Snowboarding with x136

Below is a fun video we put together of our night with Alex. First we went to a powedery hill in Mill B South to give Alex a feel of his board. Boarding in powder in a not so steep slope is quite difficult and a lot more different than a groomed run as you will see in the video. After we played around for a bit, we hit up Brighton Ski Resort for some night skiing. A very fun and enjoyable experience was had by all!





Here is another video of a different sort. This was recorded at Molly Green's, the private club and bar at Brighton Ski Resort. We were having a fun time playing with the video camera and I happened to catch an interview with an Eastern European by chance! Enjoy the silliness!

Happy Holidays!

To all of our family and friends, Happy Holidays!

Heather and I had a great xmas, spending the morning with Heathers family, lunch with mine and the afternoon with both of Heathers Grandmas.

The days leading up to xmas was filled with parties at our closes friends houses, this made xmas 2007 the best one yet for both Heather and myself. We also spent quite a bit of time with x136, a bikeforums member. We were able to go night snowboarding at Brighton and hot springing in Meadow, fun was had by all.

The Finca has a name, Quebradon!

Quebrar means to break. Quebrada is a stream that falls over rocks.

We have lots of water that breaks over rocks, these two pictures show a spring fed river that will be used for both drinking water and energy production via micro hydro:

Snowboarding Day 6!

Well, this week has been almost a nonstop snowboarding experience. We've been 3 times since the last, 2 of them being at different resorts. After hitting up Brighton again on Tuesday, we went to Solitude on Wednesday for some lovely powder, and then on Friday we went to meet my brother Collin at Sundance. I have started to refer to the two of us as Ski Resort Whores. Our friend Brian asked if I meant Ski Bums when he heard me say that, but I think Ski Resort Whore is more appropriate. I really am beginning to see why people dig this lifestyle!

My muscles are getting more used to the movements and I can feel myself getting stronger. I can also feel the after effects of a full day of snowboarding. Sore, stiff muscles and an insatiable hunger. This snowboarding is really screwing up my juice fast plans! One thing we came to agreement on is that we need to start packing our own lunches because the cost of lunch at a resort is pretty ridiculous, but it can be a fun thing from time to time.

We added another video from our day at Sundance.



Today, we are off for a snoeshoeing adventure! Maybe we can get some fun videos from that as well! Stay tuned!

Snowboarding Day 3!!

The third day of snowboarding was definitely the best so far. I think I'm really starting to feel more comfortable on the board. The hardest part for me still is getting off my butt after strapping my feet in the binding. I've been experimenting with different ways of getting on my feet, and one of them ended up with me twisting my leg underneath me. That was pretty much the only bad fall I took and I happened at the end of the day.

Some good news is that we finally made if off the bunny hill! We took Mary's trail, which is another green run, but it is a lot longer and a bit more challenging. It was rather fun, although I had a bit of a panic attack when we got on the lift. I wasn't sure what lift we got on, and I thought it was the lift that took you to the black diamonds! Fortunately, we got on the right one and I didn't have end up having a heart attack after all.

Joe took a great little video of me going down the bunny hill.

Chocolate for all, a small Costa Rica update...

Fred, our friend from Costa Rica, just informed us today that he found fully grown cacao bushes on our land! The cacao bushes were planted for raising chocolate in the past.

I guess making chocolate will be one more thing to keep us busy while living in Costa Rica! I think I'll double the amount of space we are going to give to various spicy peppers in our garden. There is nothing better then chocolate that bites back.

This is what cacao looks like:

Heather and I sat down last night and started to figure out our house plans. Most of night was spent talking about creating an Art / Music building, away from our primary residence. The Art / Music room will be around 600 sq feet in size and contain a small kitchenette and bathroom. We really just want one big open space, a large stone fireplace / kiln on one wall, and lots of windows all around to take advantage of the views. We will live in the Art / Music room while we build our house, if all goes well, we should have our first building complete by the end of the summer. And our house started by next winter.

I'll post more Costa Rica updates as they happen. If you have not yet subscribed to our blog, feel free to do so! Every time we blog, you will get an email with the full blog post. You can subscribe in the top right corner of this page, make sure you check your email after subscribing, as you have to confirm that yes, you really want us to email you every-single-time we blog! :)

Snowboarding, Day 2

Heather and I had another great day at Brighton today. Heather's first run was flawless, top to bottom without a single fall! We have a deal where if she does 3 consecutive flawless runs on the bunny hill, we will make our way to the real runs...

The weather was great, temps in the high teens with powder falling at the rate of 1/2" per hour. The new snow made everything look fresh and gave the day a 'vacation like' feel. We ate at the Brighton Lodge, Heather had a salad, the bus boy was very excited to see such a beautiful salad, and I had a Garlic Burger. Heather's 'Hot Toddy' (A hot drink with lemon and whisky) was not nearly as good as the one Janny made at the hot springs last winter. My Hefeweizen made the last two runs of the day a bit more enjoyable then the first dozen or so.

I cleaned both post-lunch runs and had a lot of fun tossing up powder on each turn. Heather did not do as well and took a nasty fall on the 2nd run after lunch. We decided to call it a day and take the weekend off from snowboarding.

While walking to Lunch we passed a firetruck and two ambulances. From our table in the restaurant we watched as Ski Patrol assisted the Paramedics in loading an injured snowboarder into the ambulance.

KSL is now reporting that there were two avalanches just outside of Brighton, and two snowboarders where caught for a ride! The snowboarder we saw is in critical condition with facial and head injuries. Ouch! I hope he makes it out okay...

I took our new camcorder with us today, and did not record a single minute of footage! I'll make sure we get a few runs on tape on Monday.

Snowboarding VS Skiing - An Observation

Yesterday I had my very first day snowboarding. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. We only spent a total of maybe two hours at the most going down the bunny hill. The most difficult part was trying to stand up, and it got to be a bit frustrating at times. I would fall down, then try to get up, but I couldn't! It would take a few tries, then finally I would get up, wobble around on my board and then start the whole process again!

Eventually, I was able to board for a short distance without falling. Unfortunately the last spill I took went straight to my knees! I have a couple of lovely purple circles now, and they hurt like hell! In fact, my whole body is sore. It must be from the continuous falling and attempting to stand up, or it could just be the standard soreness from learning a new sport.

Today, Joe and I decided to smooth out some of the stiffness with a bit of skiing. I have to say right off that falling down in skis is a lot easier on your body than falling down on a snowboard! I've fallen down plenty on skis, and I've never thought I would need to wear a helmet or kneepads in the future as a result.

Overall, I don't know if I'll like one over the other. It's still too early to decide on that. I think I will really enjoy snowboarding. By the end of the day yesterday, I was feeling a bit more confident. I suppose the only way to find out which I like better is to keep on doing both activities and have fun doing it!

2 New Videos!

Here are a few videos that we recorded up Millcreek Canyon while we were skiing. Enjoy!

The snow is here!

What a storm! Utah needed this one badly, and mother nature delivered!

Watching the storm roll in near the bottom of Big Cottonwood Canyon.

It dosent feel like winter until you have your first powder day. Heather and I had our first powder day on Friday while snowshoe the Mill-D trail to Dog Lake.* We made fresh tracks on the first mile or so of trail before calling it a day. Fresh tracks in 14" of Utah powder is a lot of work!

We have also visited the top of Millcreek canyon three times in as many days. The last few miles of the paved road is blocked off for 6 months of the year. Every winter hundreds of xc skiers, snowshoer's and hikers make there way to the small parking lot at the trail head. We take our backcountry skiis and make the long slow trudge up to the many summer picnic spots. We have found that picnic spots contain some great newbie friendly hills and lots of fresh powder.

The road makes for a fun return trip as well, it takes a bit of work in the powder and becomes a really fun ride after a few dry days. Its easy to find yourself on the steeps traveling well over 20mph! or, it at least feels that way...

What are you guys doing? Who should I put on my short list of people to call for snowboarding? Skiing? Snowshoeing?

Heather is buying her snowboard on Monday, and we will be getting season passes at Brighton, M-T only. Lots more blog posts about learning how to snowboard in the upcoming months!

Quick shout out to all the Foosters at BikeForums! :D

* We got engaged at Dog Lake last winter while snowshoeing.

Gardner...

We had an interesting expireence at the Hot Springs the other night. The last guy to share the pool with us was a guy named Gardner. He told us his parents were quite the hippies, hence the name.

Gardner (his first name, our last) was traveling around the western states jumping from hot spring to hot spring. He has been on the road about a month, camping each night, getting in his truck, and moving on. He had a few great stories to tell including spending a night with 13 cats and 4 long haired chihuahuas!

As we left the springs we found Gardner hanging out behind his truck making dinner and playing guitar. We went to say bye to him but got sucked into hanging out & telling stories to Heathers guitar music. He gave us a nice little gift and we gave him our contact information...

Gardner, if you are ever in SLC, give us a ring. We don't have a big place but you are more then welcome to crash in the front room after a night of spirits and stories.

Travel safe,
Joe & Heather

The hot springs.

It's 11pm and Heather and I just got back from spending a night with our good friends Janny and Mo at Meadow hot springs. For our family; Janny made the chocolates at the wedding & Mo filmed the ceremony.

We actualy spent Tuesday night at the hot springs, spent the night at Mo's place, had a great breakfast in Cedar City and a private film fest featuring Mo's movie and our wedding footage!

Unlike our last trip to the springs with Janny and Mo, last nights trip was a bit warmer. In Nov of 2006 the four of us hit up Meadow in the middle of a cold snap, the temperature when we got out was 18 degrees below zero! It was a good 40 degrees warmer this time.

Heather and I brought down our camp stove and some home made red Thai curry and rice, Janny and Mo provided the drinks. If you have never had Thai food while soaking in a hot spring on moonless winter night, I highly recommend it!

It looks like it may Snow tonight, if so, we will be out skiing tomorrow. We have already been out snowshoeing once and skiing twice this season. Not much snow out there, but its only a matter of time!

More info on Costa Rica.

We have had quite the response to telling our friends and family of our Costa Rica plans, I'll try to answer a few questions in this post, and more in a future post.

One of our friend from my old website, BikeForums.net owns a reforestation company. He buys small farms in his area of Costa Rica, then sells the first harvest of hardwood trees to investors. His company owns 800 or so acres of land with 43 different types of hardwood trees. (I may be slightly off on the numbers, 700 acres / 41 types?)

We went down to Costa Rica with the intent of spending a few days with him and seeing how he lives, and what its like to be an expat in Costa Rica. We quickly learned that he was going to go look at a 140 acre farm to buy for his business in the next week or so. One thing led to another and we ended up making a deal with him to buy a large portion of the trees on the land as well as our pick of 10 acres for our personal farm.

Right now there are cows on the land, and the rain forest was clear cut in the last few decades. By next spring, we will have picked out our 10 acres and our home site. At that point, we will have a small 800sq ft house built. We will live in this house while our real house is being built. Once our real house is complete, we are going to hire a local tico couple to live on our 10 acres with us. They will help us around the garden, help us shop, do dishes etc... full time help!

In 5 years from now, the tree's planted will be 20 - 30 feet tall.
In 8 years, some of the trees will be cut down, less then 10%.
In 25 years all the hardwood trees planted on the other 130 acres will be harvested.

As the trees grow, the underbrush will not be cut, and native trees will soon start to take over the land. After 25 years and the last harvest, the land will be put into a conservation easement, at that point our 10 acres will be surrounded by 130 acres of primary rain forest.

We are moving down there with the goal and intent to live 100% self sustainable. After a few years of living there we want to morph our land into more of an eco-resort by adding half a dozen small cabinas to our land and renting them out by the week or month. We also have in mind doing week long raw food and yoga retreats, but only once we are fully settled into the land and culture.

What a summer!

I'm glad this summer is coming to an end, its been quite a busy and hectic one for me. So many changes in my life have taken place in the last few months:
In April, I sold BikeForums.net.
In May, I stressed if selling BikeForums was the best idea. (It was!)
In June, Heather and I started a new company, VeloVisions, INC.
In July, We did a short mtn bike tour under the redwoods. (Click here for pictures)
In Aug, We started planning for our Wedding.
In Sept, We started planning fore our Honeymoon.
In Oct, We got married. (Click here for pictures)
In Nov, We got back from Costa Rica. (Click here for pictures)

I have no clue whats coming at us this Winter; but I hope its more snow and a lot of time in the Mountains. This year we are learning to Snowboard!

I'm loving life, I hope all my friends and family are as well,

- Joe

Mtn biking from Canada to Mexico!

We are still planing a 2 - 3 month epic adventure riding our mountain bikes from Canada to Mexico via the Continental Divide Trail.

I'll post about this one soon as well, just using this blog post to update our new joe-and-heather.com home page, check it out!

We are moving to Costa Rica!

We signed our paperwork over the weekend, and our money made it down to Costa Rica this week.

Joe has uploaded quite a few pictures of the finca we are buying on our smug mug account, here is the gallery link: http://joe-and-heather.smugmug.com/gallery/3899287#226157898

The finca (Farm, in Spanish) is 140 acres in size, it backs up to a national park that holds hundreds of rivers, both large and small, dozens of lakes including one really large one. There is also an extinct volcano in the park, the local lure is that nobody has ever been to the summit!

Of the 140 acres, we will pick 10 acres for our casa (House, in Spanish). Our goal is to live 100% self-sustainably, we will grow our own food, our power will come from a micro-hydro power plant with solar as a backup option.

We are very excited to make the move to Costa Rica, this simply is an opportunity that we could not pass up! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the gallery:

The road into the farm:


Our power source: (there are springs on the property for drinking water)

A wild mango tree: (There are also wild limes, oranges and papayas on the finca)


Another mango tree, with views of the Caribbean Plains, on a clear day you can see lake Nicaragua.

Night ride trip report.

Burrr!

That is the only word I can think of after last nights ride. We took a rather quick spin around town, headed up 2nd south until 6th east, we then took 6th east to Liberty Park and found our way down to 3rd east... 3rd has a great bike lane and little traffic; we find ourselves riding down 3rd on just about every ride we take.

Once back into downtown we made our way to the Gallivan Center and enjoyed the millions of little lights strung up. The Center is an interesting little park / venue. In the summer months SLC hosts a free concert every Thursday night. We have seen some great bands there including Calexico, Camper Van Beethoven (aka Cracker) and half a dozen other concerts. They also have a free movie showing every Monday night.

Here is a short video I made on Heathers camera:



As you can see, Heather is dressed for the cold... ;)

For our after ride drink, I had a Nicaraguan beer and Heather had a glass of red wine. Not a bad night at all!

A new direction for the blog...

With the wedding and honeymoon now out of the way, we have decided to take this blog a new direction. I think the title says it all "Joe & Heathers Adventure Blog"!

Any time we go on an Adventure, be it a small hike in Mill Creek canyon, or a week out of the country, we will blog about it.

Tonight we are going on a midnight fixie ride around Salt Lake City. We expect to be dealing with low-20 temperatures and wind chills in the single digits. Full ride report coming Monday morning.

An Amazing Wedding!

We have so many to thank for the beauty and success we experienced on October 20, 2007. Here it is, almost a month later and I still find myself getting all excited and giddy thinking about the memories. There are several pictures that were taken of the event. You can find some here:

http://joe-and-heather.smugmug.com/gallery/3698211#211777464
http://joe-and-heather.smugmug.com/gallery/3698894#211838374

Thanks to Brian and Jan and whoever else has helped us in these photos!

And thanks to Tom, for all his effort and presence. He also took some amazing photos and they are here:

http://tomsbodypix.smugmug.com/gallery/3704307#218478656

Thanks to so many others as well! Steve, for your beautiful poetry and for making me laugh and relax while getting dolled up! Jan and Amy for being beautiful, wonderful friends and for always believing in me and for screaming with me upstairs in the cabin. I love you two!

Thank you, Laura for your magnificent talents! You envisioned exactly what I wanted to feel and look like and you made me feel like a princess by the end of it! Thank you Mo, for filming and for your sweet, kind words. You and your lovely wife mean so much to us!

Thank you Tory for being my oldest, bestest friend. You deserve all the happiness in the world and I love you to pieces! Thank you Mom for all of your hard work and for giving birth to me and to my wonderful family. Thank you Dad for dancing with me and for not stepping on my toes! Your support has helped me so much over the years. Thank you Ryan for bringing the band together! It was perfect! Thank you Lori for your unselfish efforts in helping our wedding to be so absolutely beautiful! I'm so glad you're married to my goofy brother!

Thanks Collin for making some of the coolest dance moves with me. We so rock! Thanks Brynna and Clayton for all your help and for your sweet and loving nature! Thanks Sheri for the dip and the Costa Rica book! Thank you Jeanie for your well wishes and for all of your love you have given to me my whole life.

Thanks to all of our friends and family who came to share the day with us. We have not yet received all of the video footage, but we do have a video that Joe and I put together from my Mom's video camera. Feel free to download it and watch it here:

http://www.joe-gardner.com/movies/broadband-high-wedding.mov

There are so many people that we wished could be there, but because of the location it was physically impossible. It was very difficult making the guest list decisions and we wished everyone could have been invited. Please know that we love you all and we're grateful for your love and support.

A few other things: Our wonderful friend Brian, lost his glasses in the cabin. If anyone has seen them or picked them up, please let us know! They are very rare and hold a lot of sentimental value. Someone also left a brown scarf up at the cabin. If this is your's, please let us know.

Pics! :)

Hello everyone! Thanks to you all who made it to our beautiful wedding and to everyone who helped make it such a wonderful success! :)

You can find all the pics we have on our smugmug account here:

If anyone else has any pictures, can you please email them to me?

shadiyahnawaar@gmail.com

Thanks again! I am the luckiest woman in the world!

Open mic...

Just a quick heads up. We are going to have an open mic during the reception, if anyone has any experiences, thoughts or well wishes, feel free to share them. :)

What to Wear

I thought it might be a good idea to clarify a bit more on what you should wear to our wedding. Yes, it is going to be simple, but it is also going to be a fun, classy (we hope ;) ) event! We don't want anyone to wear anything too formal, but we would like to see people dressed in what my mom would call "Sunday best".

I hope this gives you a better idea on what you would like to wear! :)

10 Day Forecast!

It looks like the weather is going to be great for the wedding day! According to weather.com , there will be sunny skies with highs of 69 and lows of 47! We're still going to cross our fingers in hopes that it doesn't change.

Clothing is in!

Today I finished the fitting for my suit and we took Heathers dress in for final alterations! Lots of little things still to wrap up, but most of the big stuff is out of the way! I'm sure the final month will just fly by.

For our friends who just got married; I have two questions for you: What are we forgetting? & When is a good time to panic? :)

Dress warm, it is going to be cold up there!

While temps are still in the mid 80's in the valley, they are quickly dropping in the mountains. Please dress warm, our wedding ceremony will be held outside and temps may be in the mid 40's by the time we get to the "i-do's"!

We have had a few people ask what the dress code is. We are keeping this one simple, don't out dress the bride or groom! :)

Carpooling & Contact Info.

Hi Everyone!

Our wedding is being held at a private residence in Sundance. Due to the nature of the venue parking is extremely limited. If at all possible, please carpool with others.

If you have an empty seat, or would like a ride to the wedding, please contact Heather or myself and we will try to help you figure out the logistics.

The easiest way to get a hold of us is via email, Heathers email address is kombuchachic (at) gmail (dot) com. And mine is joe (at) bikeforums (dot) net. Feel free to drop us a line regarding anything wedding related!

Wedding Gifts

As most people know, it is customary for newly weds to receive gifts to help them build their new home. Joe and I obviously don't need such gifts, we are pretty much set up for all the home necessities.

Anyone who knows us, know that we love to do outdoor activities. So, we have set up a gift registry at REI. If you would like to participate in this, you can either do it through Joe's name (Joe Gardner) or use our Gift Registry Number: GR1590692

Directions

We are holding the wedding ceremony and reception in a private cabin located about a mile north of the Sundance Ski Resort.

Sundance is located about one hour away from Salt Lake City. From SLC take I–15 South towards Provo. Continue on I-15 to exit #272 (which is 800 North in Orem) turn left heading east.

Stay on 800 North through Orem to the mouth of the canyon. Stay in left hand lane, which will drop onto Hwy 189.

Continue up the canyon approximately 7 miles to Scenic Route #92 which is the first left after the tunnel. Sundance is 2 miles up the canyon on the left.

Continue past the Ski Resort parking lot and take the first left into a residential street. You will cross a stream and come to a 3-way stop sign. Stay right and continue up Timphaven Road.

The cabin is located about 6/10th of a mile on Timphaven Road on the right side. The full address is 9044 N. Timphaven Rd.

If at all possible, please car pool! We have another blog post about car pooling here: http://joe-and-heather.blogspot.com/2007/09/carpooling-contact-info.html

[edited to add]
You can also reach the cabin by driving the Alpine Loop, simply take the Highland/Alpine exit from I-15 and head due east to American Fork Canyon. The alpine loop fall colors are amazing at this time of the year.

The fee station at the mouth of American Fork Canyon charges $3 if you plan on stopping and using the canyons facilities, tell them you are just driving through and its free.

Add 20 minutes if you plan on driving the loop to the wedding, there are a few dozen 10mph turns and switch backs. Add an hour to your drive time if you plan on seeing cascade springs.
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No Children, Please.

We are asking everyone with children to please find a sitter for the night. This is a child-free event. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation!

First Typo!

We had a little invitation assembly party last night because we figured we could use all the help for the spiffy, do-it-yourself kit. As soon as we sat down, Joe's sister Katie saw that we had made a major typo. The location says "Sudance, Utah". Now, last time I checked, I don't believe we were getting married there! I think we were just a little too hasty in our proofreading before we printed out the invites.

So, just one more time for clarification, Joe and I are getting married in Sundance, Utah. Not Sudance, UT, (if there is such a place).

Welcome to Our Wedding Blog!

Here you will find upcoming information about our wedding which is planned for October 20, 2007. We are going to have the ceremony and reception in a lovely cabin in the Sundance area. Stay tuned for more info to come!