I am back in Utah this weekend. It’s good to be in the intermountain West and great to see my Utah friends.
Yesterday at my Salt Lake show two friends came by just to say hello. One is someone I’ve known for 17 years now—I first met her in Tivoli, NY through my sister Cari. She’s extremely successful in the film business and extremely cool too. The other is a friend from when I worked on the Olympics, almost six years ago. She is a sweet, wonderful woman who kept me company yesterday afternoon.
I am staying with a friend who has a gorgeous house on the bench of the mountains above downtown. The Airstream stayed in Idaho to save fuel and simplify this weekend’s trip.
Saw Pippa and Kirk last night, two of my favorite people on the planet. They’re thriving, though Kirk almost killed himself recently rolling his vintage Land Cruiser. Luckily he was mostly unharmed. The Land Cruiser, which he had towed to their house, was mortally wounded. He plans to salvage the engine and many parts from it. The three of us had drinks at the Alta Club last night. The club is an old school men's club, that is now open to all sexes. It's very nice with beautiful mission style stained glass at the entrance. Pippa just finished her work on the week long Utah Book Festival and there was a small event at the Alta Club with one of the authors. The three of us hung out, checked out the public areas at the club, and had a drink. I regaled them with stories from my life on the road and got caught up with their year as well.
I’d love to end up back in Utah at some point, though loving life in the Airstream too much still. I’ve just got so many good friends here and Utah is my favorite state. You’d never know that now would you? (See name of web site and business.)
Jake spent the last two days at the best doggie day care place in the world: Dog Mode. I was one of their first customers back in 1999. They’ve since upgraded to a new facility that they designed just for their business. Jon Campbell who owns Dog Mode is a wonderful guy and he’s done a great job creating an ideal environment for pups. He’s won many Best in State awards which are well deserved. His staff is outstanding. At least one guy, LJ, dates back to the days when I took Jackson there. If you haven’t heard of Jackson, my previous pup, there’s a lot more on him posted earlier on this web site (see late 2004).
When I was picking up Jake Friday a guy came in and asked for Jackson. My heart just about stopped and dropped too. Out came his Jackson, a yellow lab. It was a strange moment.
Utah was my home from 1994 to 2002 and I will always love it here. It’s such a pretty state and so diverse, at least in what it has to offer in the outdoors. Of course in other ways it’s not so diverse, though Salt Lake and Park City are much more liberal and heterogeneous than most of the rest of the state. The Mormons were always nice to me. It’s funny to me how many people have a Mormon-phobia and therefore a Utah aversion. They’re just people like everyone else—with their green jello and all (a Utah joke).
Need to get going for the last day of the Wasatch Gem Show.
