Glad this didn't happen in summer

We are very paranoid about fire out here in our high altitude desert.  The Gamble Oaks that grow in this area are always half-dead and can spread a fire in a heartbeat.  Fortunately, in winter the snow keeps that from happening.

Julie took this yesterday as she drove up Deer Valley Dr.  The police had arrived but the firetrucks hadn't yet, which is surprising since they have a station about a mile from the fire.

This house is down at the base of our hill, so given a dry summer and a good breeze, we could see the fire march up the hill in our direction.  Always a worry.

Fortunately, the fire was put out quickly and it never got much worse than this.

Fireside Dining

Park City has a lot of good restaurants but one of the most delicious and unusual is Deer Valley's Fireside Dining. Several nights a week, they serve a three course meal up at the Empire Lodge. Because Julie is a DV employee, she gets a buy one - get one coupon at each of DV's restaurants.  Last night we did Fireside.

The first course is raclette, or as our old ski group knew it, melty cheesy. Big rounds of cheese are put near a roaring fire.  The cheese melts down onto a plate, to which you add meats, potatoes, breads and spices.  Yumm!

The next course is the entrees. Below you can see the leg of lamb roasting next to another fireplace. The also have salads, soups, fish, and my favorite a veal mushroom stew that's to die for.

I didn't take a shot of the third course, dessert.  There you gather your things to dip (strawberries, pineapple, biscotti, DV cookies, ...) and any or all of three sauces (dark chocolate, white chocolate with Gran Marnier, or carmel).

I describe this as three courses, but you can just keep looping around and when you get full, head to the restroom and purge.  It's the Roman way!

Julie and I had a wonderful dinner, didn't overeat (which is rare) and didn't have to purge.

Making the NCAA tournament

When Mark Gottfried, NC State's new men's basketball coach, arrived three years ago everyone was astounded when he got us to the NCAA tourney his first year.  The second year, based on the talent on the team, it was expected.  This year we were always just off the "bubble" somewhere.  Never in, but never so far out as to loose hope.

Miraculously, NC State was the very last team selected into the tourney this year.  Well, sort of.  I don't know what drunken bet someone lost to increase the field of teams from a nice clean power of 2, 64, to a painful 68.  Before the tournament really starts, 8 teams have to play for 4 spots, to get it down to the 64 teams it always should have been.  State was number 68. I guess this year I should shut up and embrace the decision to go to 68.

They played in the pre-first-sortof round last night and whooped up on Xavier, which all the wisdom in Vegas had as a favorite. Now we play again Thursday night against St Louis.  They are #5 seed (1 is best, 16 is worst), so they should also be favored to beat us.  If State can play again like they did last night, I have a lot of faith we will walk away with the win.

GO WOLFPACK!

If you are interested, the game is at 7:20pm eastern, on TNT.

A new dog waste program

It seems that everyone in Park City has at least one dog and with all those dogs comes a lot of dog poop.  Most people are good about picking up behind their animals, especially in public parks, but there are always exceptions. The city does things like put poop pickup bag dispensers around town so that you are never too far from a poop bag.  That doesn't always work though.

Today I was walking Jasper past City Park and I saw that someone had started a new program by spray painting on the walkway.

Clear. Concise. To the point.  I am guessing this isn't a new city-sponsored program.  It seemed to work well on horizontal surfaces, but when applied to vertical surfaces, the results weren't as good.  I think a different technique will be required.  Perhaps as simple as "don't spray so much damn paint".

Somehow I am guessing that for the people who don't care enough to pick up behind their dogs, this won't sway them.  I think it would take spraying this message on their cars or even the clothes they are wearing. Actually, I kind of like that idea.

Vail versus Park City Mountain Resort

You may have read a blog entry or two about the legal battles between Park City Mountain Resort (PCMR) and Vail.  This is a very well written, accurate article that appeared in Business Week in early February. One of the best I have read on the topic.

The Ski Resort Fight Over Park City Mountain

The bad news is that there doesn't look like any happy resolution, at least not any time soon.


Completely unrelated, but I never miss the opportunity...  You may have also seen Business Week's recent cover article on UNC Chapel Hell:   In Fake Classes Scandal, UNC Fails Its Athletes—and Whistle-Blower

A Great Protein Shake

Julie and I have been having a lot of protein shakes over the past year.  They taste good, help you stay in shape, and give you lots of fruit servings.   Mostly I like them because they taste like a milkshake.  Here's what goes into  ours:

• 1 scoop protein powder.  I found a chocolate flavored one that I love!  I get it from Amazon here.  Very tasty and good for you.
• A cup or so of frozen fruit.  Raspberries are our favorite.
• Half a banana
• A cup or so of almond milk.  You could use regular milk, but we have switched completely over to almond milk.  
• Sometimes I will throw in a cup of ice.  Doesn't do anything other than make it more filling and better hydration.

Our friend Jim Covaleski suggested we try throwing in some spinach.  We were hesitant, but it works great. Just pitch in a handful of spinach leaves and the blender makes them disappear.  You get the health benefits without really noticing.

Now I found something I like even better than adding spinach, adding three of last year's thin mint Girl Scout cookies from the freezer. I am pretty sure the spinach is healthier. but we don't have that many thin mints left (half a box) so the fun can't last too long.

I am convinced that these protein shakes are helpful for losing weight, building muscle, and getting your fruit-based anti-oxidants.  All that and it is incredibly quick and easy.

Another beautiful day in the neighborhood

It only lasts for a few minutes and then the sun comes up and washes out the colors, but it is nice to see.

Another first

In Park City, winter is for skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, and anything else related to the white stuff that covers the ground for the better part of 7 months.  When spring time rolls around, I pack up and head to NC for a golf trip with my college and work buddies.  Yesterday, I broke a ten-year habit.  I went golfing here in Utah in winter.

I saw a friend Stephen Pierce, at a party this weekend.  He mentioned he had been golfing and I said "hey, let me know if you are looking for a fourth."  A few days later, he did. Stephen, Rick Tuttle, Bill ?, and I headed down into the Salt Lake valley and enjoyed a gorgeous day.  As you can see from Rick's photo above, the scenery is pretty spectacular.

It was no surprise that after 6 months of not playing and sucking even then, I am still a bad golfer.  I did get to witness what golf is supposed to look like.  Bill was playing four under par about 14 holes into the game.  Simply, wow! He finally picked up a few bogies, but it was probably the best golf I have seen. Well, other the the US Open, but they didn't let me play in their foursomes.

A gathering of stuff

Over the past few days, I have collected a few pictures I wanted to share, but none of them have anything to do with the others.

This is the Main Street Mall, or what is left of it.  It is the terrible, out-of-place looking building at the top of Park City's Main Street. When it was built in the 1980's, Park City's government must have been looking the other direction.  It was different from our historic district's other buildings that it stood out like a sore thumb.  It did gain some notoriety as "the cookie college" because it was originally the national training center for Mrs. Field's Cookies.

Now it is gaining local fame and fortune as the construction site that wouldn't end.  The businesses around it are losing pedestrian traffic because of the huge section of road, sidewalk and parking blocked off.  Perhaps when it is finally completed, the town will be the better for it.

The Park City Foundation started something called The Women's Giving Fund.  The idea was to get 1000 women to donate $1000 each, to form a foundation to fund nonprofits that support women's and children's issues.  Now for Where's Waldo... Can you find Julie's photo?  I think they are up to about 850 donors.

Jasper and I were walking around town the other day and ran across this stand along one of the local bike and walking paths.  It has nearly enough tools to strip a bike down and rebuild it.  Cool if you were out riding and had a problem. I hope no one feels the urge to vandalize it.

Julie, my ski buddy, posing yesterday. That loose snow started fairly soft but became clumpy as the morning warmed up.

And as we came back down to the Deer Valley base, we could see the parking lot.  It was completely full and there were cars parked up and down Deer Valley drive.  It was a weekend, but certainly not a holiday.  Town has been packed for the last month, almost nonstop.  My guess is that it is because of the terrible snowpack out in California.  Squaw (a huge Tahoe resort) only has 71 of 177 runs open.  All those California skiers must be coming to Utah and Colorado instead.  Good for Park City's businesses.  Bad if you hate crowds.

Another event coming to Park City

What happens when the California snowpack is terrible? They have to move skiing competitions to other areas.  I feel sorry for the Heavenly ski area, but if it has to happen, I'm happy we get to benefit.

The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association has confirmed Deer Valley Resort as the site for the 2014 U.S. Freestyle Championships, March 28 – 30. This final freestyle event of the 2013-2014 season will include moguls, dual moguls and aerials. The event was moved from its originally scheduled location at Heavenly.  

Two-time Olympic medalist, Hannah Kearney, will lead the moguls team along with 2010 Olympic medalist, Bryon Wilson, and brother, 2014 Olympian, Brad Wilson. Two-time Olympian, Ashley Caldwell, will lead the aerials team along with Olympian, Mac Bohonnon, who finished fifth in the Sochi Winter Olympics.


2014 U.S. FREESTYLE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Friday, March 28
Men’s and women’s moguls

Saturday, March 29
Men’s and women’s aerials

Sunday, March 30
Men’s and women’s dual moguls