It’s been years since my last plane change at Salt Lake (on my way to Alaska, back before Tina Fey Sarah Palin became a household name); time for a proper visit to the land of Latter Day Saints and some of the best skiing on earth. The weatherman says this is going to be one of the top 10 most awesome days of the year, weather-wise. The view from my hotel room (pictured above) says this is true.

This is one of those towns where people like to chat. A simple trip through the checkout line at a grocery store last night ended up with me divulging personal details re: my gambling habits (I am a sore loser and generally do not play as a result). I don’t know how it came up. I just wanted green tea. Whatever – it’s nice to be around friendly people.

Time to get up into the hills and see what’s what at the ski hills; my stop in Salt Lake is just one of many western towns, cities and no-mans-lands I’ll be dropping in on over the next week or so, for the purposes of reporting a few stories for the paper. If you’re feeling stalker-ish, check my Flickr! photoset for frequent updates. It’s not much right now, but that’ll change. Let’s just say, my rental Prius (410 mi on 9.5 gal yesterday!) will be begging for a week off when we’re done.