“Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened," says Dr. Seuss. And, although I am sure there will be plenty of tears dribbling down my cheeks as we drive our big yellow Penske truck south; or when we are lonely and thinking of what we could be doing with our friends back in the SLC, on the inside I will be gleaming with joy; gleaming because it happened.
Sam and I abruptly moved to Salt Lake City from Venezuela. Our plans were to stay on the blow-up mattress in the living room of the 'B.Otts'. We had worked with Beth and Brandon in Hawaii back in 2003 at the dysfunctional, hysterical, and always memorable Camp Erdman. Beth and Brandon recommended that we come up and snowboard for the winter and re-charge. Next thing we knew, we were moving upstairs from them, had jobs, and were suited-up in Patagonia clothing! Before I go any further, Mahalo Beth and Brandon for everything! It is because of you that I have found my favorite place in the world; the place I call home. And to our good fortune, we met the most unbelievable group of friends; and collected remarkable memories and experiences along the way. Too many to dislodge in just one affair.
Salt Lake is a mystic playground of adventure and culture. It has blown my mind!...and surreptitiously, I feel like I am going to loose any sense of hipness I may have acquired while residing here; Salt Lake is the frikin' epicenter of coolness and often times, weirdness, too (just drive by the Gallivan Trax stop, if you disagree). But don't tell anyone about Salt Lake City, because it is a secret and us residents like our secret. Think of it like the scene from the Big Lebowski; where the sheriff says: 'Keep your ugly gold-brikin' ass out of my beach [mountain] community'. Ok, that is dramatic; it is nothing like that. But, just because I should....
Sam and I abruptly moved to Salt Lake City from Venezuela. Our plans were to stay on the blow-up mattress in the living room of the 'B.Otts'. We had worked with Beth and Brandon in Hawaii back in 2003 at the dysfunctional, hysterical, and always memorable Camp Erdman. Beth and Brandon recommended that we come up and snowboard for the winter and re-charge. Next thing we knew, we were moving upstairs from them, had jobs, and were suited-up in Patagonia clothing! Before I go any further, Mahalo Beth and Brandon for everything! It is because of you that I have found my favorite place in the world; the place I call home. And to our good fortune, we met the most unbelievable group of friends; and collected remarkable memories and experiences along the way. Too many to dislodge in just one affair.
Salt Lake is a mystic playground of adventure and culture. It has blown my mind!...and surreptitiously, I feel like I am going to loose any sense of hipness I may have acquired while residing here; Salt Lake is the frikin' epicenter of coolness and often times, weirdness, too (just drive by the Gallivan Trax stop, if you disagree). But don't tell anyone about Salt Lake City, because it is a secret and us residents like our secret. Think of it like the scene from the Big Lebowski; where the sheriff says: 'Keep your ugly gold-brikin' ass out of my beach [mountain] community'. Ok, that is dramatic; it is nothing like that. But, just because I should....
Ok, back to raving about Salt Lake City. Most of the world has no idea that our city has a copious amount of breweries; a rockin' farmers market; so bumpin' I wake up very early to hit it on Saturdays, to bypass all the coolness; a music scene which includes concerts in the downtown parks, free concerts at the ski resorts, and poaching the hill behind Red Butte Garden (you can plant those trees, but I still see people up on those hills dancing around). I am smiling because it happened. What luck; it would happen to me!
And although winter didn't happen this year in Salt Lake City, my passion for winter is alive and well. So alive, today we bought plane tickets to come back and snowboard in April; upon the discovery of a ridiculously cheap fare found online. This past crappy-ass winter with so little snow was still amazing; we found snow on the hike into the Jackal hut in Colorado as illustrated in my previous post: Bad Mother F*ckers and received a mysterious; possibly toxic, dump from the thick inversion that settled over the Wasatch the weekend of our Second Annual Brighton Birthday Bash; also referred to as the Margarita in Your Mouth Party. I clocked 45+/- a few days of boarding at Brighton and two late-spring days in the warm sunshine at Snowbird. Had an absolute blast. And to keep myself honest, I have to admit: I also cursed mother nature for not giving us what we had the winter before...that biatch, that tease; how dare you not give us another 800 inches of deep powder. And for the record, please forgive me for using your name in vain. I know that next winter will be a good one. And for my bitchy tangent about people coming to visit Utah...I do sincerely hope others will have the opportunity to visit this uniquely beautiful place.
So, my dear Salt Lake and the community of people I adore; as well as the freaks I watch downtown at the Twilight Concert Series, each summer. It is you that have stolen my heart. It is you that I will come back to as often as possible; I can't stay away from my city nor friends for too long! Nor, as we all know; can I stay too long.
