Snow Basin

Shawn competed in the Xterra off-road triathlon at Snowbasin yesterday.  Since most races start so early, we don't usually make it to watch him.  But this one had a later start and so we decided to show our support for his last race of the season.  It was a long drive, but we ended up having a fun day.  Here's Shawn after he finished.  This photo doesn't show all of the scrapes and scratches he collected during the bike ride.  I looked at him and said, "You're sure this was fun?"If you look closely at his leg in the above photo, you can see the demon thorn sticking out, but in case you miss it, there is a closer look in the photo below.  The kids were wanting to go do something, and I said, "Hold on, we've got to go to the medical tent and get the stick out of Dad's leg."  Next thing I know, Samantha has turned white as a sheet and ended up passing out and throwing up on the grass.  She ended up lying down in the medical tent for a few minutes until she recovered.  I guess its good that she didn't see the guy getting his face stitched up or the broken ribs of another guy.  I think this race was a little brutal for some.  A couple of my kids have shown their inability to handle any level of gore before, but never quite this publicly.  Since it all ended up all right, it was kind of funny.  Jonas said, "Samantha looks kind of green."  (Which was true - she was green.)  This was the most upsetting part to her because she said, "What?!  I hate green!!"  And then kept asking if she still looked green for the next hour or so.  She was fine and was asking for ice-cream within half an hour.

  Here is the demon thorn in the leg...
And here it is out of the leg.
The most exciting part was Shawn's 3rd place finish in the corporate CEO challenge.  A podium finish is always worth it.  Since he got in for free and then won a $50 gift certificate to Salt Lake Running Company, he actually got paid for punishing himself instead of paying for the punishment.  That's a first.
The fall colors were absolutely beautiful.  (That made the long drive a little more enjoyable, too.)
We rode the gondola (or gondzilla, as Samantha called it), to the top to enjoy the view.  Here I am, with Duffy.
Shawn and Peter
Everyone enjoying the ride.
We grabbed a little snack at the lodge, 
and then headed out on a short hike.  The kids enjoyed identifying the wild flowers and finding cool rocks.  
The weather was perfect and all in all, we had a really fun day.