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Show Wed/Thurs/Fri, June 25-27, 2008 the Park Record A-12 Olivia "Holly" Mae Pendergast Portraits of Malawi CORE SAMPLES By Jay Meehan • Field of dreams becues and balloons, a longIn the late twilight of a particularly balmy evening drink-of-water last week, with the last rays of sun having played out left-handed relief across the Wasatch Front and the moon waxing toward pitcher loped in full, the home team, down two runs going into the bot- from the bullpen. tom of the ninth, began to rally. The Bees were a- He wasn't much bigger than the buzzirtg, as it were. Duff, the catcher, batting ninth in the lineup, led off Chrysler Building with a sharply-struck single over the opposing team's and didn't look much more imposing than John Wayne second baseman into right-center field. The crowd, cracking someone's jaw with a two-by-four in "The knowing it was now or never, began, ever more loudly, Sons of Katie Elder." That's OK. He didn't scare us. We had third baseto root, root, root for the home team. Sensing a shift in the paradigm, the peanuts and Crackerjacks vendors man Matt Brown coming to the plate and, since all we needed to tie things up was a long fly ball and him leadstopped dead in their tracks. A flyout to the right fielder only momentarily put a ing the team in homers and RBIs and all, optimism damper on things. The fans had grown accustomed to reigned. But before you could say, "Watch out for his sinker," their collective decibel level. "C'mon Sandoval, get a our fastball-hitting slugger had chased one too many hold of one! This guy can't pitch! Be a hitter!" They got even louder when a ballpark apostle way off-speed pitches down in the dirt, A large number "2" down the left-field line reached up and made a beauti- flashed on the Scoreboard under "outs." There was no ful bare-handed snag of a foul ball and handed it to a joy in Mudville; mighty Matt had struck out! There we were, on the cusp of oblivion and ecstasy, small child with an oversized mitt a few seats away. And when Sandoval indeed delivered a double, put- our lot in life to be determined in the next minute or so by the resultant collision, ting runners at second and or lack thereof, between third with one out, the crowd left-handed a bat and a ban. went nuts. For the first time kk A long-dnnk-of'Water The lefty loomed since ex-Jazz coach Frank rejjef p\tcheT loped in from the 60 feet 6 inches from Layden had led them in r r home plate, toying with "Take Me out to the Bail bullpen. He wasn't much bigger than the 5-ounce horsehideG a m e " during t h e seventh- . . . , _ „ . / n •/_/• J J _ J U I I covered sphere within one voice and one mind. inning stretch? they were of much the Chrysler Building and didnWayne t look the deepening moonmore imposing than John shadow behind his back. But that was nothing compared to their reaction when cracking someone's jaw with a two-by- Gathering the signs from his catcher, he nodded an RBI single drilled by Dee his acceptance and Brown pulled the Bees with- four in The Sons of Katie Elder/" in one run of the Las Vegas • H ^ ^ ^ H H ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ • • • • i ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ gripped the stitches in nine. With runners at the corsuch a manner as to start ners and only one out and the tying run only 90 feet the batter off with his "heater," high and inside. away dancing off third base, the joint was jumpin'. Brandon Wood, who had smacked a home run the The game was afoot. Anything - a passed ball, a day before in a 6-3 loss to this same Vegas bunch, got wild pitch, a well-executed squeeze play - could put the message and didn't crowd the plate quite as much the Scoreboard all square. Momentum hung heavily in when he reentered the box. Swinging his weapon of choice, a Louisville Slugger fashioned from a length of the warm Salt Lake valley summer air. That's when the Las Vegas 51s, named for "Area northern white ash, he settled back in. Again the lefty nodded and went into his windup. 51," that mysterious landscape a couple of hundred mindsets north of the strip, decided to throw a family The crowd continued to roar in support of the boys in reunion. Out to the mound trooped the pitching coach, white. Wood, finding a breaking ball to his liking, sent the manager, the trainer, the team shrink, and the the offering high toward right field. Couid it be? Would history repeat itself? Alas, not this night. The physics under-assistant attache' for Mormon affairs. Before they could achieve resolution, they were involved would keep the ball in the park. The home team didnt win and, as it says in the song, joined by the third baseman, shortstop, second baseman, first baseman, a couple of umpires, and a few of it's a shame. However, as the ball settled into the outthose cute young things ballparks keep around for eye fielder's glove, moonbeams continued to wash down upon the faithful. A spell had been cast. And anyway, candy. The powers that be up in the control center, figuring we'd get 'em next time. this was as good a time as any for a sing-along, sent "YMCA" booming out of the PA system. For some Jay Meehan is a culture junkie and a tee-lance writer reason, the predominant ballpark culture in Salt Lake with a background in commercial and community radio, City just can't get enough of the quite esoteric ways and among other pursuits. He has been a columnist and feamannerisms of the "Village People." Go figure! ture writer for various Park City publications noins, back Just about the time they were draggin' out the bar- to 1973. "Baseball is dull only to dull minds." - Red Barber June 27th to July 11th, 2008 Enter to win an original Pendergast. A r t i s t Opening Reception June 2 7 t h , 6 - 9 p.m. Call 435.649.1006 for details. www.phoenixgalleryparkcity.com 508 Main Street Park City, UT 34060 435.649.1006 PHOENIX GALLERY WANDERING THE WEST y-?: ;•.„-'•!.-: • ••- • • • - • • " • k f : By Larry Warren SPIN YOUR WHEELS AND ENJOY EVERY MINUTE OF IT. There's no better way to enjoy summer than in the mountains at beautiful Deer Valley Resort. With two lifts serving over 55 miles of trails, you can hike, bike or just take in a gorgeous scenic ride. -ROYAL STRl-HT CAFI: Royal Street Cafe Bounce Back Offer Purchase an $8 one-time ride on the Silver Lake Express chairiift from the Snow Park Ticket Office, enjoy lunch at Royal Street Cafe, and you will receive a free lift voucher which can be redeemed for a scenic lift ticket any day of the 2008 summer season. Royal Street Caft, located mid-mountain at the Silver Lake Lodge, is also accessible via the chairiift. The restaurant and chairlifts are open June i$th through Labor Day weekend. Chairlifts then continue to operate weekends only through DEER VALLEY September 14th, conditionspermitting. RESORT 435-649-10001 deervalley.com One beautiful Bear It was almost the first day of summer, so last that water. Better weekend I took the plunge into Bear Lake and didn't in summer to just actually come up screaming from the cold. At 5,900 relax on the feet elevation, and filled with snowmelt off from the shore, jump in north slope of the High Uinta mountains. Bear Lake when you tire of has a reputation as one cold place to take a dip. But beach games or starting this weekend. Bear is the perfect place to get just lounge around with summer reading and cold relief from a Utah summer. And the swim tempera- beverages. ture will just keep getting better until midThis is a boater's paradise. With hundreds of September. square miles of surface water, this is the place to Coming from upper Midwest lake country, I was open the throttle, trim the prop, and fly on that fourpretty shocked to get out here in the West and find dollar gas. Water skiing and wake boarding are hugeno natural lakes to jump into or camp alongside. We ly popular, especially in the calm morning hours. By have some nice reservoirs near Park City, but they're afternoon the winds come up and Bear Lake's marinot natural and, as the summer moves on and irriga- na-based sailboats come out to play. Many of the tors and downstream cities draw their allotments, the boats here are ocean-capable rigs sailed by people : shorelines of reservoirs become mud bogs. who know how to make them move. But Bear Lake became a natural lake some 30,000 It's no surprise that Bear is becoming wildly popyears ago when ancient ular with Park City peoLake Bonneville broke ple. It's just two hours through an Idaho mounIf you went by water color alone, away and we do it quite tain range nearby and often as a day trip. Many youfd swear you were in Caribbean of the new cabins going drained, leaving only the Great Salt Lake and a few up are being built by other isolated bodies of waters. In bright sunshine it almost Park City people and, water. Bear Lake is a huge glows turquoise because of the way like Park remnant of pure mountain communities water, in an oval shape fill- sunlight hits microscopic particles of homes with ing the valley between two label golf courses are mountain ranges. It's limestone suspended in the water." coming on the market. huge-twenty miles from • " • ^ • ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ • ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ " • " • " • ^ ^ ^ » Those developments north to south and eight are new, but some things miles wide. If you went by water color alone, you'd never change. On Friday nights the local girls sit outswear you were in Caribbean waters. In bright sun- side the gas station checking out the arrival of the shine it almost glows turquoise because of the way new crop of "lake boys" and there's a dance every sunlight hits microscopic particles of limestone sus- Saturday night over in Garden City that enables pended in the water. them to meet. Reminds me of carefree summer days This lake straddles two states equally, with the at my parent's cabin in Park Rapids, Minnesota, comUtah-Idaho state line splitting it in half. Each state plete with Saturday dances at the National Guard has a number of state parks around the shoreline for Armory. But that's another story - one that won't be camping and day use. The big public marina with told here, or anywhere. boat docks and gasoline lies just south of the Idaho line on the west shore. Most of the action is on the Free-lance writer Larry Warren has been wandering west shore. The lake is so big the west shore has the West covering news stories for television and magthree towns strung out along it-Garden City in azines since he landed in Utah in the mid-1970s. In Utah and Fish Haven and St Charles in Idaho. this column he writes about the favorite places he goes Laketown, Utah, is not on the lake, but it's near the back to when he can. south shore. The east shore is relatively undeveloped THEWALS: with mostly primitive campgrounds and a few-boat launch ramps. Park CitytoGarden City: 126 miles via 1-80 to Garden City and Fish Haven are the epicenters of Evanston, then north lake life, with restaurants, stores with lake essentials, Web sHes: www.beaHake.org and lodging. Two golf courses are near the lake with Insider tip: Bear Lake's nicest campground is eye-popping lake views-Bear Lake Country Club to Idaho's Bear Lake East Shore Park. Call the southwest and Bear Lake West in Idaho near ft < 1 -866-634-3246 to reserve Idaho state Fish Haven. campgrounds. Call 1-800-322-3770 to You can try to fish here for lake trout and Bear reserve Utah state campgrounds. Lake cutthroat trout, but its tough to find them in all |
