Wild (Flower) Weekend

[Photo-John]

Last weekend was a big one for me and the wife. We did two mountain bike rides we hadn't done yet this year, we had some crazy weather conditions, the wildflowers were out of control, and I ended the weekend on crutches. Adventure weekend!

We finally got up to the Wasatch Crest Trail, which straddles the divide between Salt Lake City and Park City. Normally we would have been riding it in late June or early July but there was still snow up there at that time this year. So we didn't make it up there until mid-August. The up-side of all that snow and the late summer is the wildflowers are NUTS! We just came back from our honeymoon in the Alps and the flowers, believe it or not, are better in the mountains in Utah. Crazy!

In the photos below you can see the flowers as well as the storm that we *tried* to outrun. We were up on top of the mountains at 9-10,000 feet and I kept seeing lightning and wondering if we should turn around. We kept going and I never heard the lightning get any closer than about 6 or 7 miles. But I think that was the fastest I've ever ridden the top part of that trail.

[Photo-John]

Eventually the storm (but not the lightning) did catch us and it really opened up. This is why you always carry extra clothes and rain gear when you're in the mountains. When we started the ride I thought it might rain but I didn't expect this kind of rain. It didn't last long, though. And it patted down all the dust and we got to ride "hero dirt."

[Photo-John]

On Sunday we took big bikes up to Park City to ride the lifts at Deer Valley, something I'd been wanting to do for weeks. We had a lot of fun until I went over the bars, caught my foot on the bike and twisted the hell out of my ankle. Glad I had my fun over the weekend because I'm not going to be on the bike for a few weeks now. It could have been worse, though - I could have hurt myself before our wedding or the honeymoon. So, all things considered, I'm pretty content

All but the first (1st was taken with the Olympus E-P3) of these photos were taken with the Canon PowerShot SX230 HS pocket superzoom camera. It's the second place camera in my Pocket Superzoom Camera Guide and I bought it while I was researching that article. And the more I use it the more pleased I am. Image quality is very nice and it's got a hell of a zoom lens for a camera that fits in a pants pocket - a perfect example of why I've become such a big fan of pocket superzooms