When Searching for Cool ... Try a Ski Resort - Park City, UT

Kanab proved too warm to hang around ... we abandoned the notion of trying to win the lottery for a permit to hike to The Wave.  A win would mean a deadly hot hike ... we chose life (a woman had died on the trail the day before)!

Off to cooler country ... we thought that we'd try a ski resort and decided to look into Park City.  We can't say much for our RV "Resort" ... it is close to Park City (has a Park City address and advertises itself as the only RV park in Park City), but it isn't in the pulsing heart of the historic downtown area. In fact, it is on a frontage road just off of I-80.  We're meeting our neighbors and have found a new form of mobile workforce that lives in RVs and travels to find work ... and right now there is a lot of new construction work in Park City as it grows and in preparation for the winter season. This is a park of itinerant professional craftsmen, laborers, management traveling to wherever the jobs may be and using the RV as a truly mobile home.

Historic downtown Park City has a western, historic, yet modern and casual vibe.  Park City appears to be a more complete town than some of the other ski resort towns that we have visited.   It has more of the services of a functional town, a town in which people live and raise families, a town with businesses beyond the usual tourist-oriented locations.  Don't get me wrong ... it would still cost a fortune to live here ... and the economy is driven by tourism ... it  just has functions that reflect real life, not just resort life.

And, speaking of resorts, we went to Deer Valley Ski Area today ... opening day of their summer season.  We rode two ski lifts to the top of the mountain and hiked down ... the mountain was alive with downhill mountain bikers ... as hikers, we are beginning to feel as obselete as dial telephones.  Fortunately the resort keeps the hikers and bikers on separate trail systems ... so, we could watch the action without feeling the rush of air as the bikers sail by (or over) obstacles.  Lunch, on the patio in the shade, while watching the action down the mountain was simply a delight!  We cherish the ability to simply share in such a lovely, lively environment ... 

Spring is present in the high country ...wildflowers were still blooming ... cooler temperatures at high altitude with wildflowers ... and exciting rides on ski lifts ... hiking in beauty.