Sloping Beauty.

(If you click on the thumbnails in the collage, they will enlarge).

Hello again,

Wow! We thought only the southern part of Utah was beautiful. Small thinkers. The whole state is gorgeous. We take off our hats to the Mormon people. They sure know how to choose a beautiful place to live. We have nothing to teach them…although we might suggest that fewer wives per male might have some merit.


We climbed towards three lakes and then up to one of the many pinnacles of the mountain range. The distance was 6.5 miles with an elevation gain of a little over 2,000 feet. We overlooked the ski basin in what could be one of the most stunning areas we have visited. We do make that proclamation quite often so don’t hold us to it. Nevertheless, this is a magnificent place. We walked up some steep slopes, played on the rocks, walked alongside streams, crossed flower covered meadows and always had stunning views of the surrounding mountains. We noticed a variety of birds and even managed to come between a partridge type bird and its young. Our knowledge is lacking in ornithology. The mother was not happy with us and displayed a nasty little temper. It is often difficult reasoning with a fellow human so how much more complicated is it to placate a bird or animal.


We had a view from the summit that looked ideal for a golf course as there was a gentle slope filled with trees and rolling hills. Imagine, we thought, if Tiger Woods had seen this a few years ago. He could have designed a course within this beautiful locale. Think of the spinoff. He would have married those ten or so girlfriends in this state and spared himself much pain and embarrassment.


We met a most interesting man on the slopes. Joel arranged his life a little differently from most. His parents died young and so with the money he inherited, he decided to enjoy the best of America without going into an office daily, the ultimate ‘free spirit’. The issue he faces today is that although he is experienced in matters of the world, he has no formal work skills. The market crashes of 2000 and 2008 make his current lifestyle extremely difficult. We need to learn a lesson from his experience—it is important that our editor gets a real job and brings in income before she gets too old. We want to continue appreciating Hashem’s beautiful world. If nothing else, we learn quickly. We enjoyed the couple of hours spent in discussion with Joel. We wish him well. In fact, we wish only good things on all decent people.


We have developed a gripe. It might be that the ‘grapes are sour’ on our travels. When pondering at the crest today, we thought about the skiers as we looked down on the slopes. We want to know why we climb up the high mountains while they ride the lift. We sweat in the heat and they are cozy in their cute, colorful outfits. Then they stand on two planks of wood and let gravity and the slopes bring them down. We, of course, have to trudge back the way we came. They bask in the glory of the run while we enjoy the mosquitoes, gnats and other cute critters. The more we think about it, the more our ‘grapes turn to wrath’**. The skiers only ‘do their business’ when bears hibernate and snakes are buried under the snow. Tough guys! Are we getting a fair shake, we want to know?

We are looking forward to Shabbos, especially as our editor located a Mormon Chabad and a hotel within walking distance. We are going to practice our directions this afternoon because we cannot carry and use the new GPS system on Shabbos. (Baruch Hashem).

Be well.
The Lazarow’s

** Thank you, Mr. Steinbeck