Park City

My parents had points that they needed to use up before July and couldn't go, so they let us use their time share again and we went up to Park City for 3 days. We had a lot of fun! For being unemployed, we've had a pretty busy and fun summer vacation so far.

They had a really nice indoor pool and spa which we swam at many times. They also had really nice BBQ grills we could use, so we bought a bunch of chicken and steak and Chase just grilled our dinner every night we were there.

Our first full day there we found out that Park City offers free public transportation which was sweet! So, we rode the bus up to Main St. and walked around and saw some of the shops. We thought about walking through some of the art galleries, but decided it probably wouldn't be a good idea with all the kids, especially with one rambunctious 22 month old. Also, our kids have this thing about touching everything. We saw a moose statue dressed up, and a bear statue on a bench, which the kids thought was cool. We walked into a jewelry shop and got the kids free polished rocks, which they were ecstatic about. Addie especially loves to collect things, especially rocks. I was just excited that they were free. The guy unlocked a case and pulled out a penguin necklace I was admiring. He started to go into description about how it was made of black, tahitian pearl with white gold on a white gold chain and stated the price was only $695.00. That was our cue to leave. We said thanks for the free rocks and left.

Some guy tried to sell us a timeshare up at the Canyons as well. They were going to give us $100. in cash with a free buffet and all we had to do was show up for a 90 min. "tour"(really a sales pitch). He started asking us all the qualifying questions.... "Do you make at least 50 grand a year?", "Did you pay for your accomadations while you're staying here?". I laughed and informed him that Chase was laid off and my parents were footing the bill for us to be there. He said, "That's ok, can you just say you make 50 grand and you're paying to be here?". Then he wanted $20. refundable deposit saying we'd show up to do the tour. Chase "unfortunately" had left his wallet at home since we rode the bus. He also had a job interview the next day in Salt Lake. He must have been desperate for some sort of commision because then he waived the $20. deposit and told us to just show up if we could and gave us his cell # to call.

We ended our first day with a free trolley ride up and down Main Street which was fun. It went up this huge hill to the top of Main Street, which would have been a pain to walk with all the kids. We caught the bus back to the resort and Chase grilled some more dinner for us. My sister Monica works at Cloud Rim just above Park City at the Girl Scout camp, so she came down and ate dinner with us. She also told us about a lot more free stuff we could do while we were there, since she knows everything there from working 7 summers there I believe. The next day we wanted to take her up on one of her suggestions and hike a trail to a historic farm, but the kids were too tired and we still had to eat dinner. We ran out of time to do all the things we wanted to do, oh well, maybe next time.

Our second day we decided to ride the Alpine Slide. We were a little nervous about this because you have to ride a gondola (ski lift) up the mountain to get to the top of the slide. We were mainly worried about Emery's reaction to the height. Unbelievably she was completely fine, weird kid. Chase says it's probably because she was wedged down between him and Bailey and she didn't have a clear view of how high up we were. It was cool because the seats were big and our whole family fit on one chair and rode up together.

The kids had a blast and loved riding the slide. Chase rode with Cam so I have no pictures of them because Chase had the camera. Addie rode by herself and at first pushing herself off the starting point just held onto the sides. I was riding on a seperate track next to Addie and had to keep yelling at her to push the stick forward or she wouldn't be going anywhere soon. Finally she got it, and in no time shot down the mountain at full speed ahead of me and Emery. Chase said she didn't even let up at the end when you're supposed to slow down and stop. She came careening to the very end screaming in excitement. Bailey caustiously went ahead of me, but warmed up and had fun. There were gophers all over and Bailey freaked out I guess because one ran across the track in front of her and she thought it was a rat. There was one gopher just calmly standing up next to the track when Emery and I went by. It was so close I could have reached out and grabbed it if I was fast enough. It was so weird, but I guess they're used to all the traffic.

We had so much fun and wished we could have stayed longer. Thanks Mom and Dad for the fun vacation, it was a blast!
We bought icecream bars and Emery really enjoyed them, as you can see.

This is Emery's intense eating/dancing face that she makes on occasion.

I can't believe how wide she got her mouth open.

Bailey nervously getting ready to go down the mountain.

Addie, screaching past the stopping point.

Mommy and Emery at the bottom of the slide.

Addie, excitedly anticipating going down the mountain.

Mommy and Emery waiting our turn to go.

I love the view behind me on the gondola.

Bailey, Addie, Cam, & Mommy high up on the gondola.

Cam, Addie, Bailey, Emery, & Daddy on the gondola.

You can see the Alpine Slide track below us behind Chase.

Addie on the trolley.

Cam & Bailey on the trolley going up main street.

Emery looking out the trolley window.

The kids getting ready for the trolley ride.

Kids with the bear statue on Main Street.

Riding the bus.

The kids playing around in one of the rooms in our suite.