Moab Weekend Trip

Last weekend a few of us met up in Moab for some fall riding, camping, and climbing. It was gorgeous weather for it. Nice to be down in the desert and not feel like every waking moment you are being sucked dry by the heat and dessicating lack of humidity.

Zo and Tom on the Fisher Mesa trail outside Moab. Nice singletrack out onto the mesa.

Rich and Chris on Slickrock Bike trail. Note the cushy front shocks.

Lucy bonds with her new found pack member.

Tom, Melissa, and Lucy at Hurrah Pass, Moab

Tom jumping over the entire canyon. Nice air, dude!

House remodel

Rina and I have committed to a fairly large project on the home front. There is a 74 year old Basque guy down the street who is one of two people in SLC who excavates basements, so we have employed him to create some more living space. He broke ground under the house on October 5th and has already dug out most of the space. Once he got going, he really moves fast. Here are a few preliminary photos.

The foundation exposed and cut just wide enough to drive the Bobcat through. Look on either edge, you can see where the concrete has been cut.

Rina standing in a new bedroom, that days ago was 18 inches of dirt crawlspace.

Ivo's bobcat which he drives under the house to dig out the dirt.

The back hoe that moves the dirt pile into the huge dump truck sitting in the yard. If anybody has seen the size of our miniscule yard, you know how ridiculous these machines must look.

Dog Lake hike

Rina, Lucy, and I took a post marathon hike up to the top of Mill Creek Canyon to Dog Lake. Fall has hit hard and the leaves are all turned and there is even some snow in the shaded areas. A beautiful fall hike.

Chicago Marathon 2007

Rina and I just returned from a long weekend trip to the windy city for the 30th anniversary Chicago Marathon (www.chicagomarathon.com). We met Tom, Wyn, Geoff , and Chicago Rena (Geoff's girlfriend) there and enjoyed some unseasonably warm temps through the whole weekend. The Saturday before the race we were swimming in Lake Michigan while back home in Salt Lake it was snowing on the benches.

Tom and Geoff "swimming" in Lake Michigan.

Sunning at the beach in Chicago - October 2007!

At the Expo.

Tom - fueling up for the race.

The marathon was the largest field of runners for Chicago (45,000), but due to the heat about 10,000 registered runners didn't even start the race.

Geoff, Tom, Wyn, myself pre-race. Sweaty pits already!

We were sweating at the start line waiting for the gun to go off, and it only got hotter from there, so we played it smart and ran easy, walked through the aid stations, drank a ton of fluids, and actually felt pretty good at the end of the whole ordeal. As we were finishing the race we learned that the heat had affected so many runners that the director decided to cancel the race at about three hours and forty five minutes after the start! The Chicago fire department helicopters were swooping low announcing through the megaphone that the race was canceled and requesting that all runners stop running and walk to the nearest aid station where they would be bussed to the finish line. Runners were dropping all over the place announced by observers yelling "Runner down", and "We need a medic!". Ambulance sirens were non-stop once the race was well under way, and it was rumoured that not only were the marathon medical staff taxed, but the city ran out of ambulances and required the aid of ambulances from surrounding suburbs to transport over 300 people to local hospitals. It was like a war zone. Read the NYT article at New York Times website.

Flushed and hot, but feelin' good after the race.

Geoff, Tom, myself post-race in search of food and beer.

Wyn and myself. Ran the entire race together.

The Field Musem

Where to start?

Well, it seems like everyone else on the planet is blogging their lives for all to share, so it is only natural that we join the ranks to prove that we aren't just bumps on a log working our lives away in SLC (likely story!). The question really is where to pick up since our last serious adventures in New Zealand a year ago (robandrinainnewzealand.blogspot.com).
Since then we had a mediocre ski season with a few great yurt trips where we found some deep snow; a long road trip around the southwest to the Grand Canyon, Havasupai, Bryce Canyon, and the California coast to Oregon; a backpacking adventure to Coyote Gulch in Glen Canyon; Uinta backpacking; summer biking in Salt Lake; disc golf at Solitude; Rina selling her house - for a tidy profit; in addition to working here and there. Let's leave those for now and pick up with our most recent travels to England and Scotland for my dad's wedding (#3).

The Corsons, Feeneys

Hewes, Barnetson, Corson, Feeney

The UK trip was a multi-purpose adventure. It was the first time in nearly 20 years that the bulk of our small extended family were together in one place at the same time. Rellies from Australia, UK, and USA all converged on a small resort village in the Scottish Highlands for a week to share in celebrating my fathers wedding and to catch up. It was a very small civil service and the weather, which was touch and go through the day, even cooperated providing a sunny spell for the ceremony.

The vows

Happily married Dr & Mrs. John Corson

The wedding couple played a lot of golf in Scotland as well as Ireland in the 'honeymoon' week in Ireland. The rest of us enjoyed a lot of R & R walking in the hills, doing a spot of fishing, and eating and drinking our fill.

Gearing up for the big haul.

Not a big fish, but what a pretty fish!

Ancient standing stones

Tom and I were finally able to return our mother's ashes to her homeland during this trip as well. Seven years overdue, it was satisfying to fulfill her last requests and catch up with friends and relatives during the process. he requested her ashes be placed in a friend's beautiful flower garden, in the sea at one of her absolute favorite beaches in East Lothian, and in the sea on the west coast of Scotland, on a wild and remote peninsula.

Craignish Peninsula - a beautiful final resting place