Utah Bucketlist

As you may or may not know, I just spent a little over 2 months in Utah.  I spent the first part of that studying for my Boards (which I passed and do not have to worry about again for 6 more years... booyah).  And I spent the rest of the time basically dating it up and mountain biking/hiking to my heart's content.  Basically I was a bum for a good month AND I LOVED IT.  I actually really miss that lifestyle.  Now I'm working like a dog.  Anyway, I had a TON of things I wanted to do while I was in Utah and although I did quite a few things (as evidenced below), there's still quite a few I have yet to do.  So here's my bucketlist over the last month or so:

#1 - hike the Y

#2 - Utah State Fair

#3 - Bees Game

#4 - bike the Provo River Canyon Trail

#5 - bike Lambert Park

#6 - Oktoberfest at Snowbird and ride the ski lift

#7 - walk to Utah Lake

#8 - Antelope Island (saw deer and bison!)

#9 - RS Broadcast at the Conference Center

#10 - bike Big Springs

#11 - hike Squaw Peak (saw wild turkeys!)

#12 - hike to Donut Falls (saw a moose!)

#13 - explore some ghost towns

#14 - bike Deer Creek Reservoir

#15 - feed the fish at Bridal Veil Falls

#16 - walk around Silver Lake

#17 - hike to Lake Blanche

#18 - Dinosaur Museum

#19 - BYU Football Game

#20 - hike to Stewart Falls

#21 - bike Lambert Park (again) (hey, it's my favorite!)

#22 - Gilgal Sculpture Garden

#23 - tour the State Capitol Building

#24 - hike to Ensign Peak

#25 - Eva's Bakery (fortunately for you I didn't include ALL the many other places I had to eat at)

#26 - hike Gobbler's Knob

#27 - Spanish Fork Reservoir

#28 - LOADS of family time

I'll have to save hiking Timp, the Bonneville salt flats, Golden Spike National Historic Site, and the Spiral Jetty for next year!

October Has Been a Good Month.....

October 1 - Mtn. biking w/ a classmate at Powell Butte nature park in NE Portland. It was absolutely gorgeous & a pretty good ride too.

October 3 - I was introduced to the caramel apple spice at Starbucks. Delicious. I may just need another 1 or 2 in the next few weeks.

October 8 - Went through a corn maze at Sauvie Island's pumpkin patch. It was a tricky one. This maze had sports trivia questions along the way to direct you in the right direction. Good thing I had a sports wiz with me. Too bad we couldn't have seen the layout beforehand. Might have avoided our utter confusion in the first half. MJ's "Beat It" blaring through the corn stalks inspired us to move on & conquer.

October 12 - So I bought a bag of candy corn to keep me studying for my test that week and I made a huge discovery....... Candy corn really is NOT that good. Definitely not worth the calories and sugar. Man, what is happening?? I used to love that stuff. Remember this post?

October 15 - Mtn. biking with a couple of friends from the ward at Brown's Camp, about an hour drive towards the coast. 3 and 1/2 hrs. of biking. Booyah! The trail was absolutely GORGEOUS, not to mention a FABULOUS ride. Some good climbs, tricky technical sections, and amazing downhill. It's definitely my new favorite (yes, even more than Lambert Park in UT). These pictures don't do it justice, but it's just SO green here. Towering trees, ferns, lush vegetation, moss, etc. Oh man, it never ceases to take my breath away.

October 21 - Mtn. biking w/ a classmate at Cooper Mountain Nature Park. It was a LAMO trail compared to the previous one. It's like otter pops to Magnum bars. No comparison really. Well, come to find out bikes are NOT allowed on the trail (what can I say? I'm a rebel). No wonder the trail wasn't that great. Full of gravel and extremely short. Never climbed such a monstrous hill in my life though. It's 5 min. from my house so it was worth checking out. Too bad it wasn't a better trail. All the good ones are so far away.....

Later that night I went out with my classmates to Typhoon (delicious Thai food) to celebrate a birthday. I was entertained by some new dudes I met along with red wine glasses falling & spilling on people :) Not mine of course, but there's never a dull moment with my classmates! I love them!

October 27 - Introduced a friend to Portland for the first time. It was an adventure in downtown. Started out by eating some delicious authentic tacos (carnitas & carne asada) from the world famous food carts while longboarding across the Hawthorne Bridge. We caught a spectacular view of downtown Portland (one of my favorite skylines) from the other side and then boarded back over the Burnside Bridge. I had no idea the Portland Oregon sign was just on the other side. Some homeless lady complimented our longboards. Who knew there could be so many friendly bums in Portland? It's the place to be. We picked up some tasty donuts from the famous Voodoo Donuts and enjoyed them in this cute little alley w/ lights while listening to one of the many street musicians trying to make their way. She was actually pretty good - a jazzy beautiful voice like Adele on the ukulele. Perfect. To finish it off we wandered through the many, many aisles of Powell's Books. I could spend hours in there.....one whole city block w/ multiple levels of great reads. We happened upon this one for example. "Stuff White People Like." Hilarious! You have to read the link. I love it. Once again.....I love Portland. I might be here to stay.....

(I one day aspire to taking pictures such as these.)

Finally! Mtn. Biking!

Imagine biking through a lush, thick green forest such as that to the left (thank you Google). The forests here in Oregon are incredible and have so much vegetation. I finally got out on my mountain bike for the first time since I've been here to bike a real trail. I went with some friends and we had a grand time, especially when we stopped to pick fresh blackberries along the way. However, the scratches those suckers leave on you don't feel too great. But it wouldn't be mtn. biking without a few scratches or bruises!

Goodbye Utah

All of these goodbyes are too much for me. Before leaving Utah I had a Bucket List of things to do, either things I hadn't done before and always wanted to do OR things I loved to do and wanted to do just one last time. It was a pretty good list. I actually was able to do a lot more than I expected, squeezing everything in within the last 3 weeks. Are you ready for the list....? (and in no particular order....):

1. The Living Planet Aquarium

2. Hogle Zoo

3. Hike the Y

4. Eat at Gourmadise - European bakery in downtown SLC

5. Baseball game - UVU will have to do for now....next time, it's the Salt Lake Bees!

6. Drive-in movie theater - loved it so much I went twice in one week!

7. Hill Air Force Base Museum - coolest place EVER!

8. BYU Museum of Art - Carl Bloch exibihit

9. Picnic

10. Salt Lake Temple

11. Mt. Timpanogos Temple

12. Inn & Out

13. J'Dawgs

14. Play croquet

15. Real Salt Lake game

16. Shave Ice

17. Mtn. bike Deer Creek Reservoir

18. Mtn. bike Lambert Park

19. Mtn. bike Provo River Trail

20. Hike Stewart Falls - only attempted (still packed with snow)

Best part is, I get to save the things I DIDN'T get to do when I come back and visit in August:

1. Spanish Fork Reservoir

2. Longboard

3. Moab

4. Antelope Island (mtn. bike)

5. This is the Place - Heritage Park

6. Salt Lake Bees

7. Wakeboarding

8. Hike Ensign Peak

9. Lava Hot Springs

10. Timp Caves

11. Hike Timp

12. Mtn. Bike Big Springs

13. Live Jazz in SLC

14. Comedy Sportz

15. Manti Temple

16. Rodeo

Utah has treated me extremely well over the last seven years (minus the one in Spain). It is an outdoors-(wo)man's paradise! Not to mention summer is the BEST part. There is always so much to do and so much going on. Not to mention all of the individual city festivals that go on all summer long. And I don't even get to enjoy it this year. You all better live it up for me!! Starting with the Scandinavian Festival in Ephraim next weekend. Good thing I had Swedish meatballs at Ikea today to make up for it. Utah, I will miss you dearly!