Out West - Love It!

Heavy fog, but I can still see mountain bases and every once in a while I have to do a double take as the sky opens up and I can see the massive body of a snow covered summit - surreal... They tower and loom and, for a midwesterner, every time I see one of these amazing precipices of the west, my heart skips a beat a little and I think "why are these people all down here on their cars on the road - why aren't they up climbing one of those mountains!?"

I'm in Utah on an overnight trip. Work in Salt Lake City, but friends call in Salina, a very very small town about 2 1/2 hours south of SLC. So - I finish up around 1 and I'm on the road headed down to reminisce and share some laughs with the 6 adorable kids they have (no, they're not Mormon)...:)

And so I'm hit all the way down with amazing views and then the solitude and overwhelm of flat nothingness surround by ranges of snow capped mountains that jut and jag and soar. Can you tell I just can't get over them. I've not spent much time in Utah outside of SLC so now that I do, I'm convinced these are some if the best ranges. I can't describe it but I do like these mountains more than Idaho or even Colorado...

It's 31, but even so, I'm walking around without a jacket on. I'm presuming it's like Boise and were enough in a valley that there not a wind chill factor.

When you fly into SLC, it really looks like a boring pit of a place. Even the young Mormon missionary (more later) sitting next to me said "wow, Salt Lake looks really boring". Driving through, the downtown is nice but all around on the outskirts, there are broken down and decrepit buildings. Not much to look at.

Thank goodness for the mountains because they save the view!