Off to SLC...

Home of the best powder on earth! I'm looking forward to skiing in some real snow this weekend, as I am off to the outdoor paradise of Salt Lake City. I can't believe I used to live there, sometimes I think I made a real blunder in moving away. Seattle and the PNW has some good stuff too, but Utah is pretty tough to match for outdoor opportunities. My dream is to at some point have a summer home in Seattle or Vancouver and a winter home in Salt Lake City. Oh man that would be awesome! Anyways, this weekend I will be taking part in the Wasatch Powder Keg with my friend Mike, as well as catching up with other friends from Salt Lake City and hopefully doing a bit of additional skiing and/or climbing.

Today I asked my manager if it was okay if I was out of the office for the latter part of the week, he said that he thought it would be okay, but just so that I was aware the official policy is that employees only get 3 weeks of vacation per year. He must think it is strange that I have been there over a month now and have yet to work a full 5-day week. I assured him that I was aware of the company vacation policy, and that this was another trip that had been "grandfathered in" since I had booked it before I had the job. I feel a bit bad about taking so much time off during my first few weeks of work, but not bad enough to cancel these exciting trips! Just so this post isn't devoid of visual content, I posted a photo of my nascent garden to the left. The plants are coming along well, so far everything has shown signs of coming alive except for the peppers, but I am still holding out hope for them. I'll try to post an update from Salt Lake City, but if I don't then you'll know I'm too busy making turns in cold smoke!