I write this from the laundry room of the Park City RV Resort; not an especially bright spot, but a clean, quiet place to do laundry and write. We arrived here on the 12th, Wednesday of the past week. If you are keeping track, you will note that is a different day than I thought we were arriving. Minutes after my last writing we decided to check in our upcoming reservation and found out we were a couple of days off. That gave us two more days in SLC and the slopes of Alta.

Van on the street near the theater showing Hamilton — Van on the street near the theater showing Hamiton

Hamilton is a must-see! It was a little unnerving being so close to so many people but they were very strict about their mask policy, which helped. I’m sure many of you have already seen the show but if you haven’t I encourage you to do so. If only all history was taught in such a beautiful way, even the heartbreaking periods. The streets outside of the theater were still lighted up from the holidays and it was enchanting.

We skied Alta again on Monday and Tuesday and that was fun; their greens were nice and well-groomed and I got comfortable there. One highlight was seeing a giant porcupine! It was crossing one of the lower runs and stopped as I came down. I stopped and it started across again. We stayed there until it made its way safely across to the other side and disappeared into the woods.

Lunch on the slopes — Soup and sammies for lunch

The sushi plate and sake cup at Nohm — Plate and cup at Nohm

We made our lunches each day - generally albacore tuna sandwiches on sourdough with homemade chicken soup along side. Hot soup on a cold day is just wonderful. Tuesday evening we went to dinner at Nohm, the Japanese restaurant recommended by our new friends. It was very good - a combination of cooked and raw foods; the highlight was the chili fried cauliflower, followed by the chive pancakes. The raw fish was also very good and was nicely paired with their homemade soy sauce. We had an excellent sake to go along with all of it.

Moving day was a bit busy; once packed up we had to find a place to get propane for our on-board tank. We use plug-in electric heat as much as possible but when it’s in the teens we definitely turn on the main heater. After much driving around to find places either closed or not staffed, we ended up at a propane supply company and they made quick work of our fill-up. The drive to Park City is not bad, mostly on I-80, and the park itself is easy to get to. We aren’t crazy about our site - it’s right on the road with the freeway just a little farther on, but it is pretty and everything here is clean.

After a short drive around the area scouting for the following morning, we headed back to SLC to watch the Utah Jazz take on Cleveland. If you’re a sports fan, you know that was not a great game for the Jazz. I found the whole thing a bit frustrating. The Jazz tout how they are the first team to allow full-size crowds back and are so proud of their requiring vaccination cards or negative Covid tests, but the reality is a joke. You can wave any card at the person at the head of the line and they just let you pass; and there’s no checking ID to make sure the card or test result goes with the person entering. Fail. On top of that, the NBA has started a very discriminating policy of no bags at the games. My irritation here stems from getting to the gates only to have to backtrack in 30° weather to put my bag in the car. Apparently this policy is supposed to make entering faster and easier; it was a failure for me. I had to stuff my pockets with everything in my bag (it’s a small bag) and then when I got to security I had to go through twice, the second time removing everything from my pockets. Fail. And when I say discrimination - who brings bags everywhere? Women; so the NBA’s policy hurts 50% of the population and half of their fans. Fail.

Thursday and Friday we skied at Deer Valley. It’s a lovely resort - and it’s huge. I have no idea the actual size but we haven’t skied the half of it yet. And there’s houses all the way to the top! They do a very good job of grooming and super job marking the trails so you know where you are going. Nearly every lift has at least one green run on it and so I can find lots of places to ski. I’m not terribly comfortable though; last week was a bit traumatizing. I ended up on one run yesterday where I just took off my skis, hiked down for a ways then sat and slid the rest of the way (which was probably the most fun I’d had on snow to date).

We found a nice place to have lunch - Stein Eriksen Lodge. We sat outside the first day and enjoyed an excellent bottle of South African Chenin Blanc; yesterday it was an excellent Burgundy. There’s a lot of money at this place; I imagine the price of the rooms is ski high. But the restaurant is very nice, with excellent service (Jamaicans mainly - we talked to the head waiter who was telling us that the Jamaican bobsled team trains here at Deer Valley), and good food and an incredible wine list.

Today and tomorrow we are “blacked out” from skiing with our Ikon passes so after I finish laundry we will head into Park City’s touristy Main Street - think Mendocino on steroids. Hopefully we can find some good food there and relax a little. Tomorrow we have massages scheduled back in SLC - another recommendation from our new friends.

I’ve signed up for ski school for Monday and Tuesday; I hope that helps bring back some of my confidence and I can enjoy the snow more than I have. I will say I’m tired of the cold - it was 6° this morning, brrrr. We’re here until the 22nd then we head out, probably south towards Zion and then wend our way back home. You know I’ll tell you all about it next week.

Salt Lake to Park City