Scenes from the Road: Heading West

The other day I made it up to Alberta mountain town of Canmore for a training camp with Bridger SF. The venue sits just to the south of Banff National Park, and has an earned reputation as a burly, beautiful place full of bears. It's also the hometown of some of skiing's elite. Yesterday, Bettina and I stopped by the Paintbox Lodge to say hi to (2006 Olympic Silver Medalist) Sara Renner. Tonight, its off to dinner at Chandra Crawford's (2006 Olympic Gold Medalist) place in town.

Before leaving Deseret, I had to stop by my friend Colby's new place of employment, Uinta Brewing Company. Colby's a brewmaster there. One day I hope he joins the gold medal winners from the Great American Brew Festival, Icicle Brewing Company in Leavenworth.  

Colby even has a lab, though it doesn't resemble the one I remember in high school. Utah abolished some of the more antiquated brewing laws, allowing certain brewers to begin making higher point beverages, hence the use of old whiskey oak barrels to the brewing process. 

Before moving out, I had to meet up with my old Italian teammate from the University of Utah Ski Team days. When I told Marco what Colby was up to he said, "That sounds about right." When I told Colby about Marco's latest job as the U.S. brand manager for an winery from the homeland he said, "That sounds about right." Go figure. 

Heading north, I was en route to Bozeman, Montana. With Yellowstone and Old Faithful just to the east, one couldn't complain about the drive through the canyon to Big Sky Country. After several days with the ski team, I had one day back home in Washington before catching an aeroplane to Canada. I'm stoked to be in Canada now. I'm also really looking forward to getting back to life along the Columbia River, having a couple days back with the family, and running a bit with the Panthers of Wenatchee High. 

See Ya, Summer School

Summer might have officially begun just three weeks ago. However, tonight I feel a bit of accomplishment, and a bit change on the horizon. You see, today I finished up my last assignment for classes this summer. To earn my degree, a Master of Arts in Professional Communication from Westminster College in Salt Lake City, I am now just one class (Integrated Marketing Communication) and one project (working title: Legends) away. 

Especially working on this degree, I feel a bit like that old Johnny Cash song One Piece at a Time. Johnny's words go a little something like this:

One day I devised myself a planThat should be the envy of most any manI'd sneak it out of there in a lunchbox in my handNow gettin' caught meant gettin' firedBut I figured I'd have it all by the time I retiredI'd have me a car worth at least a hundred grand
Now when I graduate I'm pretty sure I won't be driving down Main in a long and black Cadillac. But it just might have something worth a hundred grand, just the same. I guess this is where I should give a shout-out to Westminster College and the Director Deb Vickery for putting together a great program for athletes to both study and compete at the highest levels. 

Roll on, Mighty Colorado, Roll on.

People and programs like this - or Amory Rowe and In The Arena - are some of the people behind the scenes who put in so much passion and work to help people put themselves in a position to succeed. 
Talking about success and sport, I like to check in from time to time with Team In The Arena. Today I see Kristin Hedstrom picked up second at this weekend's World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland. Bonne Chapeau.
For all the ITA skiers, we have a few months before the racing season starts. Though for me the skiing stoke is soon going a little higher. With school out, I'm heading up to Bozeman, Montana to meet up with my ski club, Bridger Ski Foundation. From there, we'll head up to Canmore, Alberta for a training camp in Canmore, Alberta - an annual tradition.