Off on tour to the "Land of the Large"

Flying out today for a 4 week US trip starting in Texas. Heading to AAPG then on to the field in Utah, two field courses to run and a weeks field work followed by a few days of play. Feels a bit odd to be going back to the desert and it serves as a reminder that its 11 months since I broke my leg. Thats depressing because its still no where near fixed yet - not sure if it ever will be :-(

This is always a bad time to leave Norway, late April and May often have the best weather, spring is coming, the evenings are getting noticably lighter by the day and it has briefly stopped raining. Was sitting in the evil lear last night, in between the last minute packing freenzy, just watching the sunset over the water, it was beautiful and really made me question leaving again! Maybe its possible to spend too much time chasing around when the good life is right there under your nose!

Having said that I am always happy to be in Utah, especially the Book Cliffs and Canyonlands. Got some great field work planned with some top students, partially catching up on the stuff that I missed last year but mainly just carrying on the program. Also running the standard student trip, which is always fun and also running a trip for the guys from NR. NR is the Norwegian Computer Centre and these guys are code trolls and statisticans - they are great fun and very smart but its also fair to say that most of them don't get outside very much. Have taken some of them in the field before and it was very entertaining - I am sure this trip will be even better!

For play time at the end Katharine comes out for 5 days. We will do some biking and climbing and maybe rent a jeep for the day - all the standard fun stuff. Also planning to hook up with Andy and head down to Zion to finally crack Kolob Canyon. After 10 years of talking about it and one failed attempt, this time we will do it!