Back to Back

We've had a 2nd place in Salt Lake City for 6 years and this is the first time I've ever spent back to back weekends there. As always, there are reasons for the things that occur in my life that make it so interesting and comical.

Last weekend was Alec's graduation from college so coming up here was a no brainer.

This weekend was the Utah state tennis championships and Highland High, a team the boys helped coach with my boyhood bro Doc Foote, literally had the title "in the bag" after last weeks performance in Ogden. This event, plus the fact that at home in Las Vegas there was a church activity planned for Saturday at Warm Springs, which to me, is a forgotten outpost 50 miles from civilization and in the middle of nowhere amid some of the most barren land on the planet, was my other option. I picked Utah.....in a heartbeat. I would have walked if I had to.



The road to Warm Springs


I've concluded, with near scientific analysis, that no matter how many stops you make, or how fast you drive, it's a 6+ hour trip from Las Vegas to Salt Lake City. It just is - I've done it in a number of cars, at different times of the year, regular hours of the day, strange hours of the day, with and without kids - doesn't matter. It's 6 hours plus - minimum. 6 hours in a car for me is torture.

Flying takes 55 minutes once the wheels go up. For this trip, I chose to fly. In fact I usually opt for the friendly skies since my wife for some inexplicable reason actually enjoys roadtrips. Me? Send the wife up a day or two early while Keith toils away at work (or gets in that extra round of golf) THEN I take the company jet (SWA), listen to some tunes, catch up on emails or snooze for a spell and before you know it, I'm back in my most favorite American city.

Thursday was a day crammed full of things I had to do, things I forgot to schedule and was just plain jacked full of stuff that kept putting back my departure. The golf game at 11:30 was one of those things....the wind in Las Vegas had stopped for the first time in a month and there was no way that me and the fella's were going to let this opportunity pass us by to hit the links. Delay number two was due more to my ineptitude in using my electronic calendar versus the yellow post it notes that frame my computer screen. I had colleagues from Los Angeles coming to meet me at 4:30, then we were going to dinner - I remembered this on about the 4th hole. Flight delay #3.

We managed to complete the round by 3:30 so I had time to shower and make the meeting. I arrived to the office on time only to meet a longtime friend and client in the parking lot who is as long-winded as he his Italian. I got rid of him as fast as I could and I ran inside, out of breath, hair wet, sunburned and was greeted by my LA pals with "How was the golf game?" Laughter all around. Since they had flights that night too, we left early for Flemings and wolfed down a great dinner, conducted some business, talked the usual sports talk, took apart healthcare reform, analyzed the housing and economic crisis, shook hands, and went our separate ways. Guys are easy like that.



Friday was filled with tennis, a nap and some hysterical conversations/movie analysis with Alec and Jake and, of course, a lot of Sportscenter.

By Saturday afternoon Highland High had in fact knocked off Timpview's 7 year stranglehold on the title and were crowned state champs while Doc Foote's son won the #2 state singles title. Elation all around. If there was one thing I learned during the finals it is this: Never tell the coach it's in the bag before the fat lady sings. Of course, one can only look to the 3rd paragraph of this post to see how seriously I take things like this.






I had an inkling that the title was theirs and was simply uttering aloud what the late, great Lenny Snellman would have said. Kathy-from-the-UK and I were extremely postive about Highland's chances although she's 90 years old and still thinks Churchill is running things over there. Super nice lady - splendid in fact. Last week we spent some time with her and she helped us wiff our English accents and considered them to be "Most excellent." And to answer the question that all of your are thinking; "Yes, being from England, her teeth are in bad shape."

Another nap followed the matches and then we celebrated at Cucina Toscana again with Valter and his staff. Said it before and will say it again, it's the best dining experience you will ever have. I'm hooked on Valter.

I gotta be honest - for once I'm looking forward to driving Jake home today from college. We packed up most of his stuff last week in the SUV and today we will set out to break the 6 hour mark heading home.

We have several things in our favor:

1) There ar no girls or dogs in the car

2) We are both built from the same impatient cloth

3) Our wheels are turbocharged

4) We stop for nothing except fuel - one time.



Let you know how long it takes.