Category Archives: Scene

Cow Ballet Becomes the Moosic Festival

The Cow Ballet has moved!

The popular fundraiser for Mountain Town Stages will be September 29, 2012, at Quinn’s Junction. For years, they’ve been hosting out in a cow patch in Peoa. This year, it’s closer to town. “We decided to move the event and make it more accessible to our patrons,” said MTM’s Community Conductor Of Musical Affairs Brian Richards. “We will miss Peoa but the event was becoming stagnant with only the die hards showing up and very few new peeps.”

The fun continues with kiddie games, pony rides, face painting, petting zoo, beer, live music- from the PC All Star Jam Band made up of Mayor Dana Williams, Mary Beth and Rich Wyman- cowpie long jump and the ever-entertaining Cow Ballet.

They do have barbecue-ish food but it’s never been that appealing to me so you might want to eat before you come or bring your own.

My favorite part is the silent auction filled with all sorts of goodies from local businesses. Last year, I ‘won’ a landscape consultation from Red Ant Works which prompted us to sheet mulch my front yard and plant all sorts of native shrubs like currants and raspberries. Next year, I may try corn.

The Hootenanny Moosic Festival runs from noon-6:30p at the National Ability Center. Click here for more detes.

Climb 4 Life – Sept. 14-16

The HERA Climb 4 Life is swinging back into Utah next week and if you’ve ever thought of learning to climb, meeting fellow climbers, getting your kids to climb, learning outdoor photography or just spending the weekend with a great group of people then you absolutely MUST join this event. Trust me on this one. I love events and the Climb 4 life is one of my all-time favorites. And now, the event, held every year in September to raise money for ovarian cancer research, isn’t just about climbing.


It’s three days rather than four this year and instead of holding the activities on Friday and Saturday, they’ve moved them to Saturday and Sunday to make it easier for people to attend. My first Climb 4 Life was about getting women on rocks; now it’s about encouraging men, kids and chicks to explore the outdoors along the Wasatch whether climbing, hiking or taking photos. Yep. You heard right. I’m going to be taking outdoor photos this time around. How could I resist? New this year is a component where participants can spend the time with professional photographers, videographers and trainers, tweaking their photo skills. I’m going to be splitting my day shooting and learning how to better use Photoshop to edit my pics. Olympus Visionary sponsored Jay Kinghorn will lead the weekend along with Jeremiah Watt, and Black Diamond Photo Editor Sandra Salvas will be delivering a presentation on “What Makes A Great Photograph” on Saturday. The whole weekend is just $60 and it goes to a valiant cause. The price is miniscule for what you get and – if you raise $250 in donations – you can also take part in a raffle guaranteed to net you more than that in swag. There are parties Friday and Saturday nights and a Sunday afternoon closing party. I’ve always gone solo, but you can form a team. Basecamp is the Black Diamond Equipment parking lot. You can register there on Friday night but it’s better to do it online beforehand. Once you sign up, you get a goodie bag and an itinerary that includes two days with some of the best guides in their respective fields.

If you can only spare one day, bring out the fam for a “Families with Children Half-Day Climb”on Saturday (1-5 pm). It’s $30pp and you still get the Saturday night party and a goodie bag. Children of all ages are welcome to climb with their families and the personal guide from Utah Mountain Adventures. Maybe you want to climb a little harder or you have no interest in climbing at all but you child does? Drop Junior at Rockreation Indoor Climbing Gym on Saturday for the Kids Indoor Climbing
for ages 5 – 18. They’ll climb from 1-5 p.m. for $30 per child. Parents/legal guardians must fill out a waiver, but they don’t need to remain. That’s cheaper than most babysitters! You do need to register your child beforehand to make sure there are enough participants and coaches. Contact Jessica at jessicakinghorn@gmail.com or 801-505-5273.

Finally, you can also spend two days hiking places like Grandeur Peak and Gobbler’s Knob if you would rather keep your feet on the ground. Hiking guides from the Utah adventure nonprofit SPLORE will break you into groups depending on experience, ability and interest. Again, it’s $60 and that includes everything.

Click here to see the rundown for HERA’s Climb4Life.


High West For SkyWest

By Jill Adler

 

 

Whiskey and eggs, anyone? Park City’s High West Distillery is now open at Salt Lake International. When you’ve got that 7 a.m. layover or want a good, stiff one after your ski vacay to arm yourself for the return to civiliation, you can now step into Concourse E for breakfast, lunch or dinner, western and whiskey style.

 

High West Distillery and Saloon is Utah’s first legal distillery since 1870 and the expansion is the restaurant’s first since it opened in 2009. Located at exactly 7,000 feet above sea level in historic Old Town Park City, the original High West is the world’s only ski-in gastro-distillery where food is expertly paired with house-made whiskey. Visitors can enjoy contemporary Western comfort food next to High West’s hand hammered 250-gallon copper pot still in a renovated 100-year-old livery stable and Victorian mining-era home. High West’s renovation of the buildings earned the 2010 Utah Heritage Foundation Award for Adaptive Use, and both structures are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

“We’re thrilled we’ll be able to share our love of great food and great spirits with as many people as possible — particularly the weary travelers who pass through Salt Lake City every year who haven’t yet tried what we have to offer at High West,” High West proprietor David Perkins said.

 

The restaurant will serve up its classic cocktails like the Dead Man’s Boot and High West Lemonade. The food will feature “All Darn Day Saloon Bites” and “Crack O’ Dawn Victuals.” You’ll still have to grab your souvenir bottles of Rendezvous Rye, Bourye, Valley Tan and Campfire in Park City and pack them in your checked luggage while they work out the kinks of purchasing liquor at pre-boarding.

 

 

Another One Bites the Dust?

I know I’m not supposed to let what happens to others affect me. Just because something good happens to someone else does not mean they’re better or I sucked. Unless of course they audition for the same role as I did and they got the part…but even then it could have been a million different reasons why someone was chosen over me. Look, age, hair color, height, weight, and, yeah, they did better in their audition. However, in this particular case I and this woman did not go out for the same part. I didn’t even read with her in the callback. Yet while she shared her joy on Facebook, I wallowed. F*&king Facebook. I can see why there are so many more depressed teens in the world today.

I’m still silently hoping that perhaps I too will get a call. After all, she did only hear from the director yesterday and there are several roles to fill. Maybe they’re not done casting. I felt pretty good about what I did in the callback but the night sorely dragged on and after two and half hours I’m asked back into the room to go another round with a different actor. I played off him differently because of how he was acting but it was still good. What do I know?

I’m going to blame my parents on this one. It’s their fault I’m so competitive. J The right parts always come along so if I’m meant to be cast in this project, it’ll happen. In the meantime, I have a callback on Saturday for a role I know totally works for me. Fingers crossed. And, oh yeah, can you please click this link to boost my rating. Apparently, casting directors care.

BTW- check out my new headshot! It’s one of four (I like variety). Shaun Anders did a great job, no?

Adventures in Aspen

Foggy head. It’s either my allergies, lack of sleep, too many hours in a car or the stress of knowing it’s time to get my butt in gear and get active outdoors. I usually use something like Outside in Aspen- a festival filled with clinics to introduce people to the outdoors- to jumpstart my summer. But as I watched the grey-tinged water pool at my feet this morning in my shower back home, I realized I was going about this all wrong. Aspen, Colorado, is place of intense mountain beauty that should be indulged, not sniffed at. Plus, you should plan a week not two days when the weather is this grand. Oh, and get two hotel rooms. But we were here for an event and sometimes you just don’t have the luxury of time.

I hadn’t showered or shaved in three days. At home, as I finally washed out the weekend in solitude, I felt weightless.

The whine of little children and a puppy cramped up in a Subaru for seven hours, a truckload of toys and clothes covering the floor of our room at the Molly Gibson Lodge so that it was impossible to find anything in a hurry, and the mad dash to meet our clinic leaders left no room for recovery.

The first night, we arrived at 8 p.m. in time to rush to the Welcome Reception, kids in tow. The tasty morsels of beef sliders, chicken satay, mac and cheese and veggie springrolls made up dinner. We crawled back to the hotel by 11 p.m.; exhausted from our roadtrip, the wine and the day.

Saturday morning, it was up at 7 a.m. to meet the sitter and get situated. She got the kids, we got to have to fun. We walked the six blocks to Basecamp at the Aspen gondola to sign our waivers and pick up sack lunches from the registration table. I was already drooling over the huge sandwiches from The Big Wrap because I had rushed through breakfast.

I said good bye to Liz and trotted Moki over to Glory Hole park for five hours of mostly dog demonstrations by trainer Mike Stewart from Wildrose Kennels. Three of the five dogs were his; they were invited to this Adventure Dog Clinic to show us what trained dogs are supposed to do.

I was jealous of Liz. She took the whitewater rafting workshop on the Arkansas River off Independence Pass and said the only break from serious rapids was at the take-out. While she was hanging on for dear life and I was sitting quietly and listening. Mike is a good ol’ boy from Mississippi who travels the world training hunting dogs, diabetic detection dogs and adventure dogs. He says the idea actually came to him while he was sitting at a patio restaurant in Aspen. With all of these dogs in town, why not create a program for them? He went over an outline of adventure dog etiquette and we briefly (ie. tried one time) some of the things on his list. Luckily, I took a ton of notes and can practice at home but I sure wish I could have really worked with Moki to get some of the techniques down. Of course, at 7 weeks, he may be too young to do what Mike’s dogs were doing but even the older pup that was there sat around. The owner asked questions and would have to work with his dog on his own back home. Don’t get me wrong. It was all valuable information but my ass got awfully tired.

I got back to the hotel in time to change for dinner. I was meeting some fellow writers at Ellina for drinks and Above The Salt for dinner. I’m going to blame my buzz on the sun and the altitude because I was one happy camper after the first (and only) lemon basil martini. Liz was hanging with the kids poolside at the Sky Lodge; holding my raffle ticket just in case they called my name. We rendezvoused on the promenade after dinner and slowly escorted the weary kids back to the Molly.

The next clinic day- whitewater kayaking for beginners/intermediates- was all beginners. Again, not exactly what I needed to rev my spirits. The calm, rippling water lulled me to sleep rather than stirred my adrenaline. Apparently, no one had signed up for the expert class (about now I was thinking that I should have) and only one person besides myself had ever been in a whitewater boat. Piglet from Aspen Kayak and SUP was a ball of spunk and smiles and her partner in crime –Willie “River” Kern- coached our group of six through the equipment, the paddle strokes and lingo associated with the sport. As we practiced going in and out of eddies (the stagnant corners of water on the sides of rivers), I couldn’t help but look longingly over at the standup paddlers passing us. At least they were moving. Both SUP clinics were full and booked out way in advance, attesting to its rise in popularity.

Everyone in our kayak group was having a blast with the basics but I have to admit that I was now a bit overqualified for the beginners. After my two weeks kayaking in Montana with First Descents the past two summers I was ready for something more challenging. Sigh. The most excitement came at the take out when I attempted to roll – on purpose of course. I didn’t really do it (I used my paddle on the bottom of the river to push me back up) but the try made my heart skip a beat. Jeff, a newbie to the sport, hung back in the water with me and I coached him through his bow rescue. With that huge grin, I’m pretty sure he’ll be boating in the future.

We packed up and headed back to town. I had just enough time to find the rest of my gang before the Adventure Athlete Symposium started. More on that in another blog! This was the weekend finale and it made sense to have this panel of pros talking about giving back. We just had two days of play in the outdoors and how often do you think that the landscape might not look like this when our kids are grown?

Aspen was glorious. The weather perfect (aside from the Cottonwood cottonballs floating through the air 24/7) and the clinics extremely well-organized. I just chose wrong. Sometimes life happens that way and, like a river, we have to go with the flow. The kids adored playing in Colorado, the pup couldn’t get enough attention walking from A to B and Liz not only survived a roaring ride but learned a thing or two about outdoor camera work in the adventure photography class.

It may have been chaotic for me, but Outside in Aspen did what I wanted it to do. Tomorrow, I will take my dog to the park here in Park City and start my own training program. Then I’ll mountain bike in the evening and paddle around the local reservoir. We often forget that you don’t need to leave home to find adventure.

1 48 49 50 51 52 60