Ahhh....let's go goof off!

On Saturday morning Jeff blew out of the house to go camping with friends; we headed out to the State Liquor Store to get a few bottles of nice wine to enjoy.

Utah regulates liquor by making it available in restaurants and at a State Liquor Store. We were amused to listen to the employees tell us ways to get around the problem of bringing alcohol in from other places. It is going to take some getting used to the idea that the state is involved in our wine purchases.

This particular state liquor store is known to be the best one for expensive wines; it is three blocks from where I will be working. I'm thinking a quick run over on my lunch break to shop for a bottle of wine to go with whatever I plan for dinner....

They didn't have my favorite Claus du Bois chardonnay though...

After that little errand we headed to a Home Improvement Show at the convention center.

We walked in knowing that someday soon we will need some kind of car cover, and will want a jacuzzi for the backyard.

(Note I differentiated between "need" and "want")

Because of the time we spent at the show I now know that I need the jacuzzi to be ozone treated instead of chlorine treated.

This is actually good news: I rarely can be coaxed into an outside jacuzzi because they usually smell just like a bleach bottle to me, and I don't like how chlorine makes my skin and hair feel. I've been in ozone treated pools. They are so wonderful!!!

Also because of the show I now want an artificial putting green with "rough" for the area of the back yard beneath a large pine tree where it is mostly in the shade. Grass won't grow there...and the putting greens are just so cool!

This illustrated why it is such a folly to go to Home Improvement shows. All you really buy with the entry ticket is a heaping helping of more wants.

We won't be getting any of the wants anytime soon...but it is fun to dream.

We snagged a quick lunch at Albertos.

Happiness in a bag!

Mexican food that is not Tex-Mex!

Mexican food cheap and prepared just like they prepare it at the Alberto's number 1, #2..#3

Roberto's/Humberto's/whateverBertos...

(California insider joke there, feel free to comment with the name of your local Bertos and the number if you know it.)

Just being able to get a bag full of Albertos again would have been enough to make it a special happy day!

But...

The day got even better. We drove 20 minutes from where we will live to the ski resort Snowbird.

Above: One of the multicolored mountain formations by Snowbird.

We rode the ski life up up up the mountain. Little steams raced through green meadows that were studded with pink and blue and yellow wildflowers. Deer and baby deer trotted through the scenery. It was like a dream. At the top you could see for miles across the mountain ranges.

I felt all my weariness dissolve.

I felt joy.

I felt alive.

I love being here!

(Darnit...I only have twelve shots in my camera! I forgot to reload my chip! I'm afraid to get my camera out and take pictures from high up about the meadows.)

This is where Bernie and Jeff regularly ski. It looks so different without all that white!

I was surprised to see a new kind of lupin blooming all about us. It is a form called Silver Lupin. If you enlarge the photo and scroll down you will see that the bottom of the flower looks exactly like it is dipped in silver.

It is a totally different color blue than the Texas bluebonnet form of lupin.

The Indian paintbrush was likewise a more muted color.

Hmmm...wonder if people put their babies in Silver Lupin patches every year, and I wonder if Utah brides plan their wedding date so as to be photographed in a sea of lavender blue like they do in Texas.

If they don't, they should.

The stamen...the green on the tip of the petal....I love how this flower looks! I just don't know it's name; I still don't have my flower identification book.

The bees loved this flower; there were so many on the flower stalk that Bernie moved right along past it while I took the picture.

The Annual Snowbird Octoberfest was in full swing. It was fun seeing little kids dressed in German style clothing dancing with their parents, and older couples in full costume dancing to traditional German music.

(We missed you Barbara and Hal! Your years of German dancing will always be a great memory for us.)

We got a brat, saurkraut, red cabbage, and micro brewery beer for dinner.

I don't usually enjoy beer, but I have sampled several local microbrewery beers and have found them to be quite nice. So this year I had beer at an Octoberfest, just the way you are supposed to.

It was such a statisfying day...and I can't wait to run up the hill again soon to watch the aspen as it turns color!

Come on crisp fall days!

PS: Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! Sixty two years today and you are still going strong. Amazing isn't it?