Zion Followed by a New Toy

Today we spent the day hiking, sightseeing, and exploring in Zion National Park.  I continue to learn more about my camera with each use, and today I had fun with a bit of messing with depth of field, intentional underexposure to capture a maximum number of color tones, and manual focusing.

I'm not sure what was interesting, but the photo sure is.

An understatement.

Good hang time.

Look for the really sloppy 30 second photo editing.  You can even see it at 25% resolution.

After arriving back home, my main Christmas present that shipped 2nd day air finally decided to show up after  7 days.  Thanks Mom and Dad (and Aunt Mary)!

70mm from 8 feet away

Some zoom between 70 and 300, didn't think to look.

300mm

Much more fun with this new lens is sure to follow.  I'm looking forward to being able to mess with depth of field to a much greater degree.  This captivating photo of a chair is looking very artsy, for example.

Snow Canyon Mayhem

Today we spent a good chunk of the afternoon hiking in Snow Canyon.  We explored three different trails, and spent time messing around in sand, sliding on and breaking ice, and climbing.

1 week

It's official.  I've been in the same location for more than a week for the first time since June.  No stir craziness yet.  I've been keeping busy though.

In the last few days I - 

absolutely dominated at hearts:

Learned that people can be conned into believing anything, including that Diet Coke is actually hydrating.  Then again, if you're already a Diet Coke drinker you've probably had the wool pulled over your eyes for a while now.  Aspartame.  Nasty stuff.  Still, this is a lousy excuse for marketing.

Helped get the puzzle closer to completion.  We finished the fairly hard section, the frustratingly hard section, and now all that's left is the part that makes you want to pull your hair out.  We're working with a deadline now as well, since I think we're using the big table for Christmas dinner.

Learned that a new genre now exists for books:  the sniper novel.  Right up there with romance, mystery, and self-help, you have a major category that until now has been overlooked.  There have to be at least a dozen novels out there that would qualify.

Created a sweet new instrument out of a wrapping paper cardboard roll.  It sounded worse than a dijireedoo and made my lips hurt.  And all those finger holes that were supposed to create different notes?  Mostly for show, it turns out.

Promptly destroyed it.

Had our traditional oyster stew and croissant Christmas eve dinner

Learned that brothers make good footrests

Until they attack you with their super-bright camera phone flashes.

We opened gifts on Christmas Eve this year.  The haul includes fig newton bars, chewy granola bars, oyster crackers, and generic brand corn flakes.  Missing this year are the Christmas gift staple Nature Valley bars, Cheerios, and Cheez-its.

Quote of the evening:

Mom: "I'm probably the only person in the world who gets a lava flow for Christmas."

Hurling snow. Bovine staring contest.

Dusting off the Camera

It's been less than a week since I brought out the camera, but it feels like a month.  I figured it was time I took a few more pictures.  The first few are for the people who would like a better picture (literally) of what the xeriscaping project is looking like so far.  Still to go is finishing off the watering system and adding rocks and a lava flow.  The rest are from a hike we took this afternoon.

Uh, rocks?

After some Swedish pancakes for breakfast, we went and made off with a massive rock that my parents had been after for months.  With permission, we slid it off the property of the nearby aquatic center under a fence and loaded it in the back of the truck.  Then we booked it back home like bandits after a stop at the library.  I was anxiously awaiting a certain package, which thankfully showed up in the early afternoon...

So now I have my new toy and my transition from PC gamer geek to Apple fanboy is nearly complete.  I already appreciate the simplicity of the file structure of the Unix based operating system.  Everything is rather straight-forward, and it makes transferring everything between laptops fairly pain-free.  it's nice to transfer everything off the old laptop and still have 200GB free.  Now I can really go crazy with the camera.

My time with the Macbook was brief in the afternoon, as we had other work to be doing.  We're pitching in with the whole xeriscaping project going on in front of the house (and eventually the back).  Today, we took rock mixed with dirt, leaves, twigs, and more dirt...

and turned it into just rocks!

This involved a screen and water, several hours, and lots of mud.  Yesterday was playing in the snow, today was very much getting dirty in the mud.

I know, it's really captivating stuff, huh?  Going from writing about exotic locales to writing about dirt and rocks...  I'll post some pictures of the partially-landscaped area to at least give some perspective for the seemingly mundane work.

Why is Life so Delicious?

Sticking snow in Saint George? I didn't think so either. But we had a couple inches last night, and it was fun to watch the neighborhood kids playing in it, potentially for the first time. It sounds like it hasn't snowed like this in a decade.

We already had plans to go skiing today, but the forecast for snow and a huge storm passing through made the prospect all the more exciting. We left Saint George early in the morning and headed Northeast to Brian Head Resort. Saint George's elevation is a little under 3000 feet, and the base of the mountain is over 9000 feet, so we went up the entire way there. It was still snowing vigorously this morning and the interstate and back highways were blanketed in snow and ice. Days like today are what our Subaru was made for. I'm glad my parents kept it.



We got there this morning to find that there was still a massive blizzard going on and winds were too strong to go all the way to the top of the hill, so we messed around in bitter wind chill and blinding snow on the lower slopes for a while. It's rather difficult to ski/snowboard well when the lighting and visibility is such that you can't see the terrain you're going down.



I skied, Ian snowboarded. He's holding poles because I needed hands to take the picture.



Then they opened one lift to the top when the sky suddenly turned blue, and up we went. I realize that this picture doesn't look particularly blue-skyish, but just go with it.



The view from nearly 11000 feet is stunning, especially with all the surrounding terrain being several thousand feet lower.





The afternoon was all about finding powder. Growing up skiing in Alaska, the best we usually got was hard-pack, icy slopes. This was the complete opposite end of the spectrum, with over a foot of fresh powder in the last 24 hours. Some runs that hadn't been groomed yet this year were covered with 2-3 feet of nothing but powder. We had to learn a slightly different style of getting down the hill with all the fresh snow. Steep slopes became our friends, flatter slopes our enemies that liked to pull us under and bring us to a stop.



And of course with that learning curve comes a crash or two. It's the softest landing ever, but the downside is you have to dig yourself out of the hole you create just to get going again. I cracked up for a good 5 minutes as I watched Ian get unstuck from this one, only to start out goofy and miss the narrow packed trail before falling into powder again at slow speed.



I had two good crashes on the day. The first was when I somehow sunk in a ski tip going across several other people's tracks in deep powder. I face planted pretty nicely and was confused to find myself on my back. At least one somersault must have taken place. This was still during the stormy part of the morning, and I initially couldn't tell which way was up the hill and which way was down. Nor could I figure out where one of my skis went. I spent several minutes digging for it before finding it. Next time I'm selecting skier level III instead of II so they don't pop off so easily.

The other fabulous crash also involved losing a ski, but this one in a slightly more original manner. I was skiing in deep powder near the edge of a run and was noticing little 3-4 foot tall Pine trees sticking out of the snow. I was dodging them easily until one snuck up on me when it was too late to avoid. I figured I could glide right over it since only 3-4 inches were sticking above snow, but I wasn't thinking about the fact that my skis were actually below the surface a bit. The tree ripped my right ski off and I spent a few moments ragdolling down the slope in a most comfortable fashion.

All that skiing and crashing and getting unstuck was a nice way to burn off some energy.



Now off to some sort of exciting evening adventure, such as playing cards or watching a movie or working on a ridiculously hard puzzle where all of the pieces look the same (and there are 2000 of them). Seriously, someone must have felt particularly evil the day they decided the entire bottom third of the puzzle should be a bunch of fall-colored leaves.



Oh, and the post title? That was my brother talking about cereal this morning.

Snow Day!

We've got a good 3-4 inches of snow in Portland, with more potentially on the way and a week of freezing weather to go with it. Not that I haven't seen snow recently... and I suppose I am from Alaska, but it is still exciting since this much snow in Oregon is a rarity. We used the day to sit around drinking tea, eating homemade rolls, playing Hearts and Rummy, and I even prepped for my interview in the morning a bit.

It should be a lovely time tomorrow morning scurrying around trying to get to my interview. As it snowed today, the weather got colder and it transitioned from melting to freezing, which means there will be a nice layer of ice on everything tomorrow. I'm taking public transportation, which is probably more reliable than driving would be. Wish me luck. If nothing else, it'll be some good interview experience. Then it's off to Saint George, where the forecast is snow! I think there are already plans to go skiing when I get there.

Right Place, Right Time

The more time I spend in Portland, the more I feel like it would be a great place to call home in the near future.

I mean, how can you beat free Starbucks...



Unique Salvation Army Bell Ringers...





Friendly Chewbaccas (and cousins, for that matter)...



Frozen people (flash-mob style)...



(The pictures really don't do it justice, since it's basically taking a freeze-frame of frozen people)



Even the anti-Church of Scientology people joined in the fun.



Voodoo Donuts...



Saturday Market (which for some reason also happens on Sunday, in spite of the name)...



Tuba Christmas...



A dragon tuba?



Nike Town (both figuratively and literally)...



And we just went downtown to do some random Christmas shopping.

Top that off with some Thai food and Will Ferrell and you've got yourself a rather enjoyable day.

Notable Places Visited

Same as the sidebar column, only now in a post to save for future reference.

• Denver, CO December 11
• Boulder, CO December 10
• Albaquerque, NM December 9
• Las Vegas, NV December 3-8
• Bakersfield, CA December 2
• Redding, CA December 1
• Portland, OR December 1
• Seattle, WA Nov 25-30
• Eugene, OR Nov 23-24
• San Francisco, CA Nov 21-22
• Bakersfield, CA Nov 20
• St. George, UT Nov 19
• Flagstaff, AZ Nov 18
• Albaquerque, NM Nov 17
• Dallas, TX Nov 16
• San Antonio, TX Nov 12-16
• Eugene, OR Nov 6-11
• San Antonio, TX November 5
• Houston, TX November 4
• Birmingham, AL November 3
• Staunton, VA November 2
• New York, NY Oct 29 - Nov 1
• Morristown, NJ October 27-28
• Washington, DC October 21-26
• Pittsburgh, PA October 20
• Detroit, MI October 15-19
• Grand Haven, MI October 14
• Chicago, IL October 9-13
• Omaha, NE October 8
• Cheyenne, WY October 7
• Elko, NV October 6
• San Jose, CA October 1-5
• San Francisco CA September 26-30
• Reno, NV September 25
• Lincoln, NE September 23
• Philadelphia, PA September 16-21
• Baltimore, MD September 15
• Washington DC, September 9-14
• St. George, UT September 4-8
• Washington DC, September 2-3
• Virginia Beach, VA August 27-31
• Charleston, WV August 26
• Chicago, IL August 21-25
• Milwaukee, WI August 20
• Minneapolis, MN August 19
• Missoula, MT August 18
• Seattle/Bellevue, WA August 14-17
• Portland, OR August 11-13
• Eugene, OR August 8-10
• Bend, OR August 7-8
• Park City, UT August 3-6
• Copper, CO August 1-3
• Boulder, CO July 31
• Fort Collins, CO July 30
• Omaha, NE July 29
• Newark, NJ July 27
• Webster, MA July 27
• Worcester, MA July 25-26
• Boston, MA July 22-24
• Dedham, MA July 21
• New London/Mystic, CT July 21
• Mendham, NJ July 20
• New York, NY July 17-20
• Princeton, NJ July 16-17
• Allentown, PA July 15
• Jim Thorpe/Lehighton, PA July 15
• Toledo, Ohio July 14
• Pleasant Priarie, WI July 10-13
• Chicago, IL July 9-10
• Louisville, KY July 9
• Nashville, TN July 6 - 9
• Atlanta, GA July 1 - 6
• Portland OR June 30

Some things I've learned...

- Every hotel has HBO, but it's whether or not they have Comedy Central that makes the difference.

- Credit cards are anything but secure. Pretty much anyone can use anyone's card.

- Trucks carrying bees are not supposed to stop for gas during the day.

- You don't use the "J" key on your keyboard as much as you'd think.

- Parking large vehicles is a pain pretty much everywhere.

- Always listen to your instincts. You don't have to act on them, but it's usually a good idea.

- Finding new things to explore is much less about where you are, and much more the state of mind you're in.

- The distance between coasts becomes shorter each time you drive it.

- If you act like you're know what you're doing, people will rarely question you.

- A negative split is when you run faster as the race progresses. This is good.

- It's really easy to just talk to people.

- Someone needs to franchise Chop't nationwide RIGHT NOW.

- Asking everyone a question about something you already know the answer to is lame.

- College was a long time ago. Last month was a long time ago. Last event was a long time ago.

- Close friends only become closer when you have to travel to visit them.

- I want a mountain bike.

- The whole "East Coast mentality" isn't as pronounced as West Coasters make it seem.

- When driving a truck, reading every road sign is useful, if not absolutely necessary.

- The longer you travel, the less important "where" becomes.

- Keeping a blog can result in keeping sanity.

- It gets darker a full hour earlier on the eastern side of a time zone than it does on the western side of the same time zone. Duh.

- A job, a purpose, and financial security breeds self-confidence.

- I met a ton of people in college, but I got to know far too few of them.

- Happy is simply a state of mind. You don't need a reason to be happy.

- I shop for clothes like a girl.

- The iPhone is the most useful tool I've ever owned.

- Unless you like burning a hole in your wallet, 2.5 star hotels are as high a ranking as you'll ever really need. You go up to 3 stars and everything from food to internet costs extra.

- Avoid the 1 star hotels though.

- And the 5 star was pretty nice.

- Base part of your tip calculation on whether or not your server can keep up with the rate at which you consume water.

- Swimming is like other aerobic activities except you can't breathe very well.

- Running is actually kind of fun.

- I'm incredibly lucky to have found and gotten this job.

Statistics

In the past 5 months 11 days*,

- 35,000 miles driven
- 400 miles walked on foot
- 150 miles run
- 200 miles biked
- 1.5 miles swum
- 19 tour events worked
- 73 different stops along the way
- 56 cities visited
- 37 states visited
- 57.5 Million Subway Sandwich stops
- 18 thousand other fast food stops
- 9 times ate at Chop't
- 4 times ate at Yumm
- Total food spending: $3,200
- Total other bill spending: $0
- 15 different public transit systems utilized (DC Metro takes the cake)
- 139 blog posts
- 2000 camera phone pictures
- 900 SLR pictures
- 9 Apple stores visited
- 3 truck break-downs
- 50+ weigh station stops
- 4 truck inspection warnings
- 3 parking tickets
- 0 other tickets
- 0 accidents
- 4 arguments with union workers
- 17 near-arguments with union workers
- 42 hours spent sitting around waiting on union workers
- 50 tons lifted
- 1 back injury
- 1 times overslept
- 12 VIP areas entered
- 4 race entries comped
- 164 times realized that I had an awesome job

*Many figures are accurate. Many others are estimates. Still others are completely made up.

That's a Wrap

While this blog is not over, the tour officially is as of today. The events are done, the trucks delivered to Crocs in Boulder after a washing and detailing...



Final reports are in, exit interviews taken, expense reports ready to be sent... now all that's left is a night in Denver and a flight out to Portland tomorrow.

We dropped the trucks off at the Crocs truck graveyard, or at least what I was hoping would more resemble what I imagine a truck graveyard would be. I was thinking dark lighting, snow covered vehicles, and frowny faces on the trucks themselves. It would have been the perfect setting for the tagline "where good Crocs trucks go to die." Instead, this is what we got:



Way too sunny, not enough snow, and the trucks don't look very somber. Plus a bunch of the trucks aren't there right now. Oh well, it's what I've got to work with. Croc 1 and 2, I'll miss you both for your great views and good turning radii and stupid breakdowns. But not that much.

Tonight is the last hotel night, tomorrow the last day on per diem. I'm headed to Portland for a long weekend to see some family and friends and to ace a job interview, and then from there it's off to St. George for Christmas with the family - I still have a little while before I've officially been in the same location for more than a week for the first time since June.

There is still another tour-related blog post or two up my sleeve, but then this blog will certainly not cease to exist. It will be... something. I'm just not sure what yet. But never fear all you regular blog readers. You'll be getting a fresh dose of something. It may well even be more creative and interesting than my posts of late.

A project I plan to tackle is to re-read the entire blog (138 posts) this weekend. I expect it may take the better part of 4-5 hours. I wonder how many hours I've spent writing...

Winter Has Arrived

I suppose it's more like winter was already here and we've just arrived in it. Luckily, the trucks do surprisingly well in ice and snow. We didn't even need the tire chains through the pass today.







All that salt and snow and ice and freezing rain really decorated the truck nicely.




But we made it all the way to Boulder, and we even washed the trucks on the way, so now they're all nice and sparkly again.

Also of note, we went to Half Fast Subs, which was as amazing as it was last time I was in Boulder. We have arrived at our final destination. Tomorrow, we'll leave behind the trucks that have been our home for the last 5+ months.

Going out with a bang

Our final race day brought cool weather and overcast skies, resulting in a spectacular sunrise.



It being our final event and final race day, it's also hopefully the last time I have to wake up at 4AM in the near future. The race started off with a bang, as they shot off a full fireworks display at 6AM as the race started. I'm sure it was greatly appreciated by all those who were sleeping in nearby hotels (though who are we kidding, if you've gone to bed by 6AM in Vegas you must have called it an early night).

The race itself was populated with many more characters in costume than normal, including numerous Elvises. Stephen was one of them, and somehow or another he ended up running in a skirt that said "The King" on the back. Along the way, he and his other Elvis friends (specifically the Elite Racing girls) took numerous pictures and even watched a mid-race wedding take place.

This picture of Stephen's is of particular note because it's pretty much just awesome. It wasn't posed, and he didn't have to retake it 20 times to get it right. First try, and this was the result: Bekah flying through the air while rocking out.



After the race I made it a lazy afternoon. I got a few necessary tasks out of the way, including a nap. Then Molly and I went to see Mystere, the Circe du Soleil show playing at Treasure Island. It was excellent. It combined sheer athleticism with grace, beauty, showmanship, humor, and plenty of completely random moments as entertainment between acrobatic sets. For those who haven't seen a show, I highly recommend it. While I had many favorite parts, my favorite had to be early on when a single male gymnast/acrobat/person capable of doing seemingly impossible things pretty much flew around over the audience holding on to a single cable.

After the show, we headed to Mandalay Bay to say goodbye to Stephen. We headed up to miX, a new lounge/bar at the top of The Hotel (Mandalay Bay's newest addition). It's 64 stories up, and provides a stunning view, complete with a balcony area overlooking the strip.



This morning we dropped all the shoes, apparel, and remaining merchandise at the Crocs outlet store storage space in Vegas.



It was a very, very large number of shoes, and the truck I drove today was pretty much empty after the shoes were taken out (all the marketing stuff is in the other truck). This made things interesting in the windy conditions on our way to Albaquerque. Instead of the normal scenario of feeling like you're in a big truck getting blown around by gusts, with less weight in the back I felt like I was in a large truck with a sail attached to it. We drove through a tiny snowstorm, but we're in the clear at the moment for our morning departure from Albaquerque. I'm curious to see what the weather will be driving into Colorado tomorrow.

All out in Vegas

Vegas so far has been filled with so much work, fun, and games there's been no time to catch up, until now. Since my last post, we went for our final team dinner at an extremely nice restaurant called Mesa Grill at Ceasar's Palace. It's a Bobby Flay restaurant, and we made the decision with Nate very much in mind since it was originally his idea way back when to go there. So Mike (Q employee who worked the golf tour and is helping us out this weekend) and his girlfriend and Molly and I had an amazing dinner. I shared a wild mushroom quesadilla and an Anaheim Chile Relleno with Molly, and for an entree I had Ancho Chile Rubbed Chicken. I'm not going to go into details about the flavors, partly because I don't really know where to start. Everything was a perfect blend of flavors that complemented each other to perfection. Simply an outstanding meal. I paired it with a Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale, which was one of the best beers I have ever had. A $60 meal, but worth every penny, especially since I didn't have to pay for most of it.



After that, Mike and I went to play some poker. This was the plan, but playing at Ceasar's Palace was not. The minimum buy-in was $100 with a maximum $500, so we bought in at $100 and found ourselves immediately being bullied by bigger stacks at the table held by some Vegas locals. I was all-in within the first 10 hands, and luckily won the hand, but the game started out extremely intense. I was really happy with how I played, and I was up $200 at one point after several good hands and several even better bluffs, but then I lost $80 on a hand after losing several smaller hands and decided to walk away up $100. Fun times. I had two different full houses and an Ace-10 stright after the flop. Plus I sucessfully bluffed a 10-2 with absolutely nothing to play off of on the table.

After the expo yesterday, we started off the evening with some rum and Coke at the hotel, and then we went out to explore and see what sorts of interesting gambling we could find. We played a wheel game (not sure of the name) that is a great game to play while drinking since it requires very little thought and even less skill. We played a few slots, and then went back to the wheel. I lost at every game, but somehow managed to only lose $15, which is mostly thanks to having won one bet of 40-1 on the wheel game.

Today's expo was my final day of expo work, and it was nice to have the forklifts load our booth straight out to the finish line area, which saved one full round of loading and unloading compared to many weekends. However, because it was union labor it still took several hours longer than it needed to. Tonight is very low-key since we have to leave the hotel at 4:30 tomorrow morning, but tomorrow night should be fun. Molly and I are going to the Circe Du Soleil show Mystere which I expect to be blown away by, and then after that Mike and I have talked about going to find another poker table where I'll play the rest of my winnings from the other night and either leave Vegas completely even or up even more.

Since I've been busy having fun, I haven't taken many pictures while we've been out. Here are a few random ones.


A fountain filled with cranberries


Stephen posing with a pair of Crocs at Mario Batali's restaurant (Batali has his own signature Crocs)


Standing under a lion at MGM Grand


A Volcano at Rainforest Cafe


Waiting around for our stuff to be moved into the expo hall... and waiting... and waiting...


A bunch of Elvises running around the expo. A bunch of them will be running in the morning as well

Tidal Wave

So I'm not sure exactly what I did, but I had 150 unique visitors to the blog yesterday. I usually get 15-20. And there was no particular rhyme or reason from looking at analytics - people viewed all sorts of different posts and came from all sorts of states and countries. Cool beans.

A Few Vegas Photos

Life, Luxury

So as I'm posting this, Molly has just posted her rendition of the same post. She'll tell you it was her idea, but it was most definitely my idea. I only get to steal one of her ideas a day, and I already used it up copying her on a burrito purchase at Taco Bell. Plus, I was the one who pushed for the 5 star hotel in the first place. So my post will be way better anyway. I went to the effort of pulling out the nice camera just to make sure of that.

I was starting to wonder if there was really much of a difference between 4 and 5 star. Yes, there definitely is. That was apparent about two seconds after walking into the room.

So, we're at the Trump Tower Vegas. They went as far as using real gold in the coating of the windows.



We arrived at our rooms on the 34th floor, only to find what looked like one room...



But no, it's just semi-connected rooms that are removed from the hallway, likely to reduce noise of passer-by.



When you walk into the room, it's a very pleasant sight and nice decor overall. It's when you start to look at the details, however, that you get excited.



In the bathroom, you have about 18 different mirrors, including one above the jacuzzi tub.



A glass "stall" of sorts for the toilet, plus look closely and you'll see the TV in the mirror!



A stone shower stall...



Nice cabinetry, a kitchen, LCD TV....



Tea kettle and blender. (margaritas anyone?)



Lit closets with plush bathrobes.



Small living area, where you can even pass the time by playing tic-tac-toe,



Standard abstract artwork to bolster the whole elitist feel...



And of course, the room's other perks would be pointless without a TV remote cover.



There's even a doorbell and electronic lights instead of door hangers for "Do Not Disturb"



With all this, it's tempting to just not leave the room...



But this is Vegas. There will be lots of getting out of the room.

That's it. The 1-5 star hotel ranking experience is now complete (at least until I make it to Dubai to try out the world's first six star hotel).

Only in Oregon

...will you find a scene like this. Well, probably not just in Oregon, but this really defines Oregon weather. Driving South on I-5 yesterday, this was the view to the West:



And the view to the East at the same time:



The last two days have been very manageable days, and after a stop in Portland to pick up some stuff that needs to get to Crocs HQ, we're now in Bakersfield, a mere 275 miles from our final event of the tour in Las Vegas. Molly and I just got back from seeing Australia (why not? After all these thousands of miles, it was a short hop across the pond!), which was enjoyable. I liked the sensationalized style of the film, and it's long, but not quite too long.

Also of note, our hotel has some random decor that I think at one time or another may have been it's fitness equipment. This exercise bike must be decades old...



and I got to see one of those fat shaker things for the first time in person. I have no idea what they're actually called or what they were supposed to do (besides make you lose weight magically), but it's still amusing. Hurray for passive fat loss!



I've looked it up and no one else seems to know what they were called either. Vibrating belt machine is about the best I've found. The sad part is that apparently people still get taken by this one today:


The end of the tour is very much in sight now. A little more than a week from now, I'll be heading back to St. George for Christmas, and from there everything is very much up in the air.