Nos estamos moviendo a Albuquerque!

I know it has been awhile since Brad and I last posted, but we were waiting for the official offer letter to come in the mail so we can share our good news!  So, if you can't read our Spanish title, our good news is that Brad has accepted a job at the University of New Mexico, so we will be moving to Albuquerque in August!  It will be a big change to move to the high desert region for us (especially since we're both East Coasters), but we are excited for all that Albuquerque has to offer.  We look forward to immersing ourselves in the Hispanic (learning the Spanish language) and Native American cultures, training at altitude, finally getting a dog, and sampling the southwestern cuisine (green sauce!).  Taos will be two hours away, so we can still get plenty of skiing in and Albuquerque has excellent roads for cycling.  Also, there is great fly fishing in NM, so I look forward to gaining more skills in that area.  Overall, Brad and I are so happy to be moving to on to a new adventure even if it will be very far from our families and friends.  That being said, we welcome anyone that wants to take a trip to visit us!!

In other news, as the weather warms up, Brad and I have been able to cross off some items on our "To Do" list.  We took our mountain bikes out to Antelope Island (a large island in the middle of the Great Salt Lake) for a nice trail ride.  Biking on Antelope Island felt like we were in a foreign country.  It was so weird to see the Wasatch Mountains in the distance, yet be surrounded by water.  The trails on the island are perfect for mountain biking.  We had a great ride and got to see a lot of the wildlife that inhabits the island.  There were a lot of buffalo roaming about...

We saw some antelope (we think) taking cover in the shade...

And we had beautiful views of the snow covered Wasatch Mountains...

And here are a few more pictures of our Antelope Island adventure...

The next day was Easter, so after having brunch and our own Easter egg hunt we went up to Solitude to ski for our last time.  It was a gorgeous day on the slopes (mid 50's and sunny).  We had several good runs on some groomers and then celebrated our last day of skiing with some burgers on the grill. 

While it was a great day spent outside, I learned my lesson of how important it is to apply sunscreen when you're at 8000 ft in elevation.  I had an embarrassing raccoon appearance for the next 3-4 days!

The next weekend, we took a trip to the Uinta Mountain Range and took a hike to Diamond Fork Hot Springs.  It was an easy 2 mile hike that led us to some amazing hot springs.  There were several man-made pools that have been formed, so we soaked in some hot springs while watching a lovely waterfall.  It was a great experience and although we were quite smelly (sulphur), we enjoyed our hike and our soak.

The first two pools that we came across.  These were cooler than the pools near the falls.

Another view of the lower pools.

A view of the falls.  The other pools were to the left and much hotter.  You can see the steam rising.

As Spring continues in Salt Lake City, we look forward to taking the ski rack off the car and adding some bike racks, stocking up on some sunscreen, and prepping the grill.  We also have some trips planned.  We will be visiting PA soon to see our parents and work on some wedding stuff.  We will also need to fly to Albuquerque to find a rental property.  And last but not least, we will be going to San Diego since Brad's abstract was accepted at the AOFAS summer meeting!  We will continue to update our blog as we make more progress on our move to Albuquerque and explore more areas of Utah (especially Southern Utah!).  Please stay tuned!