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| Headed to the Summit |
Although this is a ceramics orientated blog, I thought it would be fun to begin incorporating posts about the "other" things that I do. I was fortunate enough to spend the last week skiing in Park City, Utah, with Ali and my great friends Mike and Jen. We began our journey westward on January 12th, and I am proud to say Ali conquered her fear of flying and we did not miss any connecting flights in the hectic Atlanta airport. Thanks to leaving Louisville at 6:00 A.M., we arrived in Utah before noon, with plenty of time left to ski in the day. It was so great to be back out west skiing on real mountains instead of the 300 vertical foot hill I call home, and to top it off, Park City had received over a foot of snow the night before we got there. I would love to be able to say my favorite part of the trip; however, there were so many perfect moments that it would be impossible to choose just one.
Instead, I am just going to make a list of
some of my favorites that come to mind as I write...
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| Brody and Myself |
If you have read my blog before, you have probably heard me mention crazy stories about a fellow skier named Brody Leven who is based out of Salt Lake City (if you haven't listened to me and checked out his blog yet, do it already @ brodyleven.com). Through the power of Facebook I was able to shout at him enough to meet up and exchange stories. I met up with him at his hotel before the Powder Awards (see favorite trip moment #2 for more info on that) where he was struggling to tie a bow tie via youtube.com instruction. It was later determined that the tie he had was not in fact a bow tie at all. It's not often you get to meet someone you idolize, and it is even less often that you get to sit down and have a legitimate conversation with them. I feel so blessed that we got to meet up and shoot the breeze for a few hours about skiing, kiln building, traveling, climbing, and of course how to tie a bow tie.
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| "Follow Me!" |
When I first booked my trip to Utah, I thought the timing was perfect because I would be out there during the heavy snow season. Little did I know that the 2013 Powder Magazine Awards would also be taking place during that week (Sundance did as well, but I was not as excited about all the overcrowding that came along with it). I have been following the Powder Awards online for the past decade, and when I heard they would take place less than a mile from me, my heart almost stopped. I was initially devastated to find out tickets were sold out, but when more were released, I jumped on ordering them faster that something that jumps on something else really fast. I think it is safe to say that Ali witnessed me have over a dozen "geek-outs" when I saw famous skiers/filmers like Tanner Hall, Candide Thovex, Josh Berman, LJ Strenio, Ingrid Backstrom, Brody Leven, and Sean Pettit that I have idolized for the better part of my life. Truly a night I will never forget.
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| Dru crushing 3 Kings |
Throughout the years, many of my friends at Paoli (myself included) have talked about making the big move out west to ski better places. One of the only people to step up and make that move is one of my best friends, Dru Williams. Lucky for me, he moved to Salt Lake City, and was easily within driving distance to spend a day together. We spent a bluebird day cruising the 3 Kings Terrain Park and even hit up the local pizza joint for the first (and only) cheap meal of the trip. It's always a neat experience to meet up with old friends in new places.
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| Crazy Sport |
Although I had been there before, I thought it was necessary to make a trip to the Utah Olympic Park while we were out there. Once again the timing was perfect because we got to witness the concluding day of the 2013 Luge Junior World Championships. My training for Sochi 2014 begins tomorrow..although I cannot picture myself enjoying flying down an ice track at around 90 mph. I cannot tell you how many "Cool Runnings" references I made during our visit, but I think it is safe to say that Ali, Mike, and Jen were sick of me talking by the end of the afternoon.
I have more memories than any one blog post could ever sum up, and I think the best way to say how I feel is that this trip was the time of my life. I got to visit old hangouts and new places with best friends and new acquaintances. It really was the trip of a lifetime!
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| The one and only |
