break in the action

Sorry for the slight lull: we went camping for the weekend down to Capitol Reef National Park and I'm just getting my thoughts organized to post about our trip.  Stay tuned - and in the meantime, enjoy the southern Utah scenery:

Cliffs along the Pleasant Creek Road

dry enough to ride

Sunday was beautiful - sunny and mid 80s in the valley - and so we got right up to enjoy it.  First off, we headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon for breakfast at the Silver Fork Lodge, getting there just a little after 8 a.m. so as not to get caught in the Mother's Day rush.  We opted to eat inside, since the temperature up there was 52 in the sun, and enjoyed our chile verde omelet (H) and oatmeal with strawberries, bananas and walnuts (me) very much.  By the time we were done, the lounge/waiting area was packed with folks waiting for a table.

We went back home and got our MTB gear together, H checking over our bikes after their long winter in the basement, then headed to Park City and the Round Valley trails.  Whether because of the lovely weather or the fact that it was Mother's Day, those trails were as busy as we've ever seen them with lots of folks out enjoying them, including a number of families with little kids.  The trails were perfectly dry, dusty even in spots, and there had been some improvements made over the winter, including the addition of a bike repair station.

Back on the bikes

We did our regular 19-ish mile loop, H easily cruising up the innumerable switchbacks up Rambler.  I was pretty chicken on the rocks and ruts since it was our first time out for the year BUT I managed to stay upright and on my bike for the whole ride.  As we got on the Silver Quinn trail for the return, we discovered another improvement to the trails: Silver Quinn is now paved!  While this lessened the quaintness of a dirt road ride, it certainly improved our overall speed.  Park City does a wonderful job on their MTB trails - they're really wonderful to ride.

Afterwards we drove up to Deer Valley and enjoyed a couple of PBRs and the view.  I should have reapplied sunscreen after the ride but slight sunburn notwithstanding, it was a great re-entry into mountain-biking for the summer.

there's still a lot of snow up at alta

H and I dusted off the snowshoes Saturday afternoon, heading up to Alta to tromp around for a couple of hours.  As we headed out, a couple of groups of people were skiing out, having skinned up to Devil's Castle for a full morning of skiing.  They reported good conditions and lots of snow.  Down low on the bunnyslopes there was a family on nordic skis and several kids on alpine skis and snowboards were building a kicker.  We weren't the only ones enjoying post-season Alta.

H heading across Patsy Marley

We don't snowshoe very often and it took us a while to get situated: H fussed with his snowshoe straps while I had to zip the legs onto my shorts because every step was throwing snow onto the backs of my legs and down into my boots.  We finally got everything sort out and headed up Patsy Marley, crossing over to Sunnyside and up to Alf's.  We kept going up, under the Cecret chair to the base of the Supreme chair, then continued on, up lower Big Dipper to the bottom of Rock and Roll.  It is truly amazing how these green/blue runs seem so flat when you are going down them on skis ... but they're really steep when you're walking/snowshoeing up them.  After about an hour and a half we headed back down, half-glissading (still on the snowshoes) through the gully that runs past the cabins, and it only took us a half hour to get back down to the truck.

Bottom of Rock and Roll (lots of snow still)

The weather kept holding - blue sky and sunshine with a few passing clouds - so we changed out of our soaking wet boots and socks and perched on the truck's tailgate for a couple of PBRs.  We must have looked like we knew what we were doing because several tourists who'd driven up to take a look at Alta wandered over and started chatting with us, asking about the resort.  Even though we're awkward on snowshoes, it was a very nice afternoon outing, getting us up into the canyon and back on the slopes.

wasatch gardens

Saturday morning, while H went out for a road ride, B and I drove up to the city to check out the Wasatch Community Gardens annual plant sale.  I'd read about it in the paper and was intrigued by the nursery quality plants at big box store prices, plus I was happy to support the WCG.  What I didn't expect was how big and popular this plant sale is.  I had to drive around several times before I finally found parking several blocks away.  As I searched for a spot, I goggled at the hordes of people streaming towards the sale, toting laundry baskets, lugging little red wagons, trundling wheelbarrows.  I was sorely unprepared!

The plant sale was impressive and very well run.  You walked in past a fleet of food and coffee trucks and were handed a seedling tray if you didn't bring a carry container of your own.  They had over 60 (!!) varieties of heirloom tomato seedlings and people were queuing up to peruse the tables.  Scores of volunteers ran back and forth, asking us what kind of tomato we were looking for, explaining the different varieties, fetching seedlings.  Past the tomato section (which was by far the largest) lay the other annual veggies, then the fruits and berries, then the perennial herbs, then seed potatoes and onion sets, with water-wise/native plants and flowers as well.  Everything was clearly marked with colored tags; there were signs everywhere explaining how much each color cost.  After you picked out your plants, the line to check out was long but moved very quickly through the corral.  At the head of the line, the volunteer directed you to another volunteer with a numbered clipboard who noted and totaled all purchases on a slip.  Then you moved to a tent to pay, cash and checks on the left, credit cards on the right, and you were out.  The efficiency of the system was impressive.

For a mere $20. I ended up with three tomato seedlings - Ananas Noire (which will have green/yellow/purple striped fruit), Black Cherry cherry tomatoes, and 1884 (dark pink, good for slicing) - a six-pack of strawberry plants ("Seascape") and a cute little lavender.  I planted everything Sunday afternoon, putting the tomatoes in pots this year (I'm cutting back on my gardens to conserve water/time).  I'm very hopeful about the tomatoes - I like that I picked some funky, unusual heirloom varieties - and hope that they come through for me.

I will absolutely go back to the Wasatch Community Gardens sale next year, and will remember to bring something to carry plants in so I can get more.  It was really fun to see all these people excited about gardening, the plants look healthy and interesting, and the organization is a good cause.

campfire lounging

It was my turn to come up with a place to go for drinks and dinner Friday night and I decided we should try a new place.  Both new to us as well as new to SLC, the Campfire Lounge (837 East 2100 South in Sugarhouse) is the new bar owned by the couple who had the Bay Leaf Cafe downtown.  They weren't getting the foot traffic they wanted at the Bay Leaf, plus were wanting someplace that had more of a neighborhood feel.  The Campfire Lounge was opened (I think) in April and if the Friday night crowd was any indication, they've been welcomed to the neighborhood.

Situated in a small woodframe house, the Campfire Lounge is tiny, although they're putting in a good-sized patio out front that should nearly doubled their seating capacity (at least in the warm weather months).  You walk through a strange little game room to get to the bar proper - and don't forget your ID because you'll get carded regardless of how old you are.  The bar area is dark and cozy, with no more than twenty seats along the bar itself and then maybe five high tables running along the front.  The couple in their mid-50s to our right were filling the internet jukebox with deep cuts from the 1970s and there was a good buzz to the conversations around us.

Normally, the Campfire Lounge has four taps (Bud Lite and three Utah micros) but they're going through some growing pains and only one tap was running: Bohemian's Viennese lager.  I had that ($4/pint) and it was fine, although Bohemian is not my favorite local brewery.  H had a bottled Sam Adams, nearly choked at the price ($5.50/bottle) and thereafter drank PBR smallboys ($2/can).  Their cocktail list is extensive and they have a number of well-priced, funky specialty items, like a Jack Daniels Manhattan ($4.50), the Pink Girly Shot (grapefruit vodka, triple sec, grapefruit juice and lime, $6.50) and the Trailer Park (Stoli and Kool-Aid, $6.00)

They also serve extremely reasonably priced food (they're making their money on the booze, not the vittles) and what we had was great. H went with three pulled pork sliders for $6; you can mix and match your three and the other slider options were beef burgers, sloppy joes, portabello mushroom or fry fish filet.  I had a big bowl of house-made ramen noodles ($4.50) that was delicious and completely unlike the stuff college students eat, with a spicy broth (perked up with some additional Sriracha sauce) and sliced veggies.  It was perhaps a little too heavy with the fresh ginger but super-tasty regardless.  Other excellent sounding items on the menu include S'mores, buckets o' tater tots, Filipino pork eggrolls, the Elvis sandwich (peanut butter, bananas, honey and bacon pan-fried on buttered white bread) and hobo dinners (sirloin, chicken, bratwurst, trout or grilled tofu with vegetables, served in a foil packet).

The service was friendly, the food was great and the ambiance was just what we were looking for.  The Campfire Lounge seem to be off to a good start - if they could just get more of those taps going! - and we'll go back again for sure.

spice

A couple of weekends ago, H suggested that we go out to dinner at Spice Bistro, a new(-ish) Indian restaurant in Holladay (6121 S. Highland Drive).  We love Indian food and have found a couple of pretty good restaurants not too far from our house but we're always eager to try something new.  We got there before 7 p.m. since I was hungry and there were a number of tables already seated and eating.

The restaurant space is absolutely huge: a small bar, big dining room and a spacious, walled courtyard.  We thought it was too chilly yet to sit outside but there were a couple of hardy souls out there, snuggled up under the heaters.  I think the space must have been a nightclub before it was Spice as there's also a dance floor, complete with mirror ball tucked away in the rafters.

The menu is correspondingly large and, unusually for an Indian place, has quite a few "American" items.  We skipped right over those - I'm not ordering fish tacos or pasta alfredo at an Indian restaurant.  The Indian side of the menu tends towards northern Indian cuisine and they have some Nepali stuff too (I was tempted by the momos).  H went with his favorite, chicken vindaloo, while I got a little crazy and ordered the goat curry.  Nobody ever serves goat!  We got an order of naan to mop up the good stuff and each ordered a beer; nothing is on tap but they have Utah microbrews in bottles.  At $5/bottle, it's a little steep.

The food was good and spiced appropriately.  My goat had bones in it and so I had to pick around those, and a little bit of gristle too, but it was tasty enough.  The prices were a little higher than our other two go-to Indian restaurants and the servings were a little smaller, so I'm not sure you really get the most bang for your buck at Spice Bistro.  It would be a great place for summertime al fresco dining, however, out there in the courtyard under the trees.

game time

Last Saturday, as we were driving out of Little Cottonwood Canyon after skiing, H made an excellent suggestion:  should we go to the Real Salt Lake game tonight?  It was a beautiful day and so we decided yes, we should go to the RSL game.  Before going home, we swung by the stadium to pick up tickets, getting seats in on the east side of the stadium, upper level, close to midfield.  Since RSL was playing the L.A. Galaxy there was an additional $5 surcharge to the ticket prices, much like the Yankees/Red Sox games or any other rivalry.  We hurried home, got cleaned up, fed the dog and headed out again.

We parked (for $10) in the South Towne Expo Center lot, a short walk from the Rio Tinto stadium that would have us pointed in the right direction for heading home after the game.  There were people tail-gating (whom we later learned were friends of a Porcupine bartender with whom we are friendly) and hordes of folks streaming towards the game, all decked out in the team's claret and cobalt (red and blue).  We found our seats - which were great, giving a fantastic view of the whole field - and settled in to watch the game.

Opening ceremony

The game, quite frankly, was terrible.  L.A.'s two biggest players, Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane, whom I was looking forward to seeing play, were both out with injuries.  This was probably for the best, as it turns out, because RSL got spanked even so, the Galaxy scoring two goals in the first fifteen minutes.  And after that, it was pretty much all over.  The crowd lost all its enthusiasm (and that's half the fun of being at a game) and RSL never recovered.  They did better maintaining possession in the second half, and there was an exciting flurry of numerous shots on goal towards the end, but they just couldn't put it in the net.

This Saturday we stayed home and watched the game vs. Vancouver on television.  The RSL boys played much better than last weekend, winning 2-0 and nabbing 3 points for the shut-out in the standings.  They still don't have much of a long game, however, preferring lots of little short passes and not switching fields to open up the game.  I think they rely too heavily on Nick Rimando too: yes, he's a fantastic goalkeeper but they should trust their midfield more to move the ball upfield and not pass back to the keeper so much.