Ski Patrol

This weekend, our friends Michael and Elisa were in town. It was Michael's birthday and we had a great time. We also had our first Utah skiing experience (Dave's first skiing experience anywhere!). We skiied at Solitude in Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was great fun... and we were sore afterwards!


Here are we getting ready to leave the house, all bundled up.


Entrance to Solitude.

We took a lesson for beginner skiiers. Here's Dave prepping with the "first time skiiers" class.

Kate and Elisa were in the "beginner skiiers who skiied before."

Michael didn't need a class. He went around on his snowboard while we learned how not to fall down (at least not too often).

Kate and Elisa getting on the lift up to the easiest slope.

Kate making a run down the hill.

Kate waiting for a clear spot..... check out all the little kids in the background! They were SO MUCH better than us!

Dave (in the red coat) getting ready to give it a try.

There he goes! What beautiful surroundings!

Some of the scenery.

This is from the top of another lift, much higher up the mountain. The path we took down was still considered "easy" but there were a lot of steeper slopes we may not have been ready for. Regardless, we made our way down (despite a few wipeouts)!

Here's what we had to look at all the way down!

The four of us, just before the descent.

Kate and Dave.

Elisa and Michael.... and a tough looking kid in the background!

Another view from the top.

Here we are at the end of the day!

Driving back down the canyon, there were some great snow-covered views.

Trees!

And more mountains!

All in all it was a great weekend with our friends! Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Sundance Film Festival!

Here's the last of three belated posts. (Scroll down for the roadtrip to LA and NYE pics).

We had a GREAT time spending the day in Park City for Sundance. Because we didn't get any through our locals buying time, we had to get up at 5:30 a.m. and head to the box office. We stood in line until 8:00 but we got tickets to five different movies. A VERY cool day running from venue to venue, braving the cold and snow, and trying to keep our feet dry.

Unfortunately, we didn't see too many celebs - maybe they weren't in town yet due to the Screen Actors Guild Awards... or maybe we just didn't catch the movies with the most buzz. Here's some pics through the day.

Anyway, here's a few shots of the drive into snow-covered Park City....

Dave in the midst of the snow, as we start off to our first Sundance experience.

Main Street, Park City.

Bundled up and standing in line to get into "Winter's Bone." GREAT film (the best we saw all day).

The excellent cast of "Winter's Bone."

We then saw "The Red Chapel," a documentary about a pair of Danish comedians who engaged in a hoax to get into North Korea. Very interesting. After that was "New Low," a low-budget comedy. Not bad, but our least favorite of the day.

Then we raced up to the Egyptian Theater for "A Prophet," a French prison drama. Excellent movie, though very long. Almost as good as "Winter's Bone." Here's a pic of the director and lead actor.

Then with only about 20 min to get from the Egyptian to Prospector Theater for an 11:30 p.m. show, we raced through the snow to grab a bus. We were a little worried we wouldn't make it, but it all worked out.

The last film we saw was a documentary from Adrian Grenier ("Vince" from Entourage) called "Teenage Paparazzo." Our first sighting of a star. It was an extremely interesting examination of the paparazzi through the story of a 13-year-old paparazzo in Hollywood. We highly recommend it!

Here's Adrian addressing the audience before the film...

... and then afterwards with Austin (the teenage paparazzo himself, now a few years older) and the crew.

We finished up at about 1:30 a.m. or so and headed to the car. By then, it had snowed quite a bit over the course of the day, and the roads heading out of town weren't the greatest. The highway was particularly bad, and we got stalled for about 45 minutes while a wreck was being cleared. (see below).

Once we did get going, it was a slow slow drive given the road conditions. Ultimately, we got home just before 4:00 a.m., which pretty much killed off our Sunday skiing plans. But it was a blast!

Road Trip to LA

We got some great photos on our road trip to LA, as well as some in the city. Here's a few as we drove south through Utah.

The sun starting to set behind the mountains and clouds...

Palm trees in Hollywood....

Near the Griffith Observatory, overlooking the city from the hills.

A view of the city....

Skyscrapers in the distance as the soon goes down...

The Hollywood sign....

Lori, Drew, Dave, and Kate.

The Griffith Observatory.

The city from the top of the Observatory.

In Hollywood, a Superman "impersonator"..... with a boa constrictor.

On the Sunset Strip - traffic, mohawks, one of the Incredibles, and (another) man with a snake!

Palm trees as the sun sets on the Sunset Strip.

At a marina.... Kate admires her least favorite animal (birds). A pelican!

A sea lion and another bird!

No idea what kind of bird this is, but he looks clean!

Another pelican!

Dave and Lori escape the rain to enjoy their caramel filled Churros!

China town.

Driving home - the Nevada desert outside of Las Vegas.

Mountains in the mist!

More birds! The Crows on Baker Blvd.

Interstate 15's short trip through Arizona - pretty awesome! We couldn't see it in the dark on the way to LA, but we got to see everything on the way back!

Back into Utah, the snow returns.

A fun trip all in all!