Cold

Spring in Utah is going through some major mood swings. We had a blissful week of sunny, WARM weather, and now we are back to the snow. Last night we got five inches. Grrrrr. The weather hates me. It is taunting me. Winter is officially over but the clouds didn't get the memo. In an effort to heal the emotional damage the eternal winter is afflicting upon me, I am trying to recall happy snow memories. I have many. This was one of them. A couple of weekends ago, Keith, a couple of friends, and I went snowshoeing up to Red Pine Lake. It was beautiful. There was fresh mountain air. And last, but not least, it got us out of Provo.
Snow can be pretty.

The snow was also really, really deep. This is the trail sign at the fork to Red Pine.

Annie, me, and Keith. Annie is my visiting teacher and is pretty awesome.


This hole offered a view of the creek that was below the snow. It was neat. At least we were apparently all interested in it.

Click for a larger view of this panorama of the Red Pine Lake Basin. The lake is under the snow in the center, and the Pfiefferhorn is the peak on the right ridge. Keith and I have long been planning to return in the summer and tag the top. We might just bring our fishing poles along as well.

This is Kevin: Keith's friend, my Plant Physiology TA, and the guy who took all these pictures. I took some pictures as well but who knows when I will ever get around to getting them on the computer.

Keith, me, and the Pfiefferhorn.

There was a good number of backcountry skiers going all the way the top of Pfiefferhorn, and skiing all the way down. They made it look so easy. I am better suited to the bunny slopes.

So I guess snow isn't all bad. But let's keep it in moderation. Please.

Spring

Keith and I had lunch at the duck pond on the south side of campus today. The ducks were out strutting there stuff, the sun was shinning, and I wasn't cold. The three western pond turtles that occupy the pond were sunning themselves on a floating log and shedding last year's skin. Their emergence from their muddy caves is evidence that it is no longer freezing at night. Birds are singing again in the mornings. It is getting to be that time of year when I exchange my wool socks for Chacos and start wishing for a garden plot. Ahhhh, spring.

Random story: I was in the campus natural history museum today (I have a class in there) and saw a little boy helping his mom push a stroller that was much bigger than he. He spotted a mounted antelope on the wall, pointed, and exclaimed "Mommy, a cantaloupe! A cantaloupe Mommy!" Behind my chuckles I was quite impressed that he could tell the difference between an antelope and the myriad of other four legged ungulates around it. Even if he did get it mixed up with a melon.

Engagement Photos

photo by Hardie Photography

Whitney (my sweet friend and wedding photographer) took our engagement photos and posted them today on her blog. She did a fantastic job! Click here to check them out!