This year, Judy and I decided to get a few more days of Utah boarding in by driving out and spending a week there. Unfortunately, this was probably one of the driest seasons in memory with unseasonably warm weather and a dearth of snow. With our lodging pre-paid, and with Dave and Patty having already booked their flights, the trip was on despite of the conditions.

We thought it would be fun to bring the Latte Dog along so that’s what we did. It was the first time that Latte has ventured past the California state line. We were also hoping that it would be the first time that she would be exposed to snow, but that was not to be.

Judy had found a great deal through Craigslist for a condo near Salt Lake City. It was a nice, cozy place that allowed pets for only $70 a night! That it also had screaming fast fiber optic internet was also a big plus. We hit Brighton our first day (Monday) there (where we got up close and personal with a porcupine!), took a rest day the second day and visited the Park City downtown, and then hit Snowbird on Wednesday. Since there was no fresh powder to be found, I spent the first half of the day at Snowbird trying my hand at skiing.

Thursday was a non-ski day as well - Judy worked out at a nearby gym while I went climbing at The Front, a local climbing gym. Later that day, we met up with Patty and Dave in their cool Murano rental. After dinner at the Outback Steakhouse, we headed to the lodge. There was a lot of new construction on the 15 and we ended up getting off the freeway one or two exits too soon. Instead of getting back on the freeway, we decided to have our Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS direct us. Although it got us to where we wanted to go, it took us through downtown Ogden which is probably not the quickest route.

Moose Hollow used to allow pets, but no more, likely due to a recent management change. We were originally going to shack Latte up at Camp Bark A Lot, but then decided to take a chance and sneak Latte into our condo. Although having to go incognito when Latte needed to do her business was somewhat of a pain, Latte behaved well (as expected) and things went without a hitch.

We went to Powder Mountain on Friday and Snowbasin on Saturday. There was no powder, even in our secret stash areas, so we mainly stayed on the groomers. Dave and I did a few runs through the terrain parks where I not-so-graciously provided some entertaining video footage. Dave cooked his yummy pasta (this time, due to the reduced number of people, without pepperoni and substituting ground buffalo for ground beef - it was much healthier and just as tasty!) the first night and stir-fried noodles the second night. The new management at Moose Hollow, likely in a cost-cutting move, decided to no longer provide complimentary Moose Tracks ice cream so we had to go out and buy our own.

It’s always a great time to get away from cubicle hell and be out in nature with friends so although the snow left much to be desired, it was nevertheless a great trip. And the lack of powder also made for a much more relaxing trip (we were good if we were on the slopes by 10:30!), which was actually really nice. Here are the pics and vids.

Damages:

 664.10   Lodging 166.03 pp (Dave, Judy, Patty, Roger)
  47.54   Groceries 15.85 pp (Dave, Patty, Roger)
 184.00   Powder Mtn lift tix 46 pp (Dave, Judy, Patty, Roger)
 204.00   Snowbasin lift tix 51 pp (Dave, Judy, Patty, Roger)
  26.72   Groceries 6.68 pp (Dave, Judy, Patty, Roger)

 285.56   Dave     PAID
 269.71   Judy     PAID
 285.56   Patty    PAID
 285.56   Roger    PAID

Posted by Roger at 9:59 pm.