The Sundance Film Festival

The stars come out in Utah at the end of January.  It's the Sundance Film Festival! A chance for Independent Film Makers to showcase their hard work for the world to see in hopes of generating some buzz, winning some awards and ideally get picked up by a production company that's willing to take the film to the masses.

What is there to do at the Sundance Film Festival besides watching movies? Well, let's see here.

Picture 1.  You could be sitting around at the end of a film screening and surprised with a guest performance by John Legend who goes on to introduce the creator of the Sundance Film Festival, Robert Redford himself.

Pictures 2 - 7.  You could do some stargazing.  All the stars are walking around from different venues.  If you're there on the first week, there are more stars out.  Last year even Jack Black helped direct traffic on Main Street.  Pictured below we saw Kristen Wiig, Mindy Kaling, Richard Kind, Keanu Reeves, one degree from Kevin Bacon, Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria.  If you want to stargaze, make sure you do your homework.  Find out who's in the movies that year and brush up on what they look like.  I kicked myself when I realized James Franco walked right by me and I didn't recognize him!

Pictures 8 -10.  The stars are fairly accessible.  If they're not on their way to a screening, interview or party they might even stop to take pictures.  Ryan Gosling is not above taking selfies.  I was able to stop Jemaine Clement from my favorite comedic musical duo The Flight of the Conchords.  He was there for the screening of "People, Places, Things", a movie in which he both starred and directed.  My friend also had the opportunity to take a quick pic with Lena Dunham after the Q and A session for the screening of her documentary "It's me, Hilary: The Man Who Drew Eloise."

Picture 11.  You can relax in one of the several lounges including the Music Cafe featuring up and coming artists like Seafret pictured here.

Picture 12.  Of course you need a picture under the marquee of the famous Egyptian Theater

Picture 13.  If you're lucky you can sneak onto a balcony and look down on the crowds.  Balconies are usually for media outlets to do their interviews with stars.  As luck would have it, Rolling Stone was breaking down their interview set so they let us hang out.  It was fun to watch people look up at us and wonder if we were "somebody."

Picture 14.  You'll never know who you'll be sitting next to in the theater.  During a screening of "Sleeping With Other People", the nice Italian gentleman sitting next to me was a new director Lamberto Sanfelice.  His film "Chlorine" was selected to compete in Sundance's World Cinema category.

Picture 15.  Who knows, you might even run into some Olympians like the 2014 Gold Medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White.

Picture 16.  There are many venues that offer different experiences.  The New Frontier lounge had some cool virtual reality experiences.  This is me putting on the Oculus Rift and laying on a bird-like contraption to fly over San Francisco.  It was a blast! They even had wind blowing in my hair! Here's a video explaining the Birdly experience.

If you go.

At the least get your hands on the Credentials.  This year they go for $200, but if you know someone who's not using them that day, they are transferable.  The Credentials are what get you into all the fun venues with music, activities, experiences, and guest panels.  Some lounges included free cocktails, but definitely a lot of SWAG.  So bring a SWAG bag!

How do you get tickets.

• You can buy advanced tickets online here.
• You can buy tickets the morning of the movie.  That requires you to wake up early and face the cold Park City morning.  Then you must wait in line until the ticket booth opens with the coffee you had to walk 5 blocks to find because there's no Starbucks.
• Another way to score tickets is through their eWaitlist.  Get the Sundance app and learn how to use the eWaitlist.  In the event that ticket holders don't go to their movie, people on the eWaitlist get their ticket.  You will find yourself counting down the seconds until the eWaitlist opens for your movie so you can click on the button at the exact second, then you'll most likely end up with number 25 or more.  But don't worry, we were able to get into movies with our numbers in the twenties.  It varies depending on the size of the venue.
• Many times sponsors will hold their own screening of a movie and just give away tickets.  We were at the right place at the right time and scored tickets for the screening of True Story.  I feel obligated to now let you know the free tickets were sponsored by Lenscrafters.  Thanks Lenscrafters for the tickets and for having your people walk through the line and clean all our glasses.  The movie was much clearer thanks to you!
• There's always Craigslist.

No expectations.

I didn't know what to expect my first time at Sundance.  I feel with no expectations, we can fully experience it without pre-judgement.  Just enjoy it and take it all in.  You might never be back.  Great advice for everything you do.

19th Century Poetry

New Years Eve always reminds me of this poem by Thomas Hardy, The Darkling Thrush.  It's about the end of the day, the end of the year, the end of a century and the cold winter makes everything look bleak.  Yet a small, little bird decides to put in every ounce of joy he can muster up to belt out it's happy little song.

"...that I could think there trembled through his happy good-night air

some blessed Hope, whereof he knew and I was unaware."

This poem is even more poignant to me today as 2015 comes to a close.  As some of you might know, I will be laid off later in January.  One might envision things to look cold and bleak like Hardy describes in this poem, but I feel more like the Darkling Thrush, ready to face the new year with a song and joy in my heart.

I'm also reminded of this quote:

"A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking, because her trust is not on the branch, but on it's own wings."

Lots of exciting things are in store for 2016! It's a brand new adventure and I'm looking forward to every minute!  Happy New Year, friends! Thanks for reading my blogs and joining me on my adventures.  Here's to many more to come!

Parlez vous Français?

Did I tell you how lucky I am to be travelling to Belgium and Paris with my sister who speaks French? I took 4 years of French and can only remember a few things.  Of course my reasons for taking French in high school were not at all practical.  It's a  beautiful and romantic language, but when would I ever use it? Who knows, maybe someday I'll be having croissants in a cafe in Paris and I can call out "garçon!" Maybe that someday is next week!

The only time I remember using French was in college, with a colleague, Claudia.  Say that five times fast.  Claudia and I did our undergraduate research in a laboratory at the university.  We would use it as our "secret" language to discuss things that we didn't want anyone else to understand.

One day, the phone rang and I answered it.  On the other end of the line was a gentleman who spoke with a heavy, obviously French accent.  He asked for another lab mate, Lauren.  I handed her the phone.  She then begins to speak to the gentleman in perfect, fluent French!! Both Claudia and I turned to each other with a look of horror and surprise! What have we been saying to each other this whole semester? Did she hear us? Did she understand us? And how much did we butcher her language? I'm sure my French teach, M. Brownstone would have been very disappointed.

Monsieur Brownstone

I'm sure it wasn't that bad.  But I seem to recall the most scandalous thing I might have said in our secret language was "Il a un mari aussi."  Now, with the magic of google translate, it appears I said "He has a husband also."  Yeah, Lauren had no clue what we were talking about.

That will teach me to never use French as a "secret" language ever again.  That's my reason why I don't try to speak French anymore, especially in front of someone named Lauren.

Since 2016 is near approaching, I think learning a new language will be one of my resolutions.  This year I'm going to learn Japanese.  I've already started with some CDs from the library - a great way to get some free educational materials.  I listen to the CDs in the car as I'm driving around town.

Once I feel confident enough, I found a Japanese Speaking meetup group to practice.  My son will be in Japan for the next three years, so hopefully the next time I go I'll be able to say more than just "Engo wa wakarimas ka?" or "Do you understand English?"

Traveler Alert

Staring at me in this morning's headlines "Belgium arrests two over suspected New Year attack plot" Just. Great.

This is the first time my husband's letting me travel internationally without him and guess where I'm going.  Yup, Belgium.  The article states 'The Belga news agency, citing an internal police memo, said there "exists a possible and credible threat of Paris-style attacks" against the high-profile Grand Place'  I'm pretty sure that was on the list of places to visit while I'm in Brussels.

The Grand Place or Grote Markt - Photo Cred - My sister

Now my husband's got to worry about terrorism threats.  Of course, I'm worried, too.  But we can't live and plan our lives around threats.  My sister has been wanting to take me to Europe for years.  We would talk about it in high school during French class.  Now here's my chance to visit Belgium and France next month with my very own sister as my tour guide and translator.  Yes, she did great in French class and unlike 99% of people who take French in a U.S. high school, she actually uses it!

Of course, I'll remain vigilant and pay attention to my surroundings as is suggested by the US Dept of State World Wide Travel Alert.  But as travelers we should always do so.

Happy New Year, everyone.  Or shall I say "Bonne Annèe"

It Takes Your Breath Away

Wow! Vail, Colorado.  My poor, pitiful amount of training could not even prepare me for the high altitude here.  Despite the fact that I was barely breathing, it was perfect!

We arrived in Denver Friday evening and battled the rush hour traffic, then over the Continental Divide to get to Vail.  Reports were calling for snow all night, but when we arrived at our hotel in Avon there was still no sight of the fluffy stuff.  However, we awoke the next morning to the walkways outside sporting a thin, one inch layer of the powder! Yay! I could wear my new boots!  Sadly, tying them on took the wind out of me.  How am I going to fare with snowboarding?

I am happy to say snowboarding Vail did not disappoint! The mountain was gorgeous.  There are enough trails for an intermediate snowboarder like me to enjoy.

The only problem for snowboarders are the catwalks.  I can't stress this enough so I will use all CAPS.  IF YOU ARE SNOWBOARDING VAIL, PAY ATTENTION TO THE TRAIL MAP FOR THE CATWALKS! There is not enough slope here to maintain your speed.  I found myself having to take off one foot and push myself along.  At many points I took the entire board off and just walked.  If you plan to go, ask around for the best intermediate/beginner trails that would avoid most catwalks.  I found the locals would be happy to help and share their knowledge about the mountain.

One snowboarder passed me as I was walking and she had a ski pole that helped propel her along.  "What a great idea" I told her as she passed by.

She called back out "Girl, she's my best friend!"

I should've known better than to take a trail named "Brisk Walk."  The only positive thing that came out of this was the extra calories I burned.  But most of all, I had the opportunity to just stop and take it all in.  I felt the peace and wonder on this trail all alone with the most beautiful view.  I had to quietly stand there for a minute and take a deep breath.  Not because of the high altitude and the exertion, but simply because the sight was absolutely breathtaking.

Overall, we had the best two days on the mountain.  My husband lived in Vail for 3 years in the Eighties.  Unfortunately, his memory of the catwalks were a little faded.  But he did say the snow and powder days are amazing.  He says they call it "ego" snow because it's so easy and fun to ride that it does wonders for your ego.

Blue Skies on the second day!

The first day, it snowed most of the day, but it was such a light snow that it didn't bother me at all - no white out or blizzard conditions.  The next day it was gorgeous and sunny! You couldn't ask for a better day.  It was early in the season, so the mountain was not crowded at all.  I remembered my love for the being in the mountains and enjoying the feeling of riding on my board.  It's been way too long.

Next ski trip? Breckenridge, CO in late January! I'm so ready.  This time, I will study the trail map and ask around for tips and suggestions.

In Training...

A week before my snowboarding trip and I decide to start my training.  I don't remember getting any snow runs in last season.  I don't think I've snowboarded since March 2014 in Park City, UT.  I'm not sure if my legs or cardio will hold up in Vail because I also haven't been running as much lately.  It's been too cold.  Yes, I see the irony there.

So just 7 days before my trip and I decided to do some conditioning on the Pinnacle Peak Trail.  Ahhh...good 'ol Pinnacle Peak.  I've done this trail more than I can remember.

No kidding!

 Trail Details. Pinnacle Peak is an out-and-back hike, not a loop trail, that runs 1.75 miles one way for a total of 3.5 miles round trip (See what I did there?)   It's also not a Peak trail.  You never get to the top of the peak unless you're a rock climber.  The trailhead elevation is 2570' and the highest point of the trail is 2889'.  You then lose elevation before another climb until you hike down to the end and lowest point of the trail at 2366'.  That's where you have to turn around and climb the hardest quarter mile of the hike as you make your way back.  The cumulative elevation gain of this hike is a healthy 1300'.

Hello Camelback! I'm looking at you look at me!

It's my go-to trail when out-of-towners want to go for a hike, but I don't remember the last time I did it.  It's a great hike with amazing views.   From one of the view points you can see Camelback Mountain.  Whenever I'm on the top of Camelback I always look North to see Pinnacle Peak.  This trail is where I saw my first and only wild Gila Monster.

The only thing that turns me off about it are the crowds.  The Four Seasons hotel is very close by, so many of the guests are directed to this great trail.  The upside to this popularity is it's very well kept and attended by trail rangers and rovers.

There are mile markers every quarter mile as well as informative signs for the different desert flora.  In honor of the holiday I noticed they even added signs for the first half mile that included modified lyrics to the 12 Days of Christmas.  Close to the top of the first peak, we get to the 12th day.

If you're looking for a beautiful hike and great exercise check out Pinnacle Peak Trail.  But be aware, there are no dogs allowed here so leave Rover home for this one.

Snowdaze!

Did you see my nifty little countdown on my blog? Right there on your right.

As I'm writing this, the countdown says just 10 more days until my next trip - Snowboarding in Vail, Colorado!  That's right, I'll be Rocky Mountain, Jai!!!!!!!  Sorry, I had to do it.  Of course if you're reading this at another time, maybe it has some other cool destination on there.  I can only hope.



Apparently, the weekend we'll be in Vail, the village will be holding their 5th Annual Snowdaze event.  Not only will there be sponsor tents in the Village, but apres ski parties and free live music!  Check out who's performing on Friday, the evening we arrive - Big Head Todd and The Monsters.  Strange name for a band I know, but maybe you've heard this song below.