2010: Come Fly with Me

Much as I would LOVE to travel abroad again, the idea of flying outside the U.S. this year is inconceivable, for three important reasons:

1. the dollar is so heavily under valued that paying for services abroad would break one's personal bank
2. the newly-revised airport screening protocols would discourage a even a SLOTH from entertaining the idea of standing for hours in airport security lines
3. the cost of a plane ticket to Europe is unreasonably more expensive than ever. When the cost of gasoline went up in 2007, so did air fares. The cost of gasoline has fallen and normalized, but air fares did not fall. In fact, the fares increased as well as

I'm begging my readers to take issue with my hypothesis that flying to Europe or Asia is out of the question in 2010. Leave a comment & show me how I can do it, please!

Meanwhile, I stare longingly out my office window at the snow falling, aware that my plans to travel on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day must be shelved. Maybe next year.

Adios, snowmobiles (sigh)

We did it. We sold our beloved snowmobiles today. The buyer was hauling them down the hill this evening as I drove home up the same hill. We have had so many wonderfully adventurous days on the slopes here in Utah, and we will miss being able to commune with nature in the throes of winter. But as the name of this blog points out, we ain't as young as we used to be.  Here are some of the factors we weighed before selling:
Hard work    vs     Fun
Dangerous     vs     Fun
Tax/Insur.      vs     Paid for
        We only asked $1250 for all three + the trailer. I know, he should have asked more. He realized that when he received half a dozen calls on them in day one. The first lady who called them offered more than we were asking, so she ended up with them.
      These photos were taken atop Mount Nebo near Payson, Utah. The Uintah Mountains are rife with snowmobiling opportunities. On this particular day, I fell over while making a 180. By the time I realized that my cell phone had fallen out of my pocket during that fall, we were back at the base of the trail in a heavy snowfall. So, we went home and decided to get up early the next day and return to look for the phone (a Motorola Blackberry -- not just a cheapie free phone).  When we got back to the top of the mountain, we could see the depression in the snow where my body had fallen. We dug for less than a minute before finding the phone, which was still working. We left it on the defroster vent in the Jeep as we drove home, and the phone was no worse for the wear. The top photo captures the winter wonderland and picturesque beauty of the dramatic mountain settings available year round. The second photo is Mark proudly displaying his find. The middle photo is me (Kelli) sheepishly displaying the phone that I had placed in my zippered pocket, but failed to ZIP it!

Santa Claus was good to us -- brought a new stereo system for our motorhome. Now we can enjoy CDs and radio with stereo speakers. Installing them will keep Markie busy when the snow melts in February/March. However, it's highly likely that Mr. I-Can't-Wait-to-Start-My-Next-Project won't wait that long to install them.