We’ve been coming to Park City and Deer Valley for the past 11 years, ever since Mike’s then-boss, CEO Chase Carey, told us that the “ONLY” place to ski was Park City. Why? Because it’s an easy flight from LAX to Salt Lake City, there’s a shuttle that gets you to the mountain in 45 minutes, the on-mountain shuttle service is free, and the skiing is phenomenal. He didn’t mention the restaurants, the unparalleled service, or the friendliness of the people. We discovered those on our own.
We’ve had the good fortune to be here in Deer Valley for HP (Hewlett Packard) conferences during the Sundance Film Festival in past years. The conference also included a day of skiing with former Olympians (Fuzz Fedderson, Steve and Phil Mahre, Heidi Voelker, Tommy Moe, and Shannon Bahrke, among others).
We bought a timeshare at Marriott Mountainside, a ski-in, ski-out resort in Park City, and we’ve managed to come here almost every year since 2005 to ski. Last year we were here in early June. We wondered what the hullabaloo was near the Stein Eriksen Lodge. Turns out it was Mitt Romney’s annual retreat with a lot of wealthy Republican movers and shakers. We didn’t have any opportunities to mix and mingle with the elite. Good thing, or I’d have gotten myself into a heap of trouble if we had.
As luck would have it, we happen to be here during the same conference this year. What are the odds? How does this happen???? The only impact to us is that we couldn’t get into one of our favorite restaurants for dinner.
We had a wonderful time exploring downtown Park City, enjoying wonderful food (including the best latte that I’ve ever had at Atticus Coffee & Tea), doing some shopping, and hiking. Mike Benson is a crazy man when it comes to working out. He was up and out by 7:30 two mornings in a row, hiking from the condo where we’re staying up to the top of Flagstaff Mountain (9100’ elevation). Then today we both hiked up from the Montage, which is where we took these photos. I’m obsessed with the Aspens. Everybody says that they are even more spectacular in the fall, and we hope to come back to enjoy that time as well.
It was wonderful to be in the same place for 3 nights, and in such a beautiful place. We have 7 more days until we reach Camano Island. The time is flying by!!
P.S. If you have an opportunity to stay in Deer Valley, we can highly recommend the Arrowleaf 2-bedroom ski-in, ski-out condo, Room 209. (No, we don’t own it; we just stayed here this week.)
Souper Power 