24 hours later... he is still on an airplane

Just received a message from steve saying, "Made it to Singapore. Off to Perth in a few hours." I dropped him off at the SLC airport on Thursday afternoon. It is now Friday afternoon, more than 24 hours later, and he still has another flight before he reaches his destination in Australia. Yuck. He is spending a few days in Perth at his company's headquarters, then a few days in Singapore for a sales team meeting. The whole trip is only 10 days. I guess I now realize why he was so grumpy about this trip -- becuase much of will be spent in a tiny tube thousands of feet above the ground.

A Work Trip to New York City

Just returned from a 4-day trip to New York City. I was there for the American Sociological Association conference, but I wont bore you with the work-related details (though, it was a fun and productive meeting for me).

HOTEL-- I stayed at the Dream Hotel. Highly recommended. Stylish and swanky. Decent location between central park and times square (55th and Broadway). I particularly liked the apples and weather forecast they provided each night when they turned down the bed. The personalized i-pod was a nice addition, as well. My favorite part of the hotel had to be the blue neon lights that were under the bed and built into the all-glass desk in my room. Such a cool effect.

BROADWAY-- As you may know, I am a sucker for musicals, so I saw two of them. I did not have much "work" to do on Sunday, so I saw a double-header: Hairspray first and Spamalot second. Spamalot made me laugh out loud several times, but the singing and dancing in Hairspray was better. Hairspray featured Jerry Mathers and Lance Bass. Both were cheesy (what musical isn't?), but fantastic. I was in bliss the rest of the day.

EATING-- a group of friends from Michigan met for a lunch meeting at the Nougatine Room at Jean George in the Trump International Hotel. Excellent food, but beware of the prices (e.g., mimosas were $22 each). Another day for lunch, I took some students who have never been to NYC to the Tavern on the Green. Food is overrated and overpriced, and to tell you the truth, the atmosphere is pretty over-the-top, too. One evening, Sal and I and a few other people from Wisconsin ate one of the best meatloafs I have ever had, but I do not remember the name of the place (The Eating Establishment, perhaps). The lamb pozoles at a mexican restaurant somewhere on Restaurant Row were also pretty spectacular -- I ate there with Sapna and Mike. Serafina (at the Dream Hotel) made excellent pizzas and calamari. Other food was OK, but not spectacular, forgettable.

SIGHTSEEING-- on the final night of my trip, I opted to skip a dinner with friends to go to South Street Seaport to see the Bodies Exhibit. Everyone I talked to had all already seen it in other cities, so I went by myself. And I am so glad that I did. Awesome. This is an exhibit of human anatomy. It is of real human corpses, preserved and cut apart so you can see absolutely everything. Wow. To see the human body like that is absolutely awe-inspiring. The most striking part of the exhibit, for me, was how much smokers' lungs look like they are coated in tar, compared to the healthy lungs. Oh yeah, the displays of female anatomy followed by the fetuses at every stage of development make you realize how truly amazing and complex and resilient the human body is. The display of the blood vessels and arteries and veins was beautiful.

New York is expensive! But what a fun city to spend a few days in. I am not sure I would do well living there. Too much hustle and bustle. And I do not think Leo would ever learn how to pee and poop on the sidewalk. I am happy to be home in the mountains and to see my husband again.

You do not have to go far for a vacation

Steve and I just returned from a weekend vacation to Midway, Utah. Midway is in the Heber Valley, just over the ridge from Park City. It was a complete vacation with less than an hour of travel time. Now, that's the way to do it. No cancelled or delayed flights, no sitting in airports.

Friday -- we arrived early in the afternoon, walked around the grounds of the Zermatt hotel, watched a movie, and then enjoyed an awesome dinner at Blue Boar Inn. Steve ate the Bison Steak. I had rack of lamb. The crab, avocado, and tomato salad was perfect, as was the beat and chevre salad. The chocolate cake was good, but certainly not the highlight of the evening's meal. If we had planned further in advance, we should have stayed at Blue Boar, rather than Zermatt. Zermatt tried to put together a nice resort, but failed in some of the more important parts, like having the rooms face out to large concrete parking lots rather than the mountains and not creating a space to get an afternoon cocktail. They had a large bakery and gelateria, but no lounge other than three chairs sitting in a corner right by the kitchen in one of their restaurants. It was a mormon-designed resort, for sure.

Zermatt is on the left - Blue Boar Inn is on the right

Saturday -- We slept in , ate some yogurt and oatmeal, and then headed out for a day of activity. We started our tour with a 3-hour mountain bike ride through the trails of Soldier Hollow. Steve said the trails were kind of "boring" because they were a "grind," but he enjoyed the workout and it was the perfect way for me to get an introduction to mountain biking. Some climbs and descents on gravel trails, but nothing too technical or scary. I liked it. After biking, Theresa (our guide) took us to the Deer Creek Reservoire for lunch and kayaking. The out-bound portion of the kayak trip was against the wind and pretty difficult. However, the in-bound trip with the tail-wind did not seem much easier...probably because our arms were tired from rowing. After getting back to the hotel, we took a much needed nap and then enjoyed a tasty meal at Snake Creek Grill in Heber City. Steve had the halibut; I had the pork scallopini. We shared a cup of cauliflower garlic soup, some mushroom crostini, and the black-bottom banana cream pie. Excellent food, quirky location and decor, and good wait staff. I now know why you need a reservation for this restaurant. It was worth it.

Mountain Biking, followed by kayaking.

Sunday -- We woke up early, really early (5am) to meet the guys from Hot Air Balloon Adventures. Cool experience. Our balloon took off from the Heber Air Strip and landed in some field close to the Jordanelle Reservoire. After that, we gorged ourselves at a pretty nice Sunday buffet at Zermatt. We had reservations for the Timpanogas Cave Tour, but decided to postpone that adventure for another date. We wanted to go home and see Leo. We took Guarsdman Pass home, rather than the highway. Great scenery from the mountain road.

The Hot Air Balloon Ride

We are now back home. We have already unpacked and started the laundry. Steve is tending to the garden. I am getting ready to mow the lawn. Vacation is over.