Robbed

Today I got robbed.  Ian and I went to play tennis at some nearby courts this afternoon.  It was a perfectly sunny day.  We walked to our car and found this when we were done playing.  

My purse and my wallet were gone.  Having my wallet stolen is highly inconvenient.  Having my wallet stolen makes me feel uncomfortable because someone now has my personal information and a piece of my life.  Having my wallet stolen has reminded me that there is more to life than just money and possessions.  

China - Stop One: Xi'an

After completing the So Cal Ragnar, Annie and I headed to Beijing for a two-week stay in China. We made a 12-hour stopover at the the Linton's home to drop off much of our luggage and then took an early morning flight to Xi'an.

The above is a picture of the bus we took from the airport to the Terracotta Warriors. This turned out to be quite the cultural experience as they crammed 40 people in this bus (seating for 16 was available). As we were the only non-locals on the bus, it was like a scene from The Three Amigos when we entered the bus.

The highlight of the day was visiting the Terracotta Warriors. Annie and I were both impressed with the amount of detail on each of the warriors. On the statue below it is possible to see the individual lines for hair that the sculptors placed on the head of this warrior.

We made our way back to Xi'an and made a stop at the Bell Tower and then to our hotel. After spending the better part of the day on our feet, it felt good to sit down and enjoy a meal.

The next morning we took a bullet train to the mountains to conquer Mount Hua Shan. This mountain is dotted with Taoist Temples and there are a number of people who make a pilgrimage there each year to worship. In order to get to the to the different temples we took a gondola and then hiked along the precipitous stairs and trails.

One of the really fascinating aspects about building on the mountain is that everything is brought up by foot. This is quite incredible when you consider the fact that there are multiple hotels and temples scattered throughout the mountain. Here are a couple of locals hauling food and supplies up the mountain.

After a few hours of hiking we finally made it to the top of the South Peak (the highest of the peaks).

We placed a lock on top of the mountain (tradition to take the lock and connect it to the chains along the path - we saw tens of thousands), ate a quick snack, and took a few pictures before heading back down. The rain started to fall and the crowds thickened making the descent a little more precarious. The other issue is that the line for the gondola was about an hour long so we decided to hike down the entire way. In all, we think we hiked about 15,000 stairs. The thought of inexpensive massages gave us hope as we travelled down the last few hundred stairs and reached our bus.

Look for highlights from our adventures to Guilin and Yangshuo in a later posting...

Three New Rides

This past weekend Annie and I traveled to Salt Lake City to help move some inventory from Salt Lake City to Denver. After picking up a 24 foot moving truck (new ride #1), we headed on over to the warehouse to load the truck up with boxes and molds. It was there that I learned how to drive a forklift for the first time (new ride #2). Pallet after pallet of boxes filled our truck.


Soon after, Annie and I enjoyed a lunch at the Porcupine Grill with Aunt Rosie and Uncle Mike (Annie's aunt and uncle). It was great catching up with them and learning about the experiences they have had since being called to serve as a new mission president.

Shortly after our lunch we rushed up to Park City so that Annie could present her Christmas gift to me - A RIDE DOWN THE OLYMPIC BOBSLED TRACK. This is the only location in the world that allows the public to travel down the entire length of the track.


After sitting through a brief orientation and signing my life away, all of the riders and their guests rode to the top of the track. Here we were fitted with helmets and assigned positions on the sled. Nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to experience on The Comet (new ride #3)...


The first straightaway and turn felt more like a roller coaster. The scenery was beautiful and I was able to keep my head from hitting the sides of the sled. This all changed though once we hit the second straightaway. There is no way to describe the experience other than AMAZING. Although I was surprised as to how much I was actually able to see, much of the ride is still a blur. On the turns we hit up to 5 Gs. Our speed was clocked at 80.27 MPH. We had a time of 53.68 seconds. To put this in perspective, the Olympians are running this track in about 48 seconds.


After the exhilaration of flying through the curves of the bobsled track in Park City, it was back to the 24 foot moving van. Although the ride in the van proved to be just as bumpy as the bobsled track, it was nice to ride comfortably in the cab of the truck with Annie.

Exploring Colorado

Ian and I are enjoying exploring places in Colorado.  This weekend we took a day trip to Colorado Springs.  We started with a picnic in Palmer Park which has a lot of great picnic areas and a great view of Colorado Springs.

We then visited the U.S. Olympic Training Center.  We watched many of the olympic teams in training.    There are only three olympic training centers in the USA and Colorado was picked for one of them because of the high altitude.  

This is a picture of Bob Beamon who still holds the record for long jump: jumping 29 feet 2 1/2 inches.    I am standing 29 feet, 2 1/2 inches down the hall.  

Lastly, we met up with my family and went to a piano performance of The Five Browns.  For those of you who don't know who they are, you can check out their website at http://www.the5browns.com/.  I am still thinking about how incredible their music was!    

Must listen to...

For any folk music lovers, I just found a new artist (she has actually been around for a while, but I just found her music)- Kate Rusby. You can listen to her version of "You Belong To Me" on this YouTube video.  The video isn't great, but the music is amazing!  An artist with real talent.

A Good Read

I finished the book "Stones into Schools" by Greg Mortenson this week and wanted to pass the title along.  It is a sequel of sorts to his famous first book, "Three Cups of Tea."  This book details his efforts to build schools for girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  As a teacher and proponent of literacy, I agree with his philosophy that to really empower a people or a nation you must give them opportunities to learn and educate themselves.  This second book was also a really interesting view into the lives of the Afghan and Pakistan people (one that we don't hear about in the news).  Happy reading!  I am looking for another good book to read if anyone has ideas.

When the World Gives You Lemons...

This post was originally going to be about a wonderful weekend of skiing and relaxing in Park City, but instead turned into a post about the generosity of random people.

As soon as we arrived in Park City, we rented our skis and headed to our hotel to pick up our lift tickets (free skiing at Deer Valley; shoot us a note if you want to know how to score this deal) and change into our ski clothes. To our great dismay, we found that I had grabbed the wrong bag off of the plane and we were in possession of a Southwest Airlines flight attendant's suitcase. Instead of snowpants and gloves, we had shaving cream and the Southwest Flight Attendant Manual. When I called the flight attendant's cell phone, he was extremely forgiving, told me to enjoy my vacation, and mentioned that he wouldn't need his bag until the following day.

Trying to make the best of the situation, we decided to ski in what we were wearing. Both of us had only a pair of jeans, wool socks, a beannie, and a fleece (luckily Annie had a pair of glove liners as well). Before we hit the slopes, one of the hotel staff donated a pair of gloves to my cause and while on the mountain, a ramdom camera man gave me another fleece. Annie ended up with a neck gaiter and a pair of gloves to keep her warm. While we were far from the winning the best-dressed couple at Deer Valley and definitely had the best story for all of the Deer Valley staff, we were warm enough and enjoyed a great day of skiing.

This weekend a number of ski competitions were being held at Park City, including the Skier Cross World Championships. It was an incredible site seeing four skiers race down the course and battle for the glory of being crowned the champion.

After warming up in the hotel we had some friends and family join us for the next skiing event, the freestyle aerials competition. We saw a perfect score on a lay, triple full, full (translation: a full-laid out flip, a flip with three twists, and a flip with one twist) which turned out to be the winning jump. Nick and Jordan Olsen (cousins), Brent and Kristen Ludwig (Annie's sister and her husband), Alana, Eileen Heng (Alana's friend) and Heather Balli (a former roommate of Annie's) enjoyed dinner, the aerials competition and some hot chocolate with us.

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend. Yes, we did receive our luggage (back in Denver) and yes, the flight attendant did receive his luggage (in Ontario). I have always been told by my mother that when the world gives you lemons, just make lemonade. Little did I know that it would be some random strangers that provided the much needed sugar to make this weekend as sweet as it was.