Friends! Today is Friday. Last day of the week. Day before Valentine’s Day. Bjork’s 29th birthday <– for real! Part-eee! How are we feeling about all of that? Since Friday is my most forever favorite day of the week, I’m making today Vacation Pictures Day. I ♡ VACATION PICTURES. And so do you, I think. I’m not even making this up that there have been a handful of readers over the last year or so that must have gotten the hint (somehow, I mean, gosh, how would that happen?) that I love vacation pictures, so they went so far as to directly email me attachments of their own vacation pictures — while currently on vacation. WHAT IS MY LIFE. This is so weird and cool and I’m so glad we can love vacation pictures together. And I promise I won’t say “vacation pictures” anymore times in this post. First order of business: I got glasses! All that computer work, yaknow? And then I wore them on the plane on the way to beautiful Park City, Utah. So the SparkNotes version of our trip was that we spent five days in Park City skiing at three of the most beautiful ski resorts in all the land. I know this because of my extensive skiing experience, most of which took place between ages 10-12. Kidding sort of. Park City is a historic little mining town in the mountains of Utah that has been transformed over the years to become a sort of mecca for winter sports enthusiasts. Or just outdoor enthusiasts in general, because I hear summers in Park City are the bomb dot com. PS. SUN! WARMTH! COME BACK TO US! There are three world-class ski resorts with a combined total of more than 400 ski and snowboard runs all within a 15 minute drive of each other in the Park City area. And all three resorts are just a 30 minute drive from Salt Lake City, which happens to be within a 2 hour direct flight from Minneapolis. Boom. Snap. That’s the kind of travel efficiency we like. Neither Bjork or I had skied for, like, a while (that’s being a tad generous), but after hearing for so long about the glory of this little mountain ski town, we could not pass up the opportunity to travel, work remotely, and experience the famed Park City and all it has to offer for outdoor winter sports enthusiasts. Mostly what I was looking forward to on this trip, if I’m being honest, was the food. Park City is known for its growing culinary scene of which we took great pride in supporting each day through mass orders of waffles, eggs benedict, and all the coffees. We ate at a handful of ski resort and non-ski-resort restaurants, and obviously I am going to list them out at the bottom of this post for you along with exactly what I ordered (and what Bjork ordered), because I can’t not. This is how we work, you and me. Even though the food was really what captured my heart in the beginning, the skiing ended up surprising both of us. Meaning: we loved it. WE LOVED IT! It probably helped that we really looked the part. Very cool, very ski-bum, very natural… ….ehhh, well, there are other pictures. It might have been more like we scraped together ski outfits made of mismatched pieces of outdoor winter gear from my parents and siblings the night before we left, and it might have been more like we were (THANK GOODNESS) escorted around each of the mountains by a guide slash coach slash orange-jacket-wearing rescuer on skis. But I think there’s a hint of cool in there somewhere. To be honest, I was a little hesitant about basically having anyone even WATCH me ski, much less guide me or coach me or rescue me, but our guided ski tours with these fantastic mountain hosts were absolutely out of this world. The hosts took us to all the best views, showed us where we were in relation to the other parks, pointed out which mountain tops we had already been on and where we were going, and most importantly always led us back to the green runs. The tours were the highlight of the trip for both of us. There is just SO much to see on these mountains. I mean, gosh. UTAH?! Who even knew.
The Trip Details
For more information on any and all of this, you can either 1) email me because I love to talk about vacations almost as much as I love looking at vacation pictures, or 2) check out Park City’s website which is your one-stop shop for info on this adorable little ski town. Where We Stayed: The Lodges at Deer Valley: beautiful, comfortable, great breakfasts, perfect location. Where We Ate: Fireside Dining at Empire Canyon Lodge: There is no ordering here – it’s just a mass attack of eating all the pots of food placed throughout the restaurant in front of fireplaces, including blocks of cheese that just melt off onto plates which you then eat FOREAL. Snow Park Lodge: I got eggs benedict, Bjork got the best waffle with banana butter and I was jealous. Royal Street Cafe: I got the turkey chili, Bjork got the burger, we both demolished the crab towel appetizer. The Brass Tag: We jointly polished off the homemade chips with chimicurri sauce, I got a curry chorizo and shrimp skillet with roasted brussels sprouts, Bjork got the grilled mahi mahi with roasted vegetables. Legends Cafe at Park City Mountain Resort: I got a chicken sandwich with fries, Bjork got the bison chili, and we tried so hard to share an ahi tuna wonton nacho appetizer which ended in a fist fight. Just kidding – it ended with me eating everything. Sammy’s Bistro: I got the grilled romaine salad and the grilled fish tacos with mango salsa, Bjork got the lettuce wraps (two thumbs up) and the steak with mushroom sauce. I’m seriously getting full just writing these all out again. The Farm: I got the roasted cauliflower soup and the beet and kale salad because I was feeling trendy, Bjork got the bison burger with fries of which I ate exactly zero. <– Lies. Reefs: Where to start? Hummus. Tahini. Falafel. Pita Bread. Cardamom Tea. Jerusalem Artichoke Soup. I got the macadamia crusted monkfish and scallops, Bjork got a steak of some sort. BOTH SO GOOD. Eating Establishment: I got the eggs benedict because I’m trapped in a cycle, and Bjork got the multigrain waffles. Atticus Coffee: I rounded out my trip with a mango spinach smoothie, Bjork sipped on a chai latte + espresso. Where We Skied: Deer Valley Ski Resort Park City Mountain Resort Canyons Ski Resort And that was our trip! God bless Utah. Anybody ever been to Park City? Let’s talk.
