Snow was falling when we woke up Sunday morning, Light, fluffy flakes, drifting gently to the ground. We haven't had much snow this year, so we were excited to see it. Not to mention the fact that we had planned to go skiing at Alta.

 

It is a short drive from our house to the Alta Ski resort, and we were early enough to secure a prime parking spot, backed in toward the mountain and close to the lodge. We went inside, had some hot chocolate, geared up and headed out for First Chair. There's nothing like First Chair, with the sun cresting over the mountain, backlighting the fragile flakes drifting slowly over the trees and toward the runs below. The anticipation of the first run as you ride up is topped only by the actual first run itself, which today was in untracked, knee-deep powder.

 

It absolutely lived up to expectations. The boys, my wife and I had a fantastic morning skiing the Greatest Snow on Earth at Alta. There was no worry about finding untracked snow. Having had passes for several years, we know some out-of-the-way places where untracked powder awaits locals only.

 

After the first four runs or so the lift lines grew very short, and most people who planned to ski this day made it a point to arrive early. When you can ski a run of untracked powder and ski right on to a waiting chair to do it again - well, that is a good day.  

 

And that's what we had today - A totally awesome, spectacular, powderhound ski day. Don't you wish you lived in Utah?   

Over the course of my travels I have photograped county courthouses when I have had the opportunity.  It is interesting to me to see the different buildings which represent and house the government of a specific county.

Some of the buildings I hae seen have charm and character, others are very utilitarian. Some have fascinating histories and legends, others are simply there. At this time I have photos of about 12 county courthouses in four states. 

I will put new ones up on the Seats of Power page on this website every so often. If you have an interest in county courthouses, please bookmark that page and visit it every so often.  If you have comments or stories to share about a county courthouse in your city, drop me a line at campingmachineguy@gmail.com.

In the Spring of 1987 I was a 26 year old TV News Cameraman in Great Falls, Montana.  If there was a local news story on the KFBB, Channel 5 local newscast, I shot it. One day in April we had a cold spell and a bit of a snowstorm, not an uncommon occurrence at that time of year in that part of the country. The day being rather slow for news, as most days were in Great Falls, I made my way to the banks of the Missouri River and took some video footage of the river as new ice formed.  It was beautiful, in its own monochromatic way.  Back at the station I cut the footage to music, and the piece ran at the close of the 5:30 and 10:00 PM newscasts. To see the movement of the semi-frozen Missouri river as it was over 20 years ago, go to the Multimedia page of this website and look for the YouTube video on the right side of the page.