Utah Saints

Hey dudes. Greetings from Salt Lake City. Home of the Mormon church and host of the 2002 Winter Olympics. Er, and that's about it. Yet i love it here. This place is about as far away from Vegas as you can get, on a moral compass that is. They are only 500 miles away from each other geographically but as home of the Mormon church it is a far cry from the carnage of Sin City. It seems such a laid back chilled out place and is uber clean. We are staying south of downtown SLC not far from highway 215 or the belt route as it is called (it runs from east to west in the shape of a large smile that looks like a belt, i guess). I am so relieved that we have a car here. Although we are no more than a 3 minute walk to our local tram into the city, SLC is spread out over a huge valley, enclosed by tall snow capped mountains. Our car, or T.I.L.T as we have named it, is a huge white Jeep and has allowed us to explore the local townships and even get to some outlet malls. We called our car TILT for 2 reasons. One, because it is a poker term but mostly because it stands for Tiny Incey Little Tank. Not because he is a bulky jeep that handles like a tank but because the fuel tank in it is measly. On our drive over from Vegas we had only covered 100 miles and used half a tank of petrol! We pulled into a garage to fill up. I feared we had a huge 5 litre gas guzzling machine which would cost us hundreds of bucks in petrol but when i filled it up it only took $20. Handy as we are gonna be covering a lot of Terra firma in the next few weeks. I had forgotten just how much i love driving over here. Yes, it takes some people some time to get used to driving on the other side of the road but i seem to slot into it no problem. It helps as well that most American cars are just like driving huge golf carts. No clutch, no changing gears and very un-aerodynamic.

So, we were supposed to go to a skier only resort the other day called Alta. It is consistently ranked one of the top resorts in America so i was super excited about going. However, we never made it. Kate hurt her foot in Vegas and it has not got any better. Well, it has improved a little but she didn't want to risk hurting it more and ruining the rest of the trip. So we rested it a day and checked out the local area and did some shopping. The next day we decided to test her foot on some skis. We also decided to go to a smaller, quieter resort called Solitude. Again, another highly ranked resort. It was amazing! The snow was awesome. Fresh, dry, grippy and most importantly, lots of it. We skied a lot of easier runs to ease ourselves back into it before hitting a lot more steeper and more challenging slopes. We also ventured over to the little terrain park which consisted of a small jump, a bigger jump, a rail and a box. Not quite The remarkables but good for us. Kate even hit the little jump. Well, she rode over it but i was super amazed that she jibbed the box! I couldn't believe it. I told her that it was easy but thought she'd bottle it. She hit it with way too much speed, aired onto it, then aired off. She was well pleased with herself and hit it a few more times throughout the day. She'll probably turn into a right little park rat now. I'm very proud of her and forget sometimes that she is still a beginner.

We rode solidly for about 4 hours before calling it a day, not wanting to push it too much. We're not as flexible or as fit as we once were. We spent the next day nursing a few aches and strains but managed to get in some shopping. I decided i needed a change so treated myself to some new ski gear. Although the Dollar is not as weak as it once was against the pound, stores here are already selling this seasons stuff off cheap. The ski season doesn't finish for a few more months but there are end of season sales everywhere. I basically got a new jacket and new ski pants for around $150 cheaper than it should've been. Kate treated herself to a new beannie and touched about 37 pairs of ski pants she wanted but didn't buy, naturally. She took a spill at Solitude the other day and managed to slice her trousers with her newly sharpened edges. I had spent the previous afternoon tuning both our skis so they would run smooth. I imagine she will buy some new trousers eventually, especially since everywhere we will visit from now on will have a end of season sale.

I wanted to go skiing again today but Kate was still feeling rough so I decided to go on my own. I wanted to go to Alta but as the weather is a bit dodgy and it is a massive resort, i decided to go back to Solitude. It is our closest hill, and i knew my way around so wasn't going to be worried about getting lost in the bad weather. When i got there the weather cleared and i had an awesome day hitting the more advanced slopes i can't do with Kate and hitting the jumps in the park. It felt so good to be out there at the top of the world, just me and my music. Very relaxing but quite energetic all at once.

Hopefully Kate will feel up to some skiing tomorrow and i won't be too achy from all my exploits today. We haven't been converted to Mormons yet either. I'm keen to be fair but only because of the polygamy. I don't think I'd like all the church stuff. Plus the Mormons we met when we were in the city centre were super nice. Almost too nice for me, almost sinister. Their church was pretty impressive though and we got to see where the Tabernacle choir perform. I very much doubt i will be converted though so don't panic. I reckon I'd be kicked out after a few weeks anyway.

Anyway dudes, i have to chill now and enjoy the bible channel.

Peace, and may God be with you. Nah, it just doesn't sound right coming from me.

D

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