I turned 62 in April of this year, and I climbed back on a bike for the first time in more than 10 years. My butt didn’t touch a bike saddle for the entire decade of my 50s, and I make that confession with a great deal of embarrassment and regret. I loved riding my bike as a kid. I don’t remember the bike I first learned to ride on, but the first bike I could call my own … [Read more...]
Moab’s Old Uranium Roads – Perfect Mountain Biking Trails
From Mining to Mountain Biking Moab, Utah, is surrounded by stunning natural beauty, attracting recreation seekers from around the world. With Canyonlands and Arches National Parks and Dead Horse Point State Park just a stone’s throw from town, Moab has blossomed over the last 40 years into an outdoor-lovers Mecca. But it wasn’t always so. Back in the 1940s and ‘50s, the … [Read more...]
Tiny Houses May be the Solution to a Big Problem in SLC
Tiny homes to the rescue! Salt Lake City, like most metropolitan areas, has an affordable housing crisis along with a growing homeless crisis, and tiny houses may be the solution. Mayor Erin Mendenhall has plans to “make measurable progress on a tiny home pilot project by facilitating at least six work sessions with community partners and using the findings to chart a path … [Read more...]
CHEMICAL REACTION: How Our Green Lawns are Hurting Us
Once upon a time, every American wanted the same thing: a house in the suburbs with a lush, green lawn surrounded by a white picket fence. It was the American dream. For many, it still is. But are all those green lawns really necessary nowadays, with their excessive water consumption and chemical runoff, and what are the alternatives? After WWII, chemical companies were … [Read more...]
Beavers Make a Splash in Utah: Reintroducing Beavers to Restore Watershed in Utah
The resounding “Smack!” of a broad tail on tranquil water is how beavers signal to one another that danger lurks nearby. Beavers confronted their greatest danger in the mid-19th Century, at the time of the early fur trade, when they were hunted and trapped to near-extinction. Highly prized for their water repellency and warmth, beaver skin coats and hats became … [Read more...]
How To Beat The Virus Without Feeling Like a Prisoner
On Sunday, I was sitting at home with Nemo, my cat, minding my own business and practicing social isolation. (How’s that for an oxymoron?) As a single man, I’m accustomed to being alone, but I am not good at being forced to participate in the sort of unprecedented paradigm shift into social disintegration we are experiencing now. I had two options: Stay at home and fret … [Read more...]
All Aboard! Idyllic Worlds Recreated by Utah Model Trains Artist Lee Witten
You might say that Lee Witten has a one-track mind—and that track has model trains on it. Lee acquired his love of model trains at an early age from parents who were both employed in the railroad industry. Lee’s father, Joe, started as a brakeman and later became a conductor, passing away just three months short of a 30-year retirement. Lee recalls that when he was four or … [Read more...]
Saving Our Canyons From Ourselves
The peaks of the Wasatch Range stand like stone sentinels over the valleys below—silent witnesses to a burgeoning population that seeks year-round refuge amid the tranquility of these beautiful and inviting canyons and slopes. Wasatch Front residents are fortunate to live within the very shadow of our favorite recreation destinations, but as Utah’s population continues to … [Read more...]
How to Distinguish Between “Fact” and “Fake”
History of Fake News In 1993, The Weekly World News printed an edition with the sensational headline: HILLARY CLINTON ADOPTS ALIEN BABY, replete with a photo of mother and child. This and other cringe-worthy headlines were standard fare at the time, and readers couldn’t get enough of them. Back then, such obviously fraudulent information was known by most to be a hoax, and … [Read more...]
Utahns Strike for Climate Action
A broad cross-section of Utahns, from schoolchildren to the elderly, braved a drizzly Friday on the north steps of the City and County Building to strike in protest of a warming planet. Peaceful protestors, armed only with signs, banners and chants, joined in a worldwide effort to raise awareness of the growing problem of anthropomorphic (human-caused) increases in planetary … [Read more...]