utah, rebecca's visit

This past weekend Rebecca flew into Salt Lake from Ithaca for a visit.  We stayed in Sandy, rode Brighton twice and Solitude once.  Brighton's a fun little resort that's very playful (lots of rocks and stuff to play on).  We had a good time with Solitude once we started lapping the summit double.  It served some fun terrain with some drops and steep sections but everything had nice mellow runouts (a pleasant change from Jackson).  Rebecca's riding started progressing once she bought some new boots a season or two back.  Apparently riding with Tosh has been advantageous, too, because she bunny hop 180s frequently, a little trick I tend to avoid for fear of my tailbone...

too bad colorado is so far away, I'd like to get a day or two of riding with tosh and rebecca at crested butte, but I dont think I can justify the 12 hour drive.

Unfortunately Rebecca was getting over a cold, so the third day was cut a little short.  Fortunately I get to ride all the time so I don't mind a bit.

Then Atlanta had an ice storm, which canceled her return flight, and they couldn't book a flight until Tuesday AM.  Bad for schoolwork, good for vacationing.  We went to the Tracy Aviary--one of the best in the country.  A lot of the birds were inside for warmth but we got to see a bunch and I thought it was pretty sweet.  Birds are cool animals with serious character.  I promised pictures, and here they are!

This one is a rest stop on the way into salt lake.  I thought the red rocks were cool.

  The wasatch from town.

some red birds.  very red.

we were greeted by a gang of pelicans.  

with nice hairdoos

the emus (not ostriches) werent very friendly

hey baby.

these were funny looking geese with red bumps on their noses.  not very photogenic though

the ugly duckling...err flamingo

there were a bunch of fat ground birds, I liked them.  

some eagles

this was a very vocal, curious, and colorful bird.  

Theres a name for this guy, but he's a huge vulture-type bird.  cool bird for sure.

Lots of bird pictures...no people pictures...maybe I'll do better next time.

It was great to see Rebecca.  I'm glad she made the sacrifice with school and money to come out.  Bummer the flights didnt work out so well, but thats life i suppose.  she and some other friends (jeff and adam) will be out in a couple of weeks for spring break, so I'll see the gang then.