Quick Update

Hello again,
  I'm sorry I can't seem to update our blog more than once a week, but Brad and I have been busy.  Actually, Brad was supposed to update this blog last night, but he went fly fishing instead.  I'm trying to get him to update the blog because I'm really starting to get sick of hearing myself talk!  We don't have too much to report this week.  Our work week was busy for both of us, but I can tell that I'm starting to get stronger at my job which is a good thing.  My goal this week is to get out more often after work for some exercise.  Brad had a few late nights with his job this past week and on top of that he was on call on Wednesday and this weekend so our weekend was a bit low key.

On Friday night, we went to the Adventure Party that Backcountry.com (my employer) was sponsoring. It was a nice event that had free booze, food and zipline rides up in Park City.  The party was located right at the base of the 2002 Olympic ski jump (pictured below).  Brad and I took a zip line tour which was fun and then tried to do the alpine slide but the wait was too long.  It was interesting to take a ski lift up without any snow on the ground or skis on your feet!

2002 SLC Olympic ski jump in Park City

This is the summer training site for ski jumping.  We actually saw an athlete jump off with skis into the water.
Very Cool!

On Saturday morning, we slept in a bit and then I went out and had a really nice run.  I upped my mileage and I have been able to push myself during my runs which is so much more fun than how I was feeling before.  In the afternoon, we went to the pool (like we do every weekend) and both of us felt good in the water.  The pool was really crowded, probably due to the university being back in session, but it made for good people watching.  Brad and I observed a couple taking glamour shots all over the pool area.  We couldn't quite figure out what they were doing since they didn't have any professional photography gear.  

On Saturday night, we made a homemade pizza and then went to the movies to see "Our Idiot Brother."  It was a funny movie and we enjoyed our night out. 

On Sunday, we got up early to do a ride up Emigration Canyon.  We both biked faster than our previous time.  It's nice to see that we are starting to make progress on our fitness base.  Brad has been spending a lot time watching our hummingbird feeder.  He is very diligent with making the sugar water and changing it once a week.  He is fascinated with the birds and I'm glad it is keeping his interest.  Here is a video we took during one of our dinners in our backyard.

So, that was mainly our weekend, (like I said, nothing too crazy).  We were really worried about Hurricane Irene and the impact she could have on the East Coast, so we spent a lot of our time looking at Facebook updates and the news.  I'm shocked to see how badly Cranford, my hometown got hit.  The flooding is horrendous.  My parents got hit bad in northeastern PA too.  They had several trees down on their property and one even fell on our barn.  They had significant water in the basement because the power went out and the sump pump couldn't do it's job and therefore, they lost their furnace and freezer. However, everyone (all pets included) are safe so that's what matters most.  I hope my parents can get power back soon though!

Brad and I are going to try to see Thievery Corporation at an outdoor concert venue for free this Thursday and then we are both looking forward to the long weekend.  I can't believe September arrives this week!  Brad is excited to go on a fly fishing trip with some orthopaedic staff in Idaho and I am excited to host my friend, Bethany.  In a week from today, I will have earned my discount from Backcountry, so if anyone wants the Bro Code discount (wholesale price + 40%) let me know because I can give out to anyone.  I'm really missing the East Coast today and I wish I could be there to help everyone with their flooded basements.  I hope to have some more fun updates in a week....so stay tuned!

Weekend Wreckage

Hello, hello!
  Another week has gone by and I didn't have a chance to update our blog, but we did have a very busy week.  I need to try to update this blog more frequently, so I don't forget to share important details about life in SLC.  Here are highlights from this past week:
Monday - I found out I had the highest bid for a standup paddleboard (SUP) in an auction at my job at Backcountry.  SOOO exciting!  I still need to buy a paddle for it, but even though we are not on the coast, I found out there are several bodies of water that we can paddleboard on and it's a very popular sport in the area.  They even have SUP competitions throughout the summer.  Another popular event is Full Moon SUP on the Great Salt Lake. I'm very excited to try out this new sport and get a good ab workout!

My new SUP next to my new MTB.

Tuesday - Brad and I went to see the Gypsy Kings at the Red Butte Amphitheatre.  Except we didn't buy tickets, instead we hiked up to a hill that is above the amphitheatre and listened to the concert for free.  It was quite the scene - a lot of people had the same idea we did and they brought chairs, blankets, picnics, drinks, dogs, kids, and bikes.  It worked out great because we didn't want to stay for the entire concert since Brad and I both leave the house at 5:30 am for work, but it was very fun to hear the Gypsy Kings live.  We will try to go back and hear more concert before the series ends in the fall.

A view of the amphitheatre.

The "scene" on the hill.  Brad is on the left...

Sunset view during the concert.

Wednesday and Thursday were both busy with work.  Brad had a long day of work on Thursday and by the time Friday rolled around, we were both exhausted.  We did motivate ourselves to get out and go for a mountain bike ride.  Although, we weren't able to successfully complete the ride since I crashed on my bike.  It was a totally amateur move and I basically froze while maneuvering over rocks while riding uphill and I basically fell right over on my bike with my feet still clipped in.  My hand and hip took the worst hit and I have some sightly bruises, but I was okay - just a bit shaken.  Brad was kind enough to ride back with me even though I told him to continue on without me.  After some tears and a hot shower, I felt good enough to grab dinner at a local burger joint.  A greasy avocado burger with fries and a mint marshmallow shake sure hit the spot!

Saturday - We woke up early and although my body was banged up, I headed out for a run.  The morning was beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed my run.  Brad headed out on his mountain bike for a trail ride.  Unfortunately, when he came back to the house, he was all banged up and bleeding.  He had crashed while going downhill and his back took the brunt of it.  On top of it, he realized his phone fell out of his jersey and so he had to go back to the site of the crash to retrieve it.  Luckily, it was still there when he went back, and he shot this picture of the scene of the accident.  I guess both of us were due for a wreck!  We both got cleaned up and went to the pool for some suntanning and relaxing.  Later that day, we attended a dinner party for fellows and residents.  It was nice to meet the attending doctors Brad works with as well as other fellows in the orthopedic department.  It didn't hurt that the event had an Epic Brewery beer tasting going on!

Brad took a picture of where he wrecked.  Ouch!

Brad made this BLT for himself on Saturday and it looked too professional for me to not take a picture of it!

Sunday - Brad got up early and headed out to try some fly fishing out on the Provo River near Park City.  He didn't catch anything, but was happy to get familiar with the area.  Kindness to Brad for sending me this picture text:

I had the opportunity to have a lazy Sunday morning and so I read the New York Times (courtesy of my sister) while drinking my tea.  To cap off our weekend, we plan on making multigrain pizza with fontina cheese, bacon, and baby bellas.  I'm not excited for our weekend to end, but life is certainly good out in SLC so I can't complain.  Thanks for reading!

Tour of Utah

I hope everyone had a great weekend.  Brad and I made the most of ours!  We got an early start to our day on Saturday and headed out for a ride.  We biked up City Creek Canyon this time.  It's a 5.7 mile ride up the canyon, but it's quite a bit steeper than Emigration Canyon.  The last mile of the climb was HARD!  The ride was convenient since on odd days the canyon road is closed to cars, so a lot of people were out with their dogs, on bikes, and there was even a trail running race going on.  Unfortunately, we had to obey the speed limit on the way down which was 15 mph...our hands hurt from braking almost as bad as our legs hurt from climbing.  After our ride, we ran some quick errands and picked up some meat to make our own beef jerky.  Our landlords left behind their dehydrator and Brad and I are both beef jerky lovers.  I used to own a dehydrator in college and we actually used to make beef jerky in our dorm (anyone remember that in JB?).  Anyways, Brad mixed together two different marinades for the beef and we let it sit in the fridge overnight.  We then jumped on our bikes and headed to see the Tour of Utah.  The Tour is said to be one of the top 3 best professional bike races in the country.  It has 5 stages and let me tell you, it's intense!  The last stage is from Park City to Snowbird - so after descending from Park City, the riders have to climb Little Cottonwood Canyon which has 8-12 % grades!  We got to watch stage 4, which was a 7.4 mile loop that the riders raced around 11 times.  Part of the course was not far from our house, so we biked over and stationed ourselves under the shade of a tree.  Spectators next to us told us to be really careful and not to sit too close to the curb since the riders come flying downhill around the corner and are only inches away from the curb (precisely where we were sitting).  Our spectator neighbors also told us we had found really good seats to watch the stage and they were absolutely right!  When the lead pack came around the corner, it was amazing!  They were flying!  Soon after they flew past us, their support cars came flying around the corner at insane (dangerous) speeds.  About a minute later, the peloton came flying by and even more support cars for them.  It was very exciting and totally caused goosebumps for me.  We stayed to watch 3 or 4 more laps in that area before moving up to the President's Circle on the University's campus where we could see the riders climb a hill.  As the race went on the peloton moved closer to the lead group as well as more riders fell off the peloton pack.  We're not sure if there was a crash or if people were just hurting, but I felt so bad for these lonely riders trying to finish the stage on their own.  I have some video of the event for all you blog readers!

Above is the lead pack.

Here's the peloton!

Here's the lead pack climbing in the President's Circle.

And then down the other side.

On Saturday night, Brad and I ventured out to try sushi in SLC.  The place we tried, Kyoto was very busy and without reservations they could only seat us at the sushi bar - which was fine with us!  I'll be honest, the sushi wasn't anywhere near as good as it is in Providence, but the eel roll was decent.  Brad liked the sushi better than I did, so I may use this year to try different (non-sushi) items on Japenese menus.

On Sunday, Brad and I ventured out for another ride on our road bikes (Brad's mtb bike was getting tuned) and we did Emigration Canyon again.  We really worked the downhill and had a lot of fun flying down the canyon's 7+ miles.  Later on while Brad's beef jerky was dehydrating, we went to the pool to catch some rays and swim some laps.

Brad's beef jerky in the process of dehydrating.

The weekend isn't yet over, but I think Brad and I made the most of our weekend.  We're about to make some beef satays for dinner and then relax for the rest of the night to prepare us for the week ahead.  Our 5 am wake up call is SOOO early, but I hope this week will be a bit easier for me than last week.

All work and no play...

Well not exactly...We've been kind of boring, but not entirely.  Over the weekend, we tried two restaurants that we were pleased with especially since both were in our neighborhood.  We also went mountain biking (on our new bikes)!  We biked to a trailhead of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and rode a few miles on it.  Mountain biking is VERY different from road biking.  I really struggled with sections of the trail and I hope with more practice, I can improve.  I think I did a little better on Sunday, but I was still a little frustrated with myself.   For this weekend, we are thinking of driving to a trailhead and taking the Dog Lake trail which is supposed to be a "must do" on utahmountainbiking.com.  We also took advantage of our gym membership and went to the pool on Saturday.  We lounged in the sun and when an open lane opened up, we jumped in a did a workout.  Since it's always sunny here and very warm AND there is an outdoor pool, all the ladies wear two-piece swim suits.  Well, I was wanting a two-piece too and it turned out that Brad needed new suits and paddles, so I threw in a grab bag 2-piece suit into our cart from swimoutlet.com.  Our order came in on Monday and Brad and I tested our new suits out last night.  I love my new Speedo two-piece!!

In other news, I started my new job at Backcountry.com.  It's never easy starting a new job, but I have 2 full days under my belt and I'm getting the hang of it.  Once I have worked at Backcountry for 30 days, I can start getting my awesome employee discount and I will also get a friends and family discount that I will give out which is called a "Bro Discount."  You can use the code as often as you like and items will be priced at Backcountry (wholesale) cost + 40%.  I stand and walk all day long at my job, so it's physically exhausting and I hope my body will adapt to it soon.  It's very different from sitting at a desk job all day which is what I was accustomed to.  I keep telling myself that I'm so fortunate to not be sitting on my butt all day when my legs and feet get tired.

Brad's fellowship is going well and he is also adjusting to a new job and figuring out where everything is located.  We're starting to think about some possible trips/vacations we want to take while we're out here, but it's tough since neither of our schedules are set in stone right now.  It's still nice to think about where we want to travel. 

So basically, we've been focusing on work all this week (and being boring) and we will probably continue to be boring until we don't feel so new at our jobs anymore.  That being said, I will try to not be as boring and have some fun stuff to talk about (with pictures) for our next update on the blog. 

Stay tuned...

Sunsets Galore

Brad and I have been trying to check out the sunset each night.  We have a nice view from the balcony in the front of our house.  Here's a glimpse of the view we are treated to on most nights:

You can see the Capitol on the right side of the tree.

We've been getting thunderstorms in the afternoons or evenings pretty frequently.  It's cool to see the storms rolling in through the wide open sky.  I officially bought my mountain bike and I'm excited to head out on a trail with it.  I biked to the pool this morning and I still feel like I need to make some adjustments with how it fits.  Brad bought his bike tonight from the same bike shop as me.  He ended up with a Trek Cobia that he got for a good price.  So, now we will be a Trek mountain bike team!  I can't wait to head down to southern Utah with our new bikes.

I still can't get over how I can go to the pool at any time and there will be numerous lanes open for swimming.  I swam 3000 meters on my own on Wednesday and I plan to join up with a masters group next week.  I'm really excited to be able to swim long course outside.  Even better is that lounge chairs line the perimeter of the pool, so when I get out from my swim, I can dry out in the hot sun. I'm thinking chlorine + sun = free highlights!

A view of the pool from my lounge chair.

Brad and I are really starting to get acquainted with how the grid system works in the city.  My iPhone still comes in handy, but it's nice that I'm getting my sense of direction.  We really like that it is a bike friendly city and I really like the selection of radio stations.  One station is great alternative rock, while another station frequently plays 80's Madonna - who doesn't love to hear her when you're driving around?!  We are also looking forward to seeing some of those "must see" sights now that we are settled in.  On the top of my list is to go hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during one of their rehearsals and I also want to check out some of the 2002 Winter Olympic sites.

Hills, Hills, and More Hills

The highlight of our weekend was definitely our ride on Sunday.  We biked 11 miles up Emigration Canyon, gaining 2000 ft.  It was a nice cool morning and Brad and I didn't experience that lung-burning feeling we had the first time we went out on our bikes.  The 11 miles back down was a breeze too.

A view of SLC valley from atop Emigration Canyon.

The reservoir at the top of Emigration Canyon.

I had a beautiful run this morning and got to explore a new neighborhood.  I'm also loving my new kicks.  The color of my shoes motivates me to get out and run!  My runs are still hurting (a lot) - I think I just need to get used to this hill theme...my first 2 miles were all uphill, and then my next 2 miles were all downhill.

My new snazzy Mizunos!

Brad and I went mountain bike shopping on Saturday and test rode some bikes.  I'm going out again today to test ride a few more bikes and then hopefully I will purchase one before the end of the week.   

So far, this is my top contender - a women's specific design (WSD) Trek Mamba,  but I need to do some more researching and chatting with local bike shops.

And this is Brad's top contender so far.  A Cannondale SL 2 29er.

We made a new friend in our neighborhood.  She is a birman cat with bright blue eyes and is very sweet.  We enjoyed her company as we dined outside on our patio on Sunday night.  We also saw another cat in our backyard, so I will have to remember to pick up some cat treats at the store.  Our landlords have a fondness for cats and there is a lot of catnip planted around the house, so we may make a lot of cat friends in this next year.

Our cat friend looks like this.  We will have to give her a nickname.  "Cat friend" simply won't do.

Brad and I joined a gym that has 2 pools - one being an outdoor 50 meter pool.  I'm off to go swim some long course in the sun!!  Yahoo!!!!!!