SURF THE EARTH

I had a rare break from the madness of single parenthood last weekend. I went snowboarding all day Saturday with my brother while his awesome wife watched all of our kids. Another cousin came with us too. They live a couple of hours south of Salt Lake City, so we drove down Friday afternoon through snow and rain. The kids had a big slumber party and the adults stayed up late talking and enjoying the company.

We hit the road early in the morning for another two hour drive to Brian Head, Utah. Driving through virtually any area of Utah is a lesson in geology, an inspirational and mysterious geography. This drive was no exception. And the Brian Head resort is gorgeous.

On some of the highest lifts, we were close to 11,000 feet above sea level, looking down at the world through clouds that hovered far below us. Riding slowly on the lift chairs up the side of the mountain was a scenic drift over a white world where fresh white powdery snow covered the ground, and each trip up the lift exposed more tracks. It was easy to tell which tracks were made by people on snowboards and which by skiers.

As I'm still a beginner, I fell pretty hard a couple of times, but my progress from the first run to the last was encouraging and more fun than almost anything. I've been snowboarding before,  but never quite like this. The guys I went with were advanced, and helped me out tremendously. Now I believe I've been bitten by the bug.

I can't wait to get back on the mountain and surf the earth some more. 

"The future lies before you, like paths of pure white snow. Be careful how you tread it, for every step will show."   -author unknown

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