my favorite things about utah

1) the mountains of course!

2) family and friends...we don't have to start from scratch out here.

3) the DI...they don't have the cheapest thrift store prices, but they do have a huge inventory.

4) it's arid (ie not humid) and the nights/mornings are cool.

5) the trout. we will one day get fishing licenses again, and we will have trout.

6) great hiking and birding. i was just thinking about how there are so many different kinds of hummingbirds out here. you can't get that in virginia. oh and the magpies, although we've been wondering where they are...

7) they actually sell maple bars here! provo bakery's maple bars aren't as good as taylor maid's back in oregon, but they're good. and i feel better knowing that i can always have ready access to maple bars when i need them.

8) the smell of rain in the desert. not much beats that smell of pure freshness.

9) yellowstone and the tetons are nearby again (not to mention all of the great parks in southern utah).

10) the bombay house and their mango ice cream. we sorely missed their mango ice cream while we were gone.

then of course there are so many other things (the fall, spring, and summer are great; there are lots of temples nearby; slc is close; ect, ect), but for now these are what come to my head.

...do not naturally have a name

brian and i went out into am fork canyon and had a nice time seeing the wilds of utah nature. we saw a moose staying cool in the cool, cool water. we also saw a few ground squirrels...which was a surprise to me since i thought we had left squirrels behind back east. we also enjoyed the beautfiul mountain vistas, and as always enjoyed the non-living natural scenery too (ie the rocks).
you can see for yourself how lovely it is here.