Flagstaff Frisbee Golf

A really fun game, and Issac's reaction when we make fun of his form....

excellent car

This Honda, or wait, was it a Porche?, had all of these awesome plastic figures glued to it.

Typo Eradication Advancement League

Met these guys at our Hostel in Flagstaff, they are traveling the US taking on incorrect english, one typo at a time.

Getting my groove on

Pretty self-explanatory

Drew and Grael in Flagstaff

Nick the Greek's sister, Drew sporting her new 'hawk, and Grael, rocking his purse!

Oak Creek Canyon

Just before hauling off for Flagstaff, we stopped by the side of the road and climbed down into Oak Creek Canyon so I could take a swim. COLD WATER! if you look carefully you can make out the water way down at the bottom of the Canyon.

Cathedral in the rocks

There's a church built into the mountain, just by two rocks known as the Nuns. To their left is the rock that any people believe looks like Mary holding the infant Jesus.
Apparently my buddy Fred is unimpressed, and says he has a potato chip that looks like Elvis and is much more important.

Amazing Canyons in Sedona

Met my buddy Grael in Sedona and we hiked around in Boynton Canyon, Bell Rock, Airport Mesa, Cathedral Rock, and Cathedral in the rocks. Boynton Canyon is my favorite hike through miles of forest and then up into the incredible canyon. Once again, pictures just can't really capture this amazing canyon...

Rocking Guitarist in Sedona

Not a whole lot in the way of nightlife in Sedona, but we found this one place with a really amazing guitarist. Thing was though, the bartender wouldn't take my Driver's License, she said it looked old. I said, it is, I've had it for 6 years. Had to get my passport...

KZC

Kanzeon just before I left, as it was dumping snow (Totally unfair) Check out those railings! Wow does that exposed wood look great!

Amazing drive through Utah to Sedona Arizona

These arches are off a 45 mile dirt road that seemed like a good way to travel at the time. (until I was taking a turn way too fast and almost ditched)

Fun Zen Center activities

It was time to get down to business today and do some work, after yesterday, when I lit out right after Zazen to go snowboarding. Peter and I had the fun job of trying to find the dead rat in the apartment under the Zendo. We ripped open the cieling and then the wall, and then the flooring under the sink, until finally, HOORAY! dead rat. Then we had the fun job of trying to piece back together all the mangled tongue and groove paneling we'd viciously jig-sawed through. Oh, but not before a quick burial and service for the rat in the rock garden. It's funny, I'da betcha five bucks you'd never catch me chanting over a dead rat, but, well, it just seemed right.

The Hidden Hot Tub

So after coming down the mountain, entirely out of bounds, we I came to a hidden kind of pass and this really cute looking fairy tale house. It was one of those "huh" moments, almost like Deja Vu, when you just know you've gotta check this place out. So I snooped around, no one was home, and I got the impression it was a rental. Best of all, the had the hot tub running with a cover on it. I've been trying to get some people to go back with me to sneak a soak, but so far, no takers. Can you believe it? What a wasted opportunity! I may just have to go all by myself. Kinda takes the fun out of it though...

Snowboarding in Utah

Seems like I've spent more time snowboarding on this trip than anything else... Anyhow, my buddy, Stephen, took me out to Brighton, and with a couple of hints from our friend Sarah, we found the spots to go hiking out of bounds to hit the real powder. The lifts get boring after a while so we hiked up and found some really amazing spots, first are the glamour shots of me and Stephen, so proud of ourselves for actually making it, and then, the amazing bowls we came down. I just can't tell you how loud it makes you shout to come sailing down some fresh powder bowls you hiked to. Have I mentioned what a good idea this being alive thing is lately?

Dumb and Dumber houses

Then, for after hours, we stopped off at a guy's house who lives in the complex they shot in Dumb and Dumber for Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrie's house. AWESOME! as we got inside, the guy was doing his own demolition and the hanging sheetrock contrasted so well with the robin's egg blue of the wall that I needed to capture it....

SLC night life

So I wandered around the City by myself on foot and walked, oh, maybe four or five miles before I found the place I was supposed to meet my friends. Salt Lake has one of those numbered, north south east west grid type things that's supposed to be easy, but really isn't in the end. Anyhow, finally found this place called Orange, where they were doing a kind of spoken word free-form jazz thing that kind of bugged me right off the bat. I can't help being snobby about this stuff sometimes, besides, it just wasn't really all that good. It was kind of like an undergrad attempt at what somebody thought a beatnik gathering should be like, complete with a guy doing visuals by crumpling up paper and spitting on the face of an overhead projector. You can see him all the way to the left. Then, next to him, you've got a woman typing free form poetry on a typewriter while someone reads on stage and the brass is doing it's thing. It almost could've been a Saturday Night Live Skit. It was kind of like the Japanese version of baseball. They're trying very hard, and you can tell they're having a good time, but it's just not right. Thing was though, in their own right, they kind of puled it off. Once I got past the whole judgement thing, they were up there, doing their thing, and for that, I give them credit. So.. interesting, but I enjoyed my conversations with my friends in the other room more.

Full day

Woke up at quarter to seven for some Zazen and morning service, then it was time for Samu (work) and I sanded down the spackling job on two and a half flights of steps and swept and mopped. Had a quick Pizza party for a resident who is leaving for China, and then I took off solo to go snowboarding at nearby Brighton Mountain (Nice!) I'm soon to go out for Vietnamese food, an art walk and then some club I don't know anything about.
Salt lake City seems pretty cool, the mountains surrounding the city are beautiful, I like it here. Except for the near-beer (Maximum 3.2 percent alchohol) How ridiculous is that? I just had my first one after a day of snowboarding, what a dissappointment!
Oh yeah, I've also added a brief history of snowboard evolution which makes me feel better about riding an old Sims board. (He was a pioneer!)

Kanzeon Zen Center

Here's a picture of the Zendo and some Kanji as you are exiting. Also an image of Genpo Roshi, who's not here right now.

On the road from Telluride to SLC!

Once again, the photos don't even begin to do it justice, but this was beautiful. On the way out of Telluride, just past Bedrock CO, There's an amazing Mesa surrounded by cliffs. You've got red rock all around and some snow caps dead ahead. It's a straight shot, and I found out, by the way, that Subee tops off at about 115 mph, but anyhow, here's the views, I sorta wish they came out better, but I'm glad they didn't cause I think you really need to be there to get it.
A trick though, is if you double click on the third image down, it'll come up large and you can get an idea of what I saw.

Last night of chillin at Marz

So should any of you ever make it to Telluride, make sure you check out Diamond Dave's joint, "Marz". This cat knows from fun. Great wine list, yummy tapas, great time, and it's just THE spot. Here are some shots from a Wed. night, just to put it all in perspective. This place rules!

More "Monty the Criminally Minded Dog" flicks

So this little shithead goes MIA while on a walk with Liz. He just up and ran, and that was it. No coming back, no responding to calls... The only thing that works in this instance, is to drive around in Ben's Pick-up truck with the rattling chains on the back tires. The only thing Monty likes more than running off and ditching the humans, is riding around in the back of Ben's truck. So approximately a minute and a half of rattling around on Main St. in Telluride and Monty's running through traffic to hop in the back of the truck (it's got a very specific rattle, rattle, thump, where the one loose chain hits the fender, Monty knows it well) So here the little Jerk is, happy as hell, 'cause c'mon, what could be more fun than a romp through town and a ride home in the truck with a stick? Apparently, nothing.

Bud's Amazing Ranch House

Liz's friend, Dr. Bud, built a beautiful Log house on his ranch near Mt. Sopris. Here's his beautiful house and the view of Mt. Sopris out behind it.

Dinner at Tempranillo

Benjamin and Elizabeth are 3rd year Med students taking a year off. Liz got back from a trip to India a few months ago where she accompanied Amanda, a parapelegic woman who is undergoing a stem cell injection therapy there from Dr. Geeta Schroff. Amanda lost all feeling and movement below the waist in a skiing accident in her 20's. We had dinner with Amanda (and had a bottle of Hoffstader Pinot Nero from Alto Adige that was delicious) and heard about the successes of her treatments. After this therapy, she's regained bladder and bowel control, as well as some feeling and movement in her quadracepts and hamstrings. This is an absolutely staggering advance in a field where it has been believed that there is no cure, and evidence that there are many ways for us to reverse an otherwise irreversable condition.
The unbelieveably superstitious and backwards fundamentalist stance on stem cells of the current administration is an affront to not just science, but all humanity. (emphasis mine)
Her amazing story can be checked out on her blog www.amandaboxtel.wordpress.com
Amanda, by the way, is the fetching blonde in the middle of the picture. Oh, and oh yeah, Robert, Liz's friend on the right, he couldn't find the condo and hopped a bus and came to the restaurant in his bootliners, so we ridiculed him after dinner.