MLS playoff spot - home game TBD!