lost my head

Sunday dawned cool and breezy with high, thin clouds, so we opted for some far-ranging exploration: driving west across the valley to the base of the largely imprenetrable Oquirrh Mountains (largely imprenetrable from their eastern slopes because of the hugenormous Kennecott copper mine that restricts public access).  We ended up with two strikes - attempting to drive up Butterfield Canyon: road not yet open for the season; and attempting to check out the Wild Horse and Burro center: open to the public M-F 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. - before saying the hell with it, let's just drive all the way around Utah Lake.

The lakes and reservoirs out here are the total opposite of lakes and ponds back in Maine: there are hardly any houses on the shorelines.  A lot of this is due to watershed issues, of course, but as we trundled down the western shore of Utah Lake, past the Oquirrhs and the smaller, rolling Lake Mountains, all BLM or state land trust land to the west, even the privately-owned (per the UT Gazeteer) land right on the edge of the lake was unbuilt - even the not swampy bits.  Weird.  But nice to be able to see the lake for sure.

As we went further south - turning to the east at Elmira, cruising through Goshen at the lake's southern terminus, turning north back along the lake in Genola - the land use turned to farming, first cattle and sheep (and lots of adorable lambs), then acres and acres of orchards, apples and peaches and perhaps cherries.  We saw a lone proghorn antelope, a gorgeous male pheasant and a bunch of white pelicans, dipping their bills into the weeds at the lake's bank.

The route home was uneventful.  We avoided the interstate, sticking to Route 89 which took us through Spanish Fork, Provo, Pleasant Grove, etc.  It's funny to drive through these urban areas on Sundays and not see anything - save a tattoo parlor or maybe a Mexican restaurant - open.  But this is Utah County, with an extremely high concentration of Mormons, and things just close on Sunday.

When we got back closer to home, I had H drop me off at the Bells Canyon parking lot.  He continued back to the house to take a bike ride while I headed up the trail.  Why?  Not just for the exercise, but because on our hike there last weekend, we found an entire mule deer skeleton, complete with skull.  And I wanted the skull.  Back east, my dad has a fantastic collection of animal skulls and bones - quite nearly an ossuary, including an elk jaw, a moose skull and a porcupine skull a moose jaw, deer skulls and a beaver skull that I found washed up on their beach - and, thus inspired, I've started a collection of my own out here.  I have only fragments right now - part of a moose's thigh bone, a couple of vertebra and a portion of a jaw (with teeth).  So to find a whole deer was a total find - the skull was still attached to the neck even. 

My current [meager] collection

I had intended to go back up the canyon earlier, Sunday or Monday, but the week just got away from me.  And, of course, I'd waited too long: the skull was gone.  Maybe some critter dragged it off for gnawing purposes; a couple of the deer's legs had been moved into the underbrush.  But more likely some other human collector spied the find and determined not to look a gift skull in the mouth.  I searched around the clearing just in case, but it was gone and I walked home, lesson learned: a skull in the hand is worth two in the bush.

The one that got away - and yes, I should have

taken the skull when I took the picture

strolling on the shoreline trail

From about 32,000 years ago until +/- 14,000 years ago, all of the greater Salt Lake valley was under water.  This was Lake Bonneville and at its highest, covered around 19,800 square miles and was around 1,000 feet deep.  When it started to dry up, it left behind the Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake and several others.  Now, there is a single-track trail that follows the former shoreline for 100 miles; it's proposed to add another 180 miles, and thereby stretch from Idaho to Nephi, Utah. 

Looking up/east from the Bonneville Shoreline Trail

We found an access point at Hidden Valley in Sandy (there are lots of trail heads but you have to hunt for them) and did an out-and-back, about 1.5 hours each way.  The trail is in good shape, level and well-packed, running north/south along the eastern bench.  There are a few ups and downs as side canyons and creeks are crossed, but for the most part it's pretty level.  Made me want a mountain bike and soon!  For future exploration we noted several trails heading east (and up) into the mountains: Bear Creek and Cherry Canyon.

A at Bear Creek

There were a number of other folks out enjoying the trail and the day, sunny and mostly clear, although not hot.  Mountain bikers, hikers and trail-runners all take advantage of this great trail.  H and I spent a lot of time stopping and gawking, picking out landmarks and searching for wildlife - the rocky crags above us seemed perfect for mountain goats (but alas, no).  The wildflowers are just starting to come out, however: the gorgeous alpine meadows won't be in full bloom until late June/early July but the teeny high desert flowers are brave enough to begin to show their colorful faces now.

Teeny and tough in this climate

salt city burgers

Friday night was once again Date Night, as I refused to cook.  After we drove around suburban southern Sandy for what seemed like HOURS, trying to find the REI - which, we knew where it was supposed to be but since it was on a mall perimeter road, we couldn't see it from any of the main streets; and then once we could see it, we couldn't actually figured out how to get to it, but we did, finally - we decided to just stay south and find some place that wasn't a chain to eat.  Since we'd just been to Fratelli Ristorante last weekend, pretty much the only thing that was left was Salt City Burgers.  They don't serve beer but it was closing in on 9:00 p.m. at this point and I was getting desperate.

I'll give Salt City Burgers an "it was okay, and certainly better than fast-food burgers (except maybe Crown Burgers) but I'm not sure how soon we'll go back."  The food was pretty good: the burgers themselves good-sized and juicy.  They're served on just their buns with whatever cheese you've selected, and if you get a bacon burger, the bacon is chopped up and mixed in with the ground beef, which is a nice touch.  There's a condiment bar which, while not that inventive, certainly had a lot of pickles and you could have your burger your way however that way might be.  It would have been nice if our server had mentioned the condiment bar, however - we only figured it out from watching other diners.  If you go, I would suggest splitting the sides.  H ordered fries and I ordered onion rings (quite good), and we certainly didn't need both, the orders were so big (something else the server might have mentioned).

As I said, there's no beer at SCB, but they do have ice cream, serving a selection of milkshakes, malts, floats, ice cream sodas and sundaes.  We didn't get any (the shakes are kind of spendy at $4.99) but that's something I might consider going out for as a treat some time.  They sure looked good.

And the lack of beer with dinner worked out just fine - plenty of cold PBR ($0.50/can) in the fridge when we got home. 

slc's living room

Sunday we awoke still creaky but slightly less hobbled than the day before, and decided that an easy hike with a big view payoff was just what we needed. After fueling up at Sharon's Cafe (see prior post), we drove to downtown SLC, winding our way through the office complexes on the periphery of the U until we found a trailhead (there are several) on Colorow Drive. There were lots of cars: it was late morning on a beautiful day and folks were out and about with their running shoes and mountain bikes and well-behaved dogs.

Springtime sagebrush and wildflowers

Our goal was to find The Living Room, an overlook on a red sandstone ridge. The trails are not well-marked, and there are many of them, including the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, but the hiking books had given us a clue, and we headed up a well-used path that started in sagebrush,skirting first one side, then the other, of a ravine. Once we started meeting lots of people and their dogs (labs, goldens, pugs, Boston terriers, huskies, blue heelers, mutts) on their way back down, we figured we were going in the right direction.

H pauses to pose on the way up

After 45 minutes of steady climbing on easy footing, we reached The Living Room, so-called because people have constructed chairs, sofas, ottomans and coffee tables out of the natural slabs of red sandstone so that the great view may be taken in in comfort and style. And the view is truly fantastic: the whole valley stretched out before us, from Antelope Island and the Great Salt Lake all the way down past the Point of the Mountain, and the magnificent Wasatch and Oquirrh mountains lining the east and west sides. We picked out my office building and the Library downtown, found our seats at the U's Eccles-Rice Stadium, watched some plane traffic at the airport, counted the canyons in the Wasatches (City Creek, Red Butte, Emigration, Mill Creek, Little Cottonwood, Big Cottonwood, Bells). The trees are just starting to put out their leaves and everything was remarkably green - amazing for a city as full of people as this one.

Taking a break on one of the sofas

Some other hikers had arrived by then and one of them was awfully chatty, so we kept climbing a little higher to a second overlook. Most people don't bother going any higher so the trail was pretty sparse; it was much steeper than the trail to TLR and the footing was kind of loose, so it took us another 45 minutes roundtrip just for that portion. But up above gets you right on top of Red Butte Ridge, above what little snow is left in these south-facing hills, and you can see down into Red Butte Canyon and Red Butte Reservoir. After admiring the scenery for a while, we picked our way back down to the main trail and then fairly flew back down to the car in about 20 minutes - solid footing and an easy grade make for quick walking.

The view south along the east bench

We'd been good about drinking lots of water but at this point were a different kind of parched, deciding to stop in at Squatter's since we were in the neighborhood (sort of not really but close enough). After a couple of pints of Full Suspension pale ale, we headed back down south to home and, surprisingly, managed to get in a couple of hours of yardwork (raking, seeding, weeding, planting) before calling it quits for the day. Not surprisingly, it was early to bed that night. These activity-filled weekends are exhausting - it's great!

mangia

We tried two new restaurants this weekend.  The first was on Friday night, "date night" - by which I mean "I don't really care what we do - even ordering pizza in is fine - I just don't want to cook."  We'd been perusing the Salt Lake City Weekly's annual "Best Of" issue, looking for new places: I found a Mexican place that was listed as having the "best $1.00 margaritas" but when we actually found the restaurant, we decided that $1.00 'ritas were just not worth it. 

So we went to the "best South Valley restaurant" and "best Italian:" Fratelli Ristorante, located not too far from our house.  Fratelli had also been recommended to me by my work neighbor Jody who said that they had great piccatas.  We sat by the bar area for a few minutes, quaffing Cutthroat pale ales while we waited for our table.  It was busy but we didn't wait too long; the restaurant has a good number of tables in a modern setting.  The prices were quite reasonable and the portions hefty without being ridiculous: chewy bread was served (and replenished) with olive oil; H had the chicken piccata which came with a small side salad ($14); and I had the mixed green salad (HUGE with spinach, romaine, pickled beets, peppered artichoke hearts, garbanzo beans and gorgonzola for $7) and a thin-crust margherita pizza ($9).  They have a full bar but I also think that I saw a young couple bring in their own bottle of wine.  Very tasty and we'll be back again for sure.

On Sunday we knocked off another one: "best old homey dining" at Sharon's Cafe in Holladay.  We found a couple of seats at the diner's counter and in no time were being served by Sharon herself.  The joint was hoppin' with quick turnover at the booths and tables; the waitstaff were very friendly and very busy.  H had a Western omelet with homefries (which seemed on the small side for a "three" egg omelet, and the homefry portion was meager); I had two eggs over-medium (just barely), homefries (warm but not at all crispy as I prefer them), a warm biscuit and four immense slices of the best bacon I've found yet in greater SLC.  I am totally up for Wife of the Year since I let H have one of them.  We liked Sharon's better than the Over the Counter Cafe, but it's not threatening the Other Place or Ruth's for our "best of" title.

bells canyon

It's the weekend: it's sunny and in the high 60s; the lawn needs seeding, the flowerbeds desperately need weeding and you've both come up lame in the knees and hips - what do you do?  You go hiking, of course.  

There's a major hiking/mountain biking trail that runs all along the Wasatch Front - the Bonneville Shoreline Trail - that we'd been wanting to get on, despite not being entirely sure where any access points are, so we got some water and started driving along the eastern bench, looking for trailheads.  We found one just minutes from our house and while it wasn't the Shoreline Trail, it was the trail to Bells Canyon, the canyon just to the south of Little Cottonwood Canyon.  The trailhead is quite swanky, paved with lots of parking spaces, and a nicely landscaped path up through a very nice subdivision. 

Bells Canyon Creek - catch & release only

The trail was quite steep right away but flattened out at the now-drained Bells Canyon reservoir.  There were lots of people clambering on the rocks and sitting in the sun by the shallow remains of the reservoir; we kept going, following the path around the edge, up a jeep trail and then through a gentle, boulder-strewn meadow.  The sun was strong but pleasant and soon we were in some bigger trees, walking alongside the briskly-flowing Bells Canyon Creek.  The crowd soon thinned out and although we met a number of folks on their way down as we went up, this was not a crowded hike by any means.

Where we turned around

It didn't take too long before we found ourselves some snow.  The footing was a little sketchy especially since my hip was screaming at me whenever I had any lateral movement (stupid hip flexors).  But although it was a little slippery - and we kicked ourselves for forgetting our hiking poles - the built-in air conditioning was very nice.  Soon we were far enough into the canyon that dramatic cliffs were looming over us; we looked in vain for mountain goats.

North wall of the canyon

After 1.5 hours the trail started getting pretty steep, we decided that was enough for one day what with the footing and sore joints, figuring we'd check the hiking books back at home to find out what we didn't get to.  What we didn't get to was two waterfalls and a striking isolated lake in a cirque - we have to go back!

the itchy and scratchy show

One of our biggest expenditures out here, aside from lift tickets and beer*, has been moisturizer.  Living in the desert is tough on one's skin.  Protection from the sun aside, it's just DRY and arms, legs, backs and bellies just ITCH.  I keep catching H scratching his back on doorjambs; and my fingers and hands are just a disaster - the cuticles in shreds, and the backs of my hands looking ancient in direct light.

We've been trying everything: your basic Vaseline Intensive Care lotion; Lubriderm (and have just switched over to the version with SPF15 for everyday use); Udderly Smooth udder cream; Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula with vitamin E; and Bag Balm for the really bad areas.  My latest experiment is with pure virgin coconut oil, found in the cooking oils aisle of your local Whole Foods.  It's a waxy solid to start, but melts into oil quickly and rubs right in.  It's pretty good but it's light and doesn't have much staying power.  The best combination is using both the coconut oil and the cocoa butter because then I smell delicious, like a Mounds bar.

So what do you current and former desert-dwellers recommend?  What's your secret to not shriveling up and flaking away?

*  A self-proclaimed beer snob for most of my beer-drinking life, I have started drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon.  Although I still prefer craft beer/microbrews, a really cold can of PBR is totally doable.  It's also totally cheaper: a 30-pack of PBR cans is $14-16, which is the same price range as a 12-pack of Uinta Cutthroat pale ale.  And I am nothing if not cheap.  Oh, H and I still drink Utah micros when we go out, but at home, PBR is the house beer these days.

retraction

Alta got fifteen more inches of snow last night.  Guess summer's not here quite yet!

okay, so a little less summery

On Sunday we did not go skiing, despite Alta's continued base depth of 133 inches, nor did it particularly seem like summer, dawning overcast, breezy and cool-ish. No lounging around the house for us, however: we got up and were at Ruth's Diner by 8:05 a.m. We hadn't been to Ruth's since early December and while the menu seemed slightly different, the appetizer biscuits were still sky-high and the coffee was still strong and hot. The food was still dang good too: H had an enormous breakfast burrito - the accompanying pinto beans were cold, which was too bad - and I branched out to the sweet side of the menu, trying french toast made with pecan cinnamon rolls. Delicious and only about eight million calories, I'm sure.

It was still overcast and windy when we left Ruth's so we continued up Emigration Canyon, stopping to stretch our legs and spot a moose way up on the hill at Little Dell Reservoir. After that, realizing that we really didn't have to be anywhere in particular, we did a little bit of exploring, heading south-ish and east-ish to the farmlands of Francis - a threadbare red fox trotted down the middle of the road in front of us for a while; and a young moose relaxing in the scrub stared back at us when we stopped to stare at him - and then on to Midway. Midway is a lovely little town, with adorable tiny old houses and storefronts on the main street. It's also home to Soldier Hollow, where the 2002 Olympics' Nordic events were held and where the border collie trials take place now. We made a loop of the drive, continuing along the lower Provo River - spying a huge bald eagle sitting in a tree on the riverbank - through Provo Canyon and then back home.

Our day wasn't over yet, however! I had a coupon for 10% off a total purchase at Lowe's so off we went for a cheap-o gas grill and a cheap-o lawnmower. We then spent the next 2+ hours assembling the grill*, but that was fine since we were outside in the springtime with no blackflies to bother us. We must have done enough of it correctly because it worked well enough to cook dinner - I'm thrilled to have a grill again ... and equally thrilled to not have to put bugstuff on just to use it.

* Belated HUGE thanks to H's dad for putting our last grill together for us lo those many years ago. There are really a lot of pieces involved - what a job!

first day of "summer"

Although we only just got past the first day of spring calendar-wise, I'm calling today the first day of summer.  Lawnmowers have been buzzing all afternoon around the neighborhood (note to self: must get lawnmower, the cheapest one available since the lawn is small).  H went for a bike ride today in a short-sleeved kit and reported 68 degrees from a bank sign (note to self: put up outdoors thermometer).  B and I did a little backyard clean-up - hard to know what's a plant and what's a weed in an early garden that's new to you - and then sat in the sun, drinking a PBR and reading the latest Stephen King book, Under the Dome.  And I'm a little pink now: should have put sunscreen on even though it was after 3:30 p.m. when I sat down.  The clouds have moved in now, dropping the temperature some, but I'm still saying that summer started today.  Awesome.