Two Tales of Park City

I: New Year's Eve 2009 skiing with the family, or rather, the attempt.

Our goal was family bonding on the slopes with Jim, Sue, Megan, and Chris. After spending two hours in the ski rental shop near home behind a family with about 30 children all being fitted for skis, Nate, Angie, Phil and I treked to Park City via Kate and Jerry's Expedition, which Nate managed to borrow. Upon arrival to the Park City ski resort parking lot, our process was:

1. Enter parking lot at the south entrance
2. Turn at each row to ferret out available spots for parking
3. At end of rows, take loop back to south entrance
4. Repeat

Keep in mind, an Expedition is not a small sedan and many cars were parked outside the lines. At one point, we considered moving a relatively small sports car that was double parked in two spots, as were many of the cars parked there that day. So tempting.
The steps above were completed repeatedly for 1.5 hours before we were almost out of gas and gave up at about 1:35 pm.
Fortuitously, the ski shop gave us a rental credit for another day. Someone in our party suggested the liquor store as our next venue. Another plus: we were able to trade our Park City Ski Resort passes for passes to Brighton Ski Resort, which is a lot closer to home and has much better organized parking with lot attendants everywhere. We got "princess parking" (front row) on New Year's Day.


II. Saturday, January 30, 2010 - Sundance Film Festival, or ... we tried.

Angie and I have a decade-long mother-daughter Sundance Film Festival tradition. Historically, our Sundance has been everything from walking Main Street and ending up at Slamdance, an alternative film festival, to obtaining leftover tickets of others or buying our own tickets and actually seeing a film. This year's intention was a spontaneous party invite. I was secretly hoping to be discovered, since I need a job anyway.

Knowing that I may appear dressed like an Orem housewife, Angie brought me some hip black leather boots to borrow. "Very comfortable," she said, "and stylish." She showed me how to tuck in my jeans for a sleek look. I almost felt 25. Or at least like a 35-year old celebrity from LA.

Traffic was moving well at Kimball Junction, where we exited the freeway, so I was hopeful that parking and crowds were not going to be a concern. As I drove, I visualized a parking spot, not a princess parking spot, but any spot within six blocks of Main Street. Once we got to Deer Valley Drive, our process was:

1. Enter upper Main Street parking areas from the south
2. Turn into each row to ferret out available spots for parking
3. At end of rows, go back out to the road (in some cases, we had to back up as there was only one way in and out)
4. Loop back down to Deer Valley Drive via Park Avenue
5. Repeat

We mostly tried for the free parking, but we saw "lot full" signs at $10 parking lots, too. And ... because I forgot to visualize a $10 bill, we couldn't pay anyway.

All told, we probably spent 1.5 hours in search of parking. In the car, we discussed everything from courtship to business ideas to why it isn't helpful to tell an overweight person they are overweight (the reason: they already know). Thus, the female bonding happened, regardless of the parking outcome.

Somehow ... we ended up at our favorite Mexican food salsa bar, El Chubasco.

http://www.elchubascopc.info/

The shredded beef tacos and chicken enchiladas almost made up for my not being mistaken for a celebrity while walking down Main Street. Almost.

Postlude

Park City? Park where? You should go, but don't let the name Park City fool you, especially if you are going to try parking during peak crowd times. Especially if your destination is Main Street or Park City Ski Resort. Parking will throw you for a loop, no pun intended. A better plan may be to park and shuttle, park and hike, or better yet, take a bus.