Farmington Bay Bird Refuge

See the updated version of this post at: http://thymeandmint.com/farmington-bay-bird-refuge/

Gymnastics and Car Crash

Today Colton and I, along with my family, went to watch the gymnastics meet against the University of Utah and Michigan. The U is really good, and it was amazing to watch these talented girls throw themselves all over the floor and balance beams and somehow not hurt themselves. It makes me wish that I had never quit gymnastics when I was little.

There was so much traffic trying to drive through Salt Lake. We barely even got out of the parking lot before we were stopped completely at the intersections. Well, while we were waiting for the light to turn green, completely stopped, right next to Rice Eccles Stadium, all of a sudden there was a loud sound and our car jerked forward a bit. I turned to look at Colton right as the car who had hit us zoomed by and pulled away, barely missing the car in front of us. Colton was basically in shock because it hit his door which his leg was resting on and scared him, but I hurriedly took down the license plate number because it didn't look like the driver was going to stop. He did, however, and we pulled into the parking lot at Rice Eccles Stadium. The side-view mirror on Colton's side was completely hanging off, and there were scratch marks along the left side of the car where the other driver had scraped against our car. The other car looked worse, with a large dent in the right side and scratched plastic. The driver said, "Oh, that dent is from another accident. This car has been in so many accidents. It's only that small scratch there." So, our car was definitely more hurt than his car.

It took forever for the police to find us, one because we forgot to turn on our emergency lights, and two because the freaking Salt Lake City dispatcher told the officer the wrong place. If I was dying, I would have died before the ambulance found us. Colton's mom finally called the police again and told them where we were before he found us. The cop came finally, figured everything out, and we thought we were good to go. Come to find out the next week that the driver who hit us is trying to blame Colton for the crash! He's trying to say that it was our fault and trying to claim more damage than was done to the car. What a liar! He told us to our faces that the dents in the side of his car were from other accidents, AND we were COMPLETELY stopped! I wish we had asked other people to stop to be witnesses. But even without asking, you should always be a witness to a crash. If I ever get in another crash, hopefully not, I will now be ready for anything:

1. Take down the license plate in case the other car drives off

2. Ask other people who witnessed the crash to pull over as well

3. Turn on the emergency lights

4. Take pictures of the damage right after it occurs, and if you're inspecting the cars, record the conversation secretly on your phone.

It makes me so mad that there are actually people who lie about crashes (I know, I know, this world isn't as good as I believe it to be). Just know that there is a special place reserved with the Devil for people who lie...

Skate Skiing 2

We went skate skiing at Mountain Dell Golf Course a second time with Colton's entire family. It was much harder than last time. The snow was icier and our skis were different. It was still a lot of fun though, and definitely a great way to stay in shape during winter. I gave up before everyone else did because it was just too hard; I took pictures instead.

Stuff. Mostly mine I think

Colton's mom and dad

Ben and Debbie

Colton

Bree

Skate Skiing

We have (finally) found our winter sport: Skate Skiing! Colton, Bree, Ben, and I went to a free REI sponsored event at Mountain Dell golf course, where they offered snowshoeing, classic, and skate skiing lessons all for free! There were also samples of hot chocolate and energy drinks. I didn't think it would go so well, especially since I fell twice in my regular shoes walking down to the sign up tent (boots from Wal-mart offer NO traction!). We geared up and followed a lady down the little hill where she proceeded to instruct and critique us in skiing. 

It was a lot easier than I had anticipated, and definitely the most fun sport we've tried all winter, though there was still no lack of falling. My ego was a little bruised when these kids probably younger than ten zoomed by me on their skates much more smoothly than I. After the lady taught us a little, we were free to roam the course. Bree and I tired out first, so we waited for Colton and Ben to finish. While waiting, we saw some INSANE people who were skate skiing while carrying children on their backs or pulling this sled thing with two children inside! I mean I thought skate skiing was fairly easy, but I still lost my balance and fell over plenty of times. I could barely get myself up the hills, and here were these Super-skaters pulling themselves and their kids! It was impressive, to say the least. After skiing, we shopped around the Park City outlets, which I had never been to before. Overall, it was a successful and fun day, and we're all looking forward to skate skiing again!

New Year's Ice, Powder, and Moose

Negative 10 degrees. Eyelashes coated with icicles. Prime conditions for skiing and snowboarding, right? Well, only if you are as bundled up and crazy as we and the many others at the resort that night were.

On New Year's Eve, Colton and I teamed up once again with our partners-in-adventure Bree and Ben to a night at Powder Mountain Resort near Eden, Utah. Our adventure packet that night included skiing, snowboarding, dinner, and glow sticks! We headed out around 3 o'clock. The closer we got to Powder Mountain, the lower the temperature read on the car's thermometer. We were already rather upset when it was 12 degrees Fahrenheit partway there. Then it dipped down to 7 degrees closer to the resort. The moment we got out of the car, every part of our bodies immediately screamed in protest to be warmed up again. By the time we were all wrapped up, we looked like a bunch of crippled people by our lack of mobility due to the layers. The only part of Bree's face you could see were her eyes.

Bree and Ben chose to ski, and Colton bravely decided to try snowboarding with me so that I wouldn't be left behind. This was only his second time snowboarding, and the first was six years ago. After the first run, Colton was rather discouraged and really hating his decision of boarding.
After the second run, he was about as good as I was. By then our eye lashes had also been coated with a sparkling array of ice.
After our second run we went to eat dinner.

 It was my ideal dinner, with all my favorite foods. Mashed potatoes and dark gravy, ham, turkey, potato soup, chili, chips and dip, and Dr. Pepper! There was also a side of vegetables Colton and I forced ourselves to eat to be healthy. 

We all ended up getting so much food that we couldn't finish and were full to bursting. During dinner we checked the temperature, and it had gone down to -3 degrees. I had never been in conditions that cold before, or willingly put myself in it for any amount of time. After bundling up once again, and hanging the glow sticks they offered at dinner around us, we boldly faced the cold once again. This time, as Colton was now as experienced as I was (or more daring, which was also true), we went down a steeper, more powdery run. This resulted in him front flipping and back flipping, and beating me down the slope. We ended up going down that run the rest of the time. The slope was so wide that we could cut across the entire thing quickly and smoothly. We also found a secret way that went behind some trees and was complete powder. The first time I went down it, I discovered why people loved skiing and snowboarding so much. It had gotten dark by the time we stopped for dinner, so the only lights were the ones on the sides of the runs. This powder spot was farther away from light, however. It was dark, cold, and quiet. I went down before Colton, and my board slid through pure powder. All I could hear was my board slowly rushing through the powder, and absolute silence around me. Funny how silence is something we always describe as hearing. There was no one else around me, and I just had such a feeling of peace and excitement rush through me at the same time. I was where no one else was at the moment, doing what no one else was doing. Three quarters of the way down, I turned and looked for Colton. He was still stuck near the top. Once you get into the powder, it's terrible to try and get out of. Needless to say his experience on that run was opposite of mine. 

Colton snowboarding down the slope

One of the last times on that same run, Colton and I laid in the snow and looked up at the stars before going down. It was so peaceful there. The sky was clear and starry. By the way, it looked like it was snowing slightly the entire time we were there. The reason being that it was so cold that any humidity in the air was just freezing. It hurt my eyes when I went down the hill. My ski goggles were of no use because the way I had my wrappings fixed up was making my goggles fog up. So I used them to melt my eyelashes while sitting on the lift instead. It was also too dark to use them. We finished up about ten o'clock, and skied right into the parking lot. 

My face, hair, and eyelashes coated with ice.

This trip was definitely less bruising than last week's cross country skiing expedition, but I still came away from it sore, cold, and with an extra sore neck from back flipping over my snowboard. The temperature reading in the car was -7 degrees, not taking into account the wind chill factor. So at least -10 degrees! On our way down we were completely exhausted. Driving down Trapper's Loop, all we could see was the road immediately in front of our headlights. There were no other cars on the road, and snow piled on the edges of the roads. Halfway down, I called my cousin, Micadyn, because Colton and I had planned on going to her house to watch the ball drop on TV, our New Year's tradition. While I was trying to talk to her, I noticed a large shadow out of the corner of my eye. I figured it was a tree and my attention turned back to the phone. All of a sudden Bree said from the back seat, "It's a moose!" at the exact same time I looked up and saw, not two feet from the car, a giant of a bull moose, with huge glowing eyes and legs longer than the car was high.I seriously thought I was going to die, and the word 'MONSTER!' printed across my mind because 'moose' still hadn't registered. Colton had a similar reaction and we were both so adrenaline-rushed and scared silly that all we could say was, "Oh my gosh" and breathe deeply. After we had somewhat regained our composure, we quickly turned the car around to get a picture. By then the moose-giant had lumbered across the street, and it was far too dark to get a picture. However, thanks to editing, you can make out the tracks of the moose and the shadow where the moose was standing. The rest of the ride home, I was convinced I was going to die from another moose. I couldn't get over how close I was to a moose squishing me to death had it been any further into the road. It didn't help that not three minutes later down the road we saw two more moose on the other side of the road. Stupid moose. I can't ever drive down Trapper's Loop at night again. And I now have a fear of moose-sasquatch-monsters.
I suppose one good thing that came out of that was that I was no longer tired and paid better attention to the road, as did Colton, who was driving thirty miles an hour on the fifty-five mph road. That was a good thing though; who knows that might have happened had we been going faster with moose lurking around...
We ended up going to a family friend's house for an hour to watch the ball drop and bring in the year 2011. I wonder what it means to go into a new year being almost frightened to death by a moose. Guess we'll just have to see.

Car Mishap

Earlier today I received a phone call from Colton. "How much do you love me?"
Usually that question precedes some strange, out-of-the-ordinary favor. So, I warily asked why, and Colton then explained how his brother Trent's car had died (his own is undergoing major car-surgery) and could I come jump start his car.
I did a thorough search of all our cars and the garage, but there were no jumper cables to be found. We then decided to worry about the car later, because he had to be at soccer practice. So, I picked him up, drove to his house to get jumper cables, drove him to soccer, then went home and relaxed for a bit. During the time he was at soccer practice, the weather turned from cold and windy to freezing and blizzard. I picked him up from soccer practice, and, after making Colton putting on layers of coats and gloves, I sat in the car and watched him jump start the car. It's not like it's really a two-person job anyways, right? I did re-learn how to do it if I was ever stranded, although I still say that's what cell-phones are for... 

Unfortunately his eyes are closed, but this is the very
reason I carry a camera around wherever I go!

Cross Country Skiing

So, Miara is kind of lazy and won't write this post, so it looks like I get to. And by I, I mean Colton. Yes, the fabled, wonderful, fantastic Colton. You should all feel privileged to read my fantastic blog entry. Not really, mostly I just hope you are entertained enough to read to the end.


We have achieved our goal from last week: Cross Country skiing up Mill Creek Canyon! And when I say "up" Mill Creek Canyon, I mean UP. You can never quite realize how steep something is until you can start going backward at any moment. That was a bit of a side note, but you will be used to that by the end of this post. I promise. Anyways, let me start from the beginning.


Last week, as we trudged up the canyon on our not-so-trusty snowshoes, we were practically beside ourselves with our envy of the cross country skiers. While we slowly walked up and down the canyon (interrupted only by our epic excursion up the face of Mt. Millcreekerest - if you didn't get that, it is a mash-up of Mill Creek and Mt. Everest...) we saw them glide (seemingly) effortlessly by in both directions. They moved twice as fast as we did and it looked like they used half the energy! Now you are all thinking what we were..."Wow! If we were cross country skiing instead of walking...it would be four times more efficient!" We vowed right there on the trail that next week we would go cross country skiing. So we did!


We got our start fairly early. Since Trent and I were picking Miara up and packing -in addition to our own gear - the camp stove, hot chocolate, and some of the sandwiches, all before meeting at Bree and Ben's (their version of this story, with additional pictures, can be found here) house, I was up by eight. I know I know, that isn't all that early. But give me a break! I'm a college student between semesters. Anything before eleven is unpleasantly early. So we made it to the Martins' house about five past nine, or fifteen minutes late. Bree had promised us breakfast, and she delivered. She had made some sort of fruity (not the gay kind) breakfast casserole, and it was very good. Especially once you added enough sugar that you could have helped the entire bottle of medicine go down. Yes, I just used part of a Mary Poppins song in my blog post. Impressed? You should be.

Miara's bruises five days later..big and yellow.
Like sunflowers but painful.

Anyways, so we left their house full of both food and anticipation. My driving on the way to REI was much less creative than the week previous. I didn't even have to cross three lanes of freeway traffic just to hit the exit in time. Its too bad the skiing didn't go as smoothly.(Past, present, and future English students - I just used foreshadowing - for real). We picked up our five sets of cross country skis (There were five of us: Trent, Bree, Ben, Miara, and I) and we headed to the canyon. It was apparent even as we began putting the skis on that this would be much more difficult than we had anticipated. I think most of us even managed to crash in the first hundred yards of the trail. But things got better; we all sort of figured out how to make everything work and started making progress up the hill. We all still fell, every time I tired to turn and go back down the hill to check on Miara, I crashed twice. Once as I turned around, and the other because it was the only way I could figure out how to stop. And let me tell you, this trail was not a soft, snowy place to land. It was icy. Icy means hard, and we all had the bruises to prove it. Eventually we hit a much steeper spot on the trail and Miara suddenly became the fastest skier. I think she was so much lighter than the rest of us that she actually managed to have enough friction from the skis to not slide backwards. Trent was having the biggest issue. All gear included he weighed over 200 pounds, and the icy trail didn't approve. It was either slide backward or take his skis off. So off the skis came and he walked ahead and sat in the shade. Shade? Yes. Shade. At this point we were all so hot from working our way up the steep trail that we were sweating in our coats. We had already stripped off our top layers, but that did not even begin to stop the sweating.


At this point we had reached the general area of a trail that led to the stop of Mt. Millcreekerest. Yes, there was a trail that took us almost all the way to the top. We had no idea this trail existed as we tried showshoeing up the opposite face of the mountain. So we decided to walk up the trail to our mountain-top perch, but not before testing our trail slide again. It was not nearly as smooth as the week before. Let's just say that sliding down it this week may have resulted in some sort of prostate exam. Or at least a sore butt. So we hiked to the top, briefly lamented the death of our stump-top snowman, and had lunch. 

Melting the snow on our stove. Hot drinks were awesome at warming us up. You couldn't even see all the floaties from the snow once you added the drink mixes in.

Our skies next to the stump that once held our snowman. I still hold that the snowman was murdered. If she had died of natural causes there would have been big lumps of snow on the ground where he fell. See the post below for a picture of the intact snowman.

Considering we were at the top of a mountain located midway up Mill Creek Canyon, we had a pretty decent lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, granola bars, hot cocoa, hot orange spice drink, and hot apple cider. The credit for everything hot goes to a camp stove which did a fantastic job of melting copious amounts of snow for our drinks. It was really quite pleasant and peaceful. But eventually we decided that we had to make the treacherous ski back down the icy canyon.


We had already realized that coming down was going to be a problem, but I don't think any of us expected how hard it would really be. Trent decided that sitting on the back of his skis would be the safest and easiest way down (also definitely the stupidest) but he gave up after a few hundred yards. The rest of us immediately began trying to ski down. I am a pretty decent downhill skier, but this was crazy. Cross country skis have a hundred times less control and are long enough in the front that is isn't hard to tangle them up. Ben, Bree, Trent and I had all skied before and were all having enough trouble. Miara, however, had never been on a pair of skis before. She was actually pretty good for being on skis for the first time. The trail was so icy that you could not use the classic "snow-plow" technique to slow down very much. No matter how hard you snow-plowed, you kept going faster and faster. There really was no way to stop except to crash. So every time I stopped to wait for Miara it involved me crashing down to the ice and skidding to a stop. Miara was not faring much better. She would get going fast, then she would get scared because there was NO controlling these skis, and she would crash too. Eventually she got the hang of it though, and we both started skiing down, mostly without incident. Despite the pain of it all, it was pretty fun. Looking stupid always has its perks. Proving that "In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun." Poppins again? This isn't a blog post. It's literary genius. But seriously, we looked like The Bad News Bears. Skiers more talented and experienced than us were constantly slowing down and staring at us before skiing on. Here is how I envisioned their thought processes, "Holy crap, those morons are going to kill themselves! (Not Mormons. I know, I know, you were all getting excited about Mormons killing themselves. But look again! There really is no second 'm'. I promise.) They are kind of funny though, look how stupid they look. Maybe I should ask if they need any help. Not that I would need to ask. They clearly need help. They aren't asking for help though, and if I leave them alone, everyone else can laugh at them, too! Okay, I will just leave them." Then they would ski off. It's okay though, their gawking was almost as entertaining to me as my sucking was to them. Fair is fair.

We made it back to the gate and found a ski trail that would take us back to the parking lot. It looked moderately hazardous to those of us who were inexperienced. And by moderately dangerous, I really mean potentially fatal. Trent, ever the reasonable one, decided to take his skis off and walk back to the car. The rest of us headed for the trail. It actually turned out to be one of the most fun parts of our ski trip. It was slightly downhill which meant no work, and and curves were easier than expected to navigate. There was, however, the rock filled river at the bottom of a huge ditch threatening to kill us. I think I was the only one who crashed on this trail. There was a rock, covered in snow, that my ski hit. I basically face planted on the trail. It was alright though, I suppose. We had at last made it back to the car, just across the street. Trent was there waiting for us, the walk was indeed faster than the ski. But we had more fun than he did. In any case, that was one seriously exciting, yet painful, Christmas Eve.