Deer Valley Resort

There are three large ski areas near Park City.   Canyons Resort and Park City Mountain are connected by a long gondola ride.  The free shuttle bus takes folks from one area to another as well.  You can start off at Park City in the morning, use the gondola to get to Canyons and then take a free shuttle ride back to your hotel at the end of the day.  If you're hungry you can take the chair lift into downtown.  It is a very skier friendly place.
   Deer Valley is just on the edge of town and is the "up-scale" resort.  No snowboarding is allowed and the area closes it doors when it reaches a certain number of skiiers, so there aren't any long lift lines.  The area prides itself in beautifully groomed runs and has far more ski grooming equipment than the other two areas.  The homes and condos around the resort are massive and beautiful.  One of the ski club members works in Park City over the winter.  He told us about the former Enron home which has twelve bedrooms and twelve bathrooms.  It's up for sale if you are looking for a little ski hideaway.
   I drove around the area today to see what a really fancy ski area looks like.  It looks nice!  It was the site for the freestyle moguls, aerial, and alpine slalom events at the 2002 Olympics.  As I drove up I could see a long, steep run just covered with moguls.  Whew, this was not for me even at the height of my skiing skills.  I didn't see the Enron home, but I was very interested in several pretty little cottages that were tucked in between some of the mansions.
    Rick had another great skiing day with lots of sunshine and good snow.  We had dinner tonight with one of the trip organizers and who told us that there have been no injuries on this trip.  It is always good to know that everyone is going home in good shape.
   I've met some of my photo organization goals and made good progress on my hand quilting as well.  It has been quite a relaxing week and really fun to hang out with so many interesting and fun folks.  We have an afternoon flight home tomorrow so we get to sleep in a bit and have one last delicious breakfast.  Weather is supposed to be good so we should be home tomorrow night.  Sigh.

Main Street Park City

     A warm and sunny day is the perfect time to head to downtown Park City.  Everyone is on the mountain enjoying the perfect weather and great snow conditions.  Downtown was quiet and I was able to park right on Main Street.  I wandered in and out of many of the attractive shops and galleries.  My usual souvenir is a pair of earrings and I found some Navajo silver which have several colorful stones including "spiderweb" turquoise.  Whoo hoo!  I love them.
   I had my waterproof boots on today so I drove on a few narrow one-way streets with tiny, colorful old houses.  The houses are built on steep hills.  In several spots long, narrow staircases went straight up the hill to provide access to the upper houses.  I stopped along the way to try for a picture of the chair lift that goes over these houses and right into downtown.  Very handy for a lunch break.  Just on the edge of downtown is a pretty City Park.  This is the site of the old Miner's Hospital which was built in 1903 to serve the huge community of miners and their families.  It is now a community center.  The park was a great spot for a sunny winter walk with lots of interesting metal sculptures scattered about.
   Rick headed up the mountain again and had a good day of skiing.  He is finally feeling pretty good and only has one more day of skiing.  He said that while the snow is melting at the base, the ski runs are covered with nicely compacted dry powder.  Just great for skiing and not ever found in Minnesota.

 It has been a good week of skiing for the club as now one has been hurt.  A good record for a club of senior citizens.
   I have been working on organizing my photos.  A major task on which I have actually made huge progress.  I keep changing my mind on where I will store my photos - I have some on a Google drive, some on ICloud, Pogoplug, and Amazon Prime.  What a mess.  My download file is just full of stuff too as I import stuff from Arik and Matt.  I downloaded a free app that searches for duplicates (per Arik's advice) and weeded through thousands of pictures.
   After each of our big adventures I have made a photo book using Shutterfly.  This forces me into documenting our trip and organizing the photos.  I discovered that I never made one for our trip to Big Bend National Park, so that is next on my list.
    We went out for dinner at a brew pub where I found Apricot Hefenweizen beer on the menu.  Matt and Arik have been widening my beer palate.  They brought a big selection to the cabin and this was one that I really liked.  What fun to find that it is a Wasatch Utah craft beer.  Yumm.  Paired perfectly with the fish tacos.  I am so full. Yawn.

Sunny Day at Park City Mountain

    The day dawned with bright sunshine and Rick woke up feeling much better and was ready to hit the slopes.  The base at Park City is a couple thousand feet lower than the Colorado ski areas which helps with adjustment to the altitude.  Rick now takes a pill a few days before we leave on the trip to help avoid altitude sickness.  Still, there is just a lot less oxygen available and everything takes more effort.
   Rick gathered his gear, boarded the free shuttle that runs all around the Park City area, and trudged to the base of the first lift.  The members of the ski club all wear bright yellow bandanas on their sleeves (or somewhere) so that they can spot each other on the hill.  Rick spotted a fellow Ullr and spent a few wonderful hours on the mountain.
   I lazed about, had a great free breakfast buffet, read the paper and Googled "quilt shops" to find a fun place to visit.  Driving today was much easier without piles of snow and snowplows.  The quilt shop was called Davidene's.  I had a great time looking at fabric and patterns.  Lots of local ladies in the shop were trying to convince me to drive to a shop in Salt Lake City.  mmmm.  As I checked out (yes I bought some fabric) I was talking to the store owner.  She asked me where I was from.  When I told her Minnesota, she talked about a Quilt Shop Hop that she was on which visited 12 stores in northern Minnesota including a tiny one in a gas station.  She was talking about a shop in Hill City just 15 miles from our cabin.  Such a small world.
    I foolishly wore sneakers instead of my boots when I left the hotel,

so my thoughts of hiking around the city park and taking pictures was foiled.  Instead I bought some lunch supplies and headed back to our room.  Rick staggered in a few minutes after me and was happy to have a picnic lunch in the room.
   The Ski Club had a dinner event at a local barbecue restaurant called the Grub Steak.  Our group of 40 filled one of the banquet rooms and we downed a heap of ribs, chicken, corn on the cob and baked beans.  Everyone shared stories about their favorite runs including one lady who had her picture taken to show folks that you CAN ski if you are over 80.  I shared my adventures and got the usual questions about how how I managed to drive around an unfamiliar town and find things to do.  GPS and Smartphones!!!  After making a valient effort to finish a huge brownie, we rolled back "home" to get ready for another busy day.