When work gets in the way of Blogging

Typically this time of year is pretty slow for my business, that's not been the case this year. I'm not complaining but it definitely has cut into the more important things in life like maintaining the Harber blog and training.

OK...work has been busy but more than anything there hasn't been a ton to write about. I can sum up the past few weeks pretty quick:

Laura and I had the opportunity to go to the NFR (National Finals Rodeo) twice this year thanks to Mr. Paul Harber. It made me laugh that Laura was so into it; she kept telling me how much she was looking forward to it and was excited to be there the whole time. I thought this year was exceptionally good; those cowboys are amazing athletes. This was also the little buckaroo's first year at the rodeo, from what I hear he enjoyed himself pretty well.

Other than the Rodeo it's been Christmas parties and shopping. I'm very grateful for my sweet wife that takes care of the majority of the shopping. She also gets credit for the holiday decorations around the house. This is another activity that I try and stay out of, but I do enjoy the decorations once everything is up.

We had a great game of Risk with the boys last week. Thanks to the Moodys for introducing me to my new favorite game.

I've been slacking major on the training schedule. After next week I need to get serious and get with the program. The half marathon is a little over a month away, and the half Ironman is only about 3 months away. Jesse's going to be a serious contender at the Buffalo run on Catalina.

Harber weekend in SLC

We spent last weekend in SLC with the Paul and Nola Harber Family. It was a kicked back weekend just to hang out with everyone. We went out to eat, did some serious shopping and checked out the lights at Temple Square. We were lucky enough to get snow for most of the weekend... It definitely helped to get into the holiday season.

The one bummer was that Southwest lost my bag. We were planning on carrying on our bags until we found out one of the traveling family members had to check their bag. Laura and I decided to check ours since we would have to wait at the baggage claim anyways. All bags made it to SLC but mine. The best part is that I still don't have the bag (as of 12/7/07), and Southwest makes you wait 30 days until they reimburse for anything. I didn't realize how much I had in the sucker until I started to itemize the list. The most missed items in the bag are my running shoes and my heart rate monitor. I can't afford to let 30 days slip by without essential training tools, especially while that sucker Anthony is in the middle of his "eye of the tiger training."

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera for the weekend so not many photos until someone emails me some. I did receive one photo that I loved. I gave my nephew a doughnut at breakfast one morning and he had no problem taking care of it.

The Dirty South, Turkey, and Football

We had the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with the Moody's this year in Baton Rouge.

Although the trip was short we did a ton of stuff. First of all the food was great, my favorites were the sweet potatoes and the turkey gumbo. Thanksgiving day we kicked back and then played a game of RISK. Apparently I'm way behind in the times because this was the first time I had played this game. It's probably one of the funnest games I've played. Way better than Monopoly because you attempt to conquer the world instead of just buying properties.



On Friday we went to the LSU game. Most of you know that I'm not a football fan but it was still pretty fun. The LSU fans are crazy for their team; I'm told the tailgating starts the day before the game and they party hard all the way until the game is over. Laura knew that I wasn't super pumped about the game so she said tried to encourage me by telling me that the game would only be a couple of hours long. Just my luck...it went into triple overtime and we were there for almost 5 hours. It did end up being pretty fun overall and even better to watch the fans go nuts; unfortunately LSU lost to Arkansas.

Saturday we checked out the Baton Rouge velodrome that unfortunately had been converted into a BMX park. For those that don't know a velodrome in an oval cycling track with steep banked turns. I thought it was an odd city to have a velodrome built in but I guess it was used for a youth Olympic event. We also visited the State Capital and saw the bullet holes in the granite where Huey Long was shot.

Other misc. activities were trips to Coffee Call for beignets (southern doughnuts...kind of), and a few solid hours logged on the Wii.

Big thanks to the Moody's for the Southern Hospitality and a memorable holiday.

High Altitude Training

OK it was just a mountain bike trip to Brian Head but being at 10,000 feet is definitely different than riding in Vegas.

We were joined by the Stubbs and the Hanson's (aka Team Sabrosa Cycles). We rode the ORIGINAL Brain Head trail "Dark Hollow," little did we know that the trail had been changed. After a couple of miles down hill we realized that we were on a trail that hadn't been ridden for many moons. It actually turned pretty epic, along with a ton of fallen trees there must have been a huge mud slide that wiped out a good portion of the trail. On top of the trail not being in tip top shape Anthony was having a tough weekend. Not only did he burn a hole in his lung on the first climb, but he damn near ripped his derailleur off his bike. Oh yeah and he also had two gnarly wrecks. I started feeling sorry for his new bike, this was only the second outing for the new pony.

We had great food and the ladies must have played 50 games of Mexican Dominoes. Another good weekend; unfortunately I think it'll be the last without snow at Brian Head.

SEMA SHOW 2007

Thanks to Jared I was able to get into the SEMA show this year. It's one of the largest car conventions and is typically reserved for buyers of all kinds of auto goods. We spent almost 4 hours there and didn't see even a quarter of what was on display. These were a few of my favorite rides.

Halloween Post

This awesome clip came from another fellow blogger, and it's perfect for the Halloween post. Be careful if you're letting your kids out tonight, there are too many psychos out there.

Filipino Inmates Perform Thriller

If you're going to watch the video go to the bottom of the page and turn off the backround music.

AZ Machine Gun Shoot

Last weekend made 5 weekends in a row that I've been out of town. This weekend I went down with Jared, Bob, and Tony to the MG Shooters "The Big Sandy" machine gun shoot in Arizona.

My favorite by far was Bob's CZ 37. Belt fed and fairly accurate. There are only 5 in the US registry and it's blast to shoot.











Basically guys are just hammering with nonstop shooting all day and night. They had tons of stuff to shoot at; sticks of dynamite, 50 gallons barrels, an old jeep, but the best were the remote controlled planes. They even flew the planes at night with glow sticks on them. It was awesome watching guys shoot down a plane at night with tracer rounds.
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This is Jared on his Browning 1919

24 Hours of Moab

Last Thursday Mr. Ryan Kushman and myself headed to Moab for a 24 hour mountain bike race. We were joined by the other three members of the Sabrosa Cycle Team (John, Delena, and Mark) and a bunch of other cool folks.

The race is started with about a 200 meter run so that racers are not trying to pedal over the top of each other.

Mark coming through the gates into the transition tent.

The race was a blast and we ended up doing pretty well considering 1/2 the team was sickly. We took 5th in our category, and 65 in the overall (about 400 teams total). Much thanks to Sabrosa Cycles and the support crew for all they did.

Ryan and I stayed in Moab for a quick ride Monday morning and then headed back. We decided on the Slick Rock trail since it was Ryan's first trip to Moab. For those that may not know the name is given to the ride because 99% of the course in on sandstone...pretty cool.

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Brian Head Weekend

So the trip to Brian Head was intended as mountain bike trip (and to listen to conference); mother nature had other plans. It ended up snowing so we pretty much stayed inside and relaxed. There was a heated game of Monopoly, a little Yahtzee, and a lot of Mexican Dominoes. The poor sucker Anthony had even gone down to California to pick up his new bike for this weekend and ended up not being able to ride. For the record this has been the third weekend in a row that was spoiled by the weather.

When the weather did break we got outside for a few games of paintball. I got ruined in every game.

It ended up being a fun weekend. Thanks again to Mr. and Mrs Harber for letting us come up and for the great food.

Ford Ironman 70.3 Oceanside, California

It's official... I'm registered!

I've debated for the last few weeks about doing the 1/2 Ironman in Oceanside, California. It's a huge jump from doing sprint distance triathlons but I had to just commit and register for the event. I have almost 6 months to prepare myself, and trust me I'll need every day.

• 1.2 mile swim
• 56 mile bike
• 13.1 mile run

If you know Anthony please take the opportunity to let him know how much you would like to see him register for this event. I have attempted to get him to register by a combination of bribery, betting and flattery (trust me he hasn't not registered cause he's scared, this man is a fierce competitor). This obviously hasn't worked so far so see what your persuasion can do.

Kokopelli Traithlon

The tall man in this photo is the luckiest guy. If you didn't already hear the triathlon was cancelled due to bad weather. We were standing in the water ready to start the swim and the race director called it. Laura and Krista had already started the swim before they called it. Good job to both of them for at least doing the swim.

If you had been following the posts in the last few weeks you would know that Anthony and I had a wager on this race. Everyone should remember that he beat me by 10 minutes on the last race but I was back into fighting shape. Unfortunately there weren't any races that we could both schedule in the immediate future. We've agreed to up the stakes on the bet and register for the 1/2 Ironman in March. The details of the wager haven't been worked out yet but it's going to be huge.

Dear Abby article in the New York Times

Sorry guys I couldn't resist posting this:


Dear Abby,

My husband is a liar and a cheat. He has cheated on me from the beginning,
and, when I confront him he denies everything. What's worse, everyone knows
that he cheats on me. It is so humiliating.
Also, since he lost his job six years ago, he hasn't even looked for a new
one. All he does all day is smoke cigars, cruise around and B.S. with his
buddies while I have to work to pay the bills.
Since our daughter went away to college he doesn't even pretend to like me
and hints that I may be a lesbian. What should I do?

Signed: Clueless



Dear Clueless,

Grow up and dump him. Good grief, woman. You don't need him anymore.
You're a United States Senator from New York and a Presidential candidate.
Act like one.

Lord of the Flies Weekend

The trip to Havasupi was one of the best guy weekends I've had in a while. There were dudes in our group from San Francisco, The OC, Phoenix, and of course Vegas. This place is amazing, you hike 10 miles through baron desert and then come to this canyon filled with waterfalls and super lush vegetation (yes I used "vegetation" for lack of a better word). Thanks to Ryan Bunker for the pro photos.

Havasu Falls

The hike down to Beaver Falls

Stubbs cliff jump at Beaver Falls

Mooney Falls (we're on the bottom right)

The Crew

We ended taking the easy way out by taking a helicopter instead of hiking out. From what I hear this is the way to do it anyways. The main reason we took the helicopter out was that Anthony's feet were a bloody mess by the end of the weekend. Maybe Anthony will bring some shoes next time instead of thinking he can backpack 20 miles in sandals. There was a time long ago that it may have worked but the days of your youth are over Anthony, sorry buddy.

Trunk Monkey Compilation

Catching Up

The last few weeks has been pretty eventful, unfortunately I haven't been keeping up on the posts. I have a renewed commitment to post at least once a week.

August 31 - September 2

This was the weekend we celebrated the 1 year anniversary and my 29th birthday. We decided to go to Reno for a couple of reasons; it was the weekend that my mom and Eric had the timeshare in Tahoe, and also it was the Reno Rib Cook-off. The place at Tahoe was amazing we kicked back, hung at the pool, and played a ton of tennis. It was great too because we had almost the whole family there (including grandma Joan). Laura and I even got a chance to take a tennis clinic from the club pro. The Rib Cook-off was incredible as always, Eric's company is one of the main sponsors of the event so we had access to the VIP section. Once in the VIP section you can eat all you want of every rib available. I'm sure everyone was as sick as I was when we left.

September 7 - September 9

I was lucky enough to be chosen to be part of the support crew for team Stubbs/Slade in the Logan to Jackson bike race (this is a one day, 206 mile bike race). Anthony and Chad were animals and both had strong finish times. The photo below is one of the most critical moments of the race when a rider went down at Star Valley. Me in the green shirt and Anthony in the black and white, take notice of his blond locks flowing in the wind.




Lucky for other riders Krista and I were there to save the day. We directed traffic and kept the casualties to a minimum. Side note-when the accident actually happened I was in the Star Valley Dairy buying cheese curd (a food of the gods). Krista saw the guy go down and was the first responder. This was just one of the cases that got us to be awarded with the best support team of 2007.

With race ending in Jackson we had a chance to ride the Alpine slides and visit with our good friend Andy that we hadn't seen for years. This was super fun weekend!


September 14 - September 16

Trip to Havasupi - there will be more to follow when I get the photos from the trip.

Good for Judge Moore

August 22 is the day in 2003 when Alabama chief justice Roy Moore was suspended from the bench for refusing to obey a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from his courthouse.

It's great that there are still people out there that are not afraid to stand up for what is right.

Sweet Home Alabama

We had the opportunity to spend last week in Gulf Shores, Alabama for the Moody/Harber/Hoopes family vacation. I admit that I was a little sceptical about the spot but it was a blast.

Dr. Hoopes and I flew into Biloxi, Mississippi on Monday night and then drove about 2 hours to Gulf Shores. We were greeted with a major storm when we landed; I was praying that Katrina wasn't making a coming back. OK maybe I overreacted but we get about an inch of rain in Vegas per year and it was really coming down. We made it safe and met the rest of the crew that had been there since Saturday.

Being in the gulf of Mexico the water was super warm and clear. There were days when there would be little 2-3 foot rollers and then the next day the ocean would look like a lake. The only thing that didn't allow me to totally relax in the water were the jellyfish. Even though the burning sensation passes pretty quick these little suckers hurt. Lucky for us there weren't any stings bad enough that first aid had to be applied on the beach. I question whether or not urinating on the sting will really take away the burn. Sounds to me like a joke that someone played during spring break in Mexico and it just stuck. It would have to hurt pretty bad for me to resort to letting someone pee on me.

Besides hitting the beach we played put-put golf, ate some great seafood, and played at least a hundred hours on the Wii. The other highlight was the local water park. It reminded me of the days at Wet N Wild (with a little redneck flair). I wish I had taken a picture of the rules for the water park; one of them stated that you couldn't wear cutoff jeans on the rides. It was funny to me that enough people were doing it that they had to post it as a rule.

It ended up being a great trip; thanks to the Moodys for setting it up. The Harbers will be looking forward to next year.

New Wager

I do consider myself a betting man so when it came to the Kokopelli triathlon on St George I didn't hesitate. A friendly wager of dinner at Fleming's is on the line. Now granted the guy I made the bet with beat me by 10 minutes in the last race, but I have come a long way. I'm now closer to my fighting weight of 165, and have been training 4 to 5 days a week.

This is where it gets funny. I was telling my sweet wife about the bet and she asks if Anthony is going to give me a handicap. I looked to see if she was joking and unfortunately she was dead serious. I'm so glad to know that she has so much faith in me. OK maybe she does have a somewhat valid reason to make a comment like this...every time I come back from a ride with the sucker I talk about how I just got ruined. The guy's an animal on the bike.

All I have to say to Anthony is that you better be training hard until September 22 cause I'm gunning for you. Maybe this time I'll sink to your level and cheat with a wetsuit.

Great Quote

Nothing too exciting to write about lately but I did run across what I thought was a really great quote:

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

- Leonardo -


I found the quote to be interesting because the majority of people would think that to be sophisticated one needs to be complex and deep. Maybe this means that I have a shot at being sophisticated some day.

This also reminded me that far too often I find myself getting wrapped up in things that are not important. We could all do ourselves a big favor by stepping back at looking at what is really important overall. It's crazy how fast time goes by; one of my biggest fears it to look back and realize that I was not focused in the right direction.

Time to Fight Back

One of the joys of road riding is the constant honking by drivers. Someone please let me know if I'm misinformed but I thought bikes were allowed on the street. It seems as thought it especially bad here in Vegas. Yesterday I not only got the honk, but this idiot in an 82 La Baron tried to edge me into the gutter. He had no traffic on his left and I have no idea what caused this guy to do it. Typically I would honor this move with the bird and shout back some friendly words. Unfortunately you can't do this in Vegas anymore, not only will you get run off the road but the driver may decide to shank or shoot you.

Maybe riders in Vegas should ban together and get strapped. I wonder how a jerk driver would feel if I countered his honk with some hot lead. Here's a million dollar idea for someone out there; a jersey with a built-in holster.

I just wish we could all get along (and share the road)!

Red Rock Running Company

I am by no means a competive runner but I can say that when you're sportin the correct gear it definitly helps. The guys at Red Rock Running Company know how to get it right. When you make a fitting appointtment ask for Eric, Chris, or Mark. After running in the wrong shoes for I don't know 10 years I stopped in this shop to see if they could help with my knee problems. I ran on the treadmill (in the shop) for about 10 seconds and apparently it was obvious.

I know this may seem like a random entry but after running the other day with no pain I realized how big of a difference it has made.

Red Rock Running Company

7350 West Cheyenne

Las Vegas, NV 89129

702-870-4786

Utah Summer Games

Last weekend I cruised up to St George for a triathlon that was part of the Utah Summer Games. With it only being two weeks since the marathon I planned on just just taking it easy and having a good time (that's my excuses for being slow).

I registered for the sprint distance which is as follows:

• 700 meter Swim
• 14 mile Bike
• 5K Run

The bike and the run I felt pretty comfortable with but the swim nearly killed me. Not only was I not in swimming shape but you wouldn't believe the number of cheaters in wetsuits (excuse # 2 for being slow). My main reason I did this race was that I felt like a hypocrite after pushing Anthony to do the San Diego Marathon. I blame Anthony for pushing my to do this tri.

My finish time: 1 hour 36 minutes

Anthony: 1 hour 24 minutes

Anthony, think about how bad you would have felt if I had drown.

Bend, Oregon

I'm a little behind on the updates, but better late then never.

The Monday after the marathon we flew up to Portland. It was about a 3 hour drive to Bend but it was very worth it. We passed by Mount Hood and some of the most beautiful country I have seen. Living in the desert really makes a person appreciate the green that that you see in this part of the country.

One of the highlights of the drive was our participation in a police chase. We were passing through this tiny town when we saw a highway patrol car attempting to pull a car over for speeding. The driver slowed down to the speed limit but would not pull over; this went on for 10 to 15 minutes. The highway opened to two lanes in our direction and a driver from behind us passed the cop and the pursued driver. He got himself in front of pursued driver and started to slow down. So being the good citizen that I am I also pulled past the cop and along the side of the pursued driver so that she could not pass. I was thinking that this lady would just slow down at this point but no she flips a U turn into oncoming traffic and heads the opposite direction. The cop obviously flips around and continues to chase her. I felt that we had done our part so we just continued on.

The place we stayed was called Pronghorn, just outside of Bend. I couldn't imagine a better place to recover from the marathon. They had a 36 hole golf course, pool and spa, gym, etc. I have never see a golf course that was so manicured, and some of the most diabolical holes ever conceived. Apparently the course was designed by Jack Nicklaus and he's know for this. For the most part we just hung with the family, it was great.

The other highlight of the trip was getting to see Smith Rocks. This is a very well know climbing spot in the northwest. Unfortunately no climbing to be had on this trip, I was still working on walking without a limp.

It was also on this trip that my nephew Jackson took his first few steps. His dad Travis doesn't want to count these since he wasn't there. Sorry Travis it's just one of the sacrifices of being in medical school. You missed a great vacation and your child's first step.

San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon

Four months of training, the perfect diet, custom fitted running shoes and my wife still beats me to the finish line. I love having a hardcore wife!

We arrived in San Diego Saturday afternoon just in time to meet part of the crew for lunch. In addition to Quinn and Megan (fellow runners), Baker, Jenny and Matt Jones (spectators) all met up to eat and then headed down to the expo to check in for the race. Anthony and Krista decided to go to Mexico for the afternoon; I figured he was trying to get in a cheap session of blood doping to get an edge on race day. We were just happy to find out they didn't end up in a mexican jail.

The prerace dinner was Thai food at a spot near our hotel. The highlight of dinner was Baker considering running the race with no training under his belt. Correction, he had a couple of 4 mile runs in the last month. This guy has so much heart that he probably could have finished.

The morning of the race was perfect; about 60 degrees and overcast. We started downtown and ran through Petco Park, the Gaslamp Quarter, and the San Diego Harbor. Following the downtown section, the course traveled up Highway 163, and then through the bayside communities, Sea World and ended up at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Point Loma.

My main problem was that I waited to long to light the torch, it wasn't until mile 15 that I really tried to step it up; by that time I was already fatigued. Everything else went pretty well until mile 23 that was when I started really feeling the pain. I continued to push with the goal in mind to finish under the 5 hour mark. I ended up finishing strong and was very satisfied with my first marathon.

Official race times:

Laura 4:36:44

Ben 4:51:19

Anthony 4:57:42

.

Kathleen 5:08:20

Quinn 5:10:50

Megan 5:10:51


It felt so good to be done with this race; we now get to rest for the afternoon and then off to Bend, Oregon for a week of vacation.

Memorial Weekend With the Stubbs

This weekend was pretty epic. Not so much that we did anything super hardcore but we did fit in a ton for a three day weekend.

Friday night we headed out to Lake Mead. Despite being a holiday weekend we got a great camp site on a beach. We had some of the Colonel's original recipe and talked until we ran out of firewood. Another thing that we enjoyed were devil's food cake donuts by Entenmanns. I typically don't enjoy donuts but these things were sweet ecstasy. The lake was great that morning, we got in some wake boarding and some wake surfing. Wake surfing is where you start about 6 or 7 feet of the back of the boat and then when the wake builds up you can let go of the rope and surf the wake. It was a blast!

Around 12 we cleaned up the boat and headed back to Vegas. We regrouped and packed for the second leg of the weekend.

That afternoon we took off for Zion. A quick stop for dinner in St George at Cafe Rio was delicious. We all had the pork in some form. If I remember right Anthony and I had pork burritos and the ladies had pork salads. Much like the Colonel's original recipe, Cafe Rio must have some additive that makes the pork highly addictive.

That night we camped out at a spot right outside of the park for an early start. That early start happened around 9:00 am, I think everyone was pretty tired from the day before. Anyway we got our permit for a slot canyon called Pine Creek, it's a Zion classic. I don't think the pictures do it justice but it is beautiful. When you enter the canyon it fairly narrow, there are sections that it's only wide enough for one person to walk through and the sandstone walls can be well over 100 feet tall. There are different part where you have to rappel and you're in and out of water the whole time. Laura and Krista did great despite the water being absolutely freezing; some of these pools of water never see the sun because the canyon is so deep and narrow.

I was especially proud of my cute little wife for being so brave there are a couple of rappels that could be pretty scary even if you had done it before. The last rappel in particular was the biggest challenge for her. I will admit that while it's 100% safe it can be mentally tough. This last rappel you have to hook onto the rope and then swing out over the edge. By the way it's a 200 foot drop and there's nothing but air under you. This may have been a bit much for her first time ever rappelling. I love her for being so hardcore.

That little dot at the top of the rope is my scared wife. She was frozen there for a bit but she made it down.

That night we made it back to Vegas and slept like zombies. It was obvious that I haven't had a weekend like that in a while because I was beat. Monday we made it to 2 different barbecues which was the perfect end to the Memorial Weekend.

Moments of Doubt

Last weekend was both fun and painful. Quinn invited me to a buddy's cabin down in Arizona to play paintball. This was the perfect spot to play, 10 acres of tall juniper trees and rolling hills. We has 3 games of 4 on 4, it was a blast. That crazy sucker that's wearing a short sleeve shirt in the picture actually wore it during the game. I think he was trying to prove that he was man enough to take a shot, but welts that he had after the game sure weren't worth it. This was the fun part of the weekend.

(I'm on the bottom right, Quinn Brown top second from the left)

The painful part of the weekend was the long run that Laura and I did. Lucky for me she was having an off day so I was able to keep up. We did 18 miles and I suffered the entire time. I bought Laura a GPS watch that gives her the pace, distance and her heart rate. I would desperately listen for the chime that would go off to mark every mile. You know it's going to be a bad run when you are looking forward to the first mile alarm. It's after a run like this, that I doubt that I will have a strong finish at the marathon. As we finished I thought, "If I had to run another 8 miles could I do it?" My answer was that maybe if my life depended on it. I think I'll be fine, it was just a rough day.

My Wife the Champ

Not that a ton of people read our blog but just wanted all the dedicated friends to know that we're still kicking.

Laura and I did our long run this weekend together; 15 miles. For those of you that know about our difficultly training together that is a huge surprise. For those of you that don't know I'll try and explain:

The main problem is that Laura is very competitive (and so am I). The other problem is that she is faster than me (for right now). My sweet wife is very subtle about this, but she like to display her abilities when we run together. To be completely honest I get a little insecure when she slowly pulls away and picks up the pace. I hung with her for the most part this weekend but she still finished before me. I am so proud of her for training hard it just sucks that she's stronger than me (for right now). If I'm going to keep up with her at the marathon I have a lot of work to do. Only a little over a month away until the San Diego Marathon!

My advise for the week is to find something to train for, it's great motivation to get yourself in shape.

Cool & the Gang

Last Friday Laura and I went to see the legendary band " Cool & the Gang". OK maybe not legendary but they had some great hits:

Get Down on It

Celebration

Fresh

Too Hot

Jungle Boogie

Ladies Night

The show was at a fairly small local club, I was surprised that they would play at such a small venue; sounds like times have been better for the band. Anyway it was a good time and the jams were funky.

President's Day Weekend

I know that I'm back tracking, but I have to make up for the past. This was a fun weekend, and I have to post it even though it was a month ago.

We headed up to Salt Lake on Friday after work. For some reason I really like this drive; it's about 6 hours but feels like 3. We got to Laura's sisters house around 11:00 and stayed up talking until 12:30. The next morning I woke up early and met up with my buddy Matt Gover. We did some ice climbing down in Santaquin Canyon; I hadn't done this for a while and it was a blast (OK, it scared me but I hadn't done it for 4 to 5 years).

This is a 2 pitch climb that we did called Squashhead. It's a classic in Santaquin Canyon.

Saturday afternoon I jammed up to Ogden to see my little sister's basketball game. They beat Sacramento; it was good to see my little sis, mom, and Eric.

The next day I went with Matt down to the San Rafel Swell. This is a awesome place basically in the middle of nowhere. This is home to some of the best desert crack climbing in the west. The whole place is a maze of slot canyons, and sweet desert scenery.

These are few photos of Matt climbing at the first
spot.











There was only one guy from our group that attempted this climb, it looked pretty burly.




The rest of the weekend was spent with Laura's family. She has 3 nephews, 2 of which we played with in the snow. Man they have a lot of energy. The drive back from Salt Lake was pretty hairy. It was a blizzard all the way from SLC past Cedar City. Finally halfway between Cedar and St. George it cleared up. We must had counted 10 cars that had slid off the highway.

Being in Salt Lake made me realize how much I missed it. There is such good access to tons of outdoor sports that I love. But as with many things there are seasons in a person's life and right now Las Vegas is the place I need to be. I did make a promise to Matt to get up to Utah a little more this year and I look forward to it.