Weekend in St. George

This weekend, I did something that I have never done. At least, I can't think of a time that I have ever done it. I ran away for the weekend with a group of friends on a little road trip down to St. George. And by group of friends, I mean, I knew one person going and I became friends with the others along the way. Had this opportunity come up 5 or so years ago, I probably wouldn't have gone because I did not know anyone that was going. Thank goodness we can all change! I had a blast down there with all of them.

While we were there, there was a half Ironman going on. It's pretty cool to see so many people fight their way through this race which really pushes the limits of the human body, and it was only half of the real race! Human body is capable of amazing things and this just proved that to me again.

We would cheer on random people and see them put a little more power into their stride and push harder knowing that someone was behind them. We even saw a crazy man running the race in a fireman's uniform. He was nuts! And it definitely wasn't cold outside.

We walked along the route checking out the things that downtown St. George had to offer. There were tons of vintage shops and an awesome retro candy shop. I'm pretty sure they had some candy straight from the 60's. Harder than a rock, but very, very cheap. All soda was in glass bottles and the candy was spread out in glass jars.

The vintage shops just had lots of random things. They made for some artsy-ish opportunities.

As we were walking along, I saw a cool building that I decided to take a picture of. As I looked at it more, the clouds above it were different colors. Rainbow clouds! I've never seen this before. 

I don't know how that works, but it was one of the coolest things that I saw that day.

I love meeting new people and sometimes I forget that. I don't know why exactly. I just get so caught up in my routine and going about life as usual that I never branch out. I'm really glad that I could make some new friends. We had some good times.

We later went to a park which had this amazing view.

It was so perfect that I could resist getting a picture of it. The St. George temple just looks so stunning, especially with the red sand and rock surrounding it (you can't see any red rock here, but just imagine it! It's beautiful). It was just the perfect time to be down there. Flowers were in full bloom. The weather was gorgeous. Triathlon excitement. Good company.

Now, the main reason that got me down to St. George was a man with a really long mustache. He is one pretty cool dude.

Actually, he just had a funny mustache and I tried to get a picture of him. It took forever for him to turn around. It wasn't until they asked all of the veterans to stand that I finally got him. Protecting our country, one rocking mustache at a time.

The real reason was this man.

Brian Regan. He was performing over in Tuacahn and he definitely did not disappoint. It was the perfect end to a weekend. Lots of hard laughter. It cleared the soul and removed all stress and worry. The best medicine? Absolutely. I haven't found anything better.

Snowbird

For the first half of this week, I spent my time up at Snowbird for the Barlow Competition for Music Composition. I was an intern in charge of making sure the judging process ran smoothly, quickly and efficiently. I had done this internship once before. This year, the commissioned piece was for A Cappella Chorus. My experience this year was pretty much like the one I experienced two years ago (I covered it in detail in three installments here, here and here) but never really addressed the venue where the competition judging takes place.

Snowbird Resort is absolutely beautiful. Everyone is set up in their own private rooms, including the interns and all meals and snacks were taken care of by the Barlow. This is the view from my room on the top floor.

Our stay up at Snowbird isn't entirely about judging the entries that came in, but there is also quite a bit of leisure time to hike, swim, chat or whatever one would like to do. Meals are particularly great times for interns to rub shoulders with the judges. They offer helpful information about composing, how to market your music, places to apply for school, etc. They are also people just like anyone else and they have other interests outside of music. They like to have fun, joke around and laugh.

They have planned for us, on one of the days, to take a hike to Cecret Lake, which is a water shed up in the mountains. Depending on how the judging is progression determines whether there will be time for that or not. This year, there was plenty of time for the hike and for a tram ride to one of the mountain peaks near Snowbird.

 This is Cecret Lake. So clear and beautiful.

I know the sign said no swimming, but one of the judges couldn't resist taking a dip. 

There were some great skipping rocks.

This really was a great time to be in Snowbird. The weather was mild, thanks to afternoon showers and the wildflowers were going crazy. They were so pretty and they were everywhere.

Since the judging was moving along quickly and we finished ahead of schedule, we were able to take the tram ride to the mountain peak.

Consistent Change

To be honest, I don't remember much of what happens during my day. I do so many of the same things every day that everything starts blending together. Recently, there has been one thing that sticks out. The sky has been offering amazing, beautiful scenes the past few evenings. 

I have always been very fond of the sunset.

It is consistent, yet always different and always beautiful.

It's peaceful.

It's mesmerizing.

It helps me clear my mind and sort through my thoughts.

I'm fascinated no matter how many times previous I have watched it.

It's a soulfully sweet escape.

Wachau

The best part about doing a study abroad in Vienna is that I get to stay with the most amazing Viennese family ever. Not only are they awesome, but they also know of cool places outside of Vienna and they take us there on little excursions.

Sunday afternoon, we headed to a place called Wachau. There used to be a huge castle, Dürnstein Castle, that stood there. It is now mostly ruins as it was almost entirely destroyed by the Swedish Empire in the mid-17th century. This castle is where King Richard I "Lionheart" of England was held prisoner in 1192.

This has a large part in the Robin Hood legend that many of us heard as children. King Richard was captured during the Crusades. His brother John assumes the throne and taxes and terrorizes the people. Robin Hood comes in and steals from the rich to give to the poor and strongly opposes John and awaits the return of the good King Richard. Pretty cool stuff.

Now if I were to be imprisoned somewhere, Dürnstein Castle would be at the top of my list. I mean, look at this!

I know, right? This place was beautiful and it was an amazing day. This place was meant to have some legends attached to it.

No spot in the ruins is off limits. You can go anywhere and climb on anything you want. They have basically left it as it is with no safety railings or fenced off areas. The only thing they have is a small sign.

Down below the castle is a small town that is encompassed by the castle walls.

Thanks to my amazing host family for taking me and my roommate there. It was so much fun. They are such an adorable little family.

Goodnight, Budapest

I took some advice from a friend to see the city of Budapest at night. The only problem is that the night was far too short. It was beyond beautiful. I was completely captivated by these amazing scenes.

Fisherman's Bastian

Parliament

Chain Bridge and Imperial Palace/Buda Castle

Imperial Palace

 Chain Bridge

It was totally worth going here just to see this. Fortunately, I was there for two days and got to see a lot of other things during the day. Unfortunately, I only had one night, but was so happy to be able to capture these. If you have ever thought about going to Budapest, stop thinking and just go. You'll never regret it. Ever. 

An interesting thing about my experience in Budapest. As the train was arriving, we drove through a residential area, which I could have sworn was straight from Russia. The buildings, streets, cars, everything reminded me of Samara, Russia (Don't tell the Hungarians I said this. Apparently, they don't like Russians very much). It was nice to see that and have the flood of memories come back to me from my mission. I went into mission mode and just wanted to speak Russian with everyone. Interestingly, I ran into a few Russian speakers. One restaurant we went to was serving Russian food! Pirogi (Пироги)! They were delicious. And their hot chocolate is to die for. Not Russian, but absolutely amazing. Life changing, in fact. Also, randomly, a girl in our hostel spoke Russian. She is from St. Petersburg, but lived in Holland for 14 years and is now going to school in England. 

Chain Bridge and Parliament from Buda Castle

It amazes me that Budapest is only a few hours away by train from Vienna, yet their culture is completely different and the language isn't closely related. This week, I'm headed to Prague, which is also a new language and culture. Amazing how that works here in Europe. I really like it.

Gardens

This Saturday, I went to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens. It was amazing! I was so glad that I went when I did. This is about the best time of the year to head down there because the colors are just absolutely stunning and vibrant. Sneak down there this weekend if you get a chance (it's only open until the end of this month!). Of course, as is my new style, there are plenty of pictures for you to look at.

This is the beginning view from the top.

A carousel. I'm sure that in the summer it's more beautiful with the 

flowers blooming out of the horses.

The Italian Gardens. Pretty sweet.

A very delightful bridge. Love that red tree in the background.

Just a gorgeous winding stream complete with cute little bridge, of course.

Love, love, love the colors!

The secret garden. You come through these doors to enter the garden.

The view from inside the secret garden.

Amazing waterfalls. Completely manmade. Actually, they are the largest

manmade falls in all of North America. You have to go just to see this!