Utah

Appologies to those who have come to expect more frequent updates...I've been in and out of town a lot recently. Here's part of the reason why:

I went snowboarding/skiing with my two brothers in the Wasatch mountains in Utah. First time the three of us had done a trip like that together. We had a great time. I enjoyed getting to know my brothers better - when you're the oldest sibling, you kind of forget that when you move away from home, the rest of your family continues to grow and change. So even though I "know" my brothers, they've changed a lot since I left home. And even though we've seen each other loads in the past 6 years, this was the first time it was just us. So thanks guys. Thanks for setting this trip up, thanks for inviting me, and most of all, thanks for letting your older brother share life with you.
Of course, it didn't hurt that we were able to fly down the mountain (sometimes in untouched powder) and soak in the hot tubs while snow flurries fell on us.
I tried snowboarding - even took a lesson the first day. But two days of it was all this aging body (yes, I turned 27 yesterday) could take. But it was lots of fun, and I'll probably try it again. That first picture in the series is me. In the one of the three of us behind our goggles, I'm closest, and I think Mark is in the middle with Andrew at the far end.
The beauty of the place is amazing. One day I looked straight up and lost myself in a sky that was so smooth and consistent it looked almost solid. At times the contrast between sky and mountain was so sharp that there was no sense of depth - it looked like a flat painting, with the top-half Cobalt blue and the bottom-half pure white.