Park City, Utah

Well, it's that time of year. Time for the first vacation and the perfect opportunity to catch some great snow in Park City, Utah. Utah isn't always the first ski destination that comes to mind for some people, but located just twenty minutes from Salt Lake City and within a short distance of six fantastic ski mountains, it's worth the trip.

What to do

When we come to Park City we only have one thing on our agenda: skiing. So, I won't be much help to those who want to spend a day hiking, snowmobiling or getting a foot massage at a local spa. I haven't visited Alta or Snowbird yet but plan to the next time we come, so my favorite ski slope so far is Deer Valley. It's been voted the #1 place for skiing by Ski Magazine readers for the last three years and there's a reason for that. The staff is super nice, the slopes are easy to navigate and offer a range of skiing opportunities from green to double-diamond slopes, and the food....well, it's so good that sometimes it's hard to keep skiing when you glide along the Empire Lodge at lunch time. Five days of skiing and we still had new trails to uncover. For some fun bowl and tree skiing, check out the Ontario bowl located off the Hidden Treasure run, as well as the Empire and Lady Morgan mountains. A great double diamond bowl called Centennial off the Lady Morgan lift has fantastic terrain for off-trail skiing (although technically not off-trail). For being a double-diamond, it's actually not too steep, just filled with trees that you need to carefully move around.

Where to stay
The first time we came to Park City we stayed in Prospector Square, which is a little bit too far from the Main Street area. All in all though, the bus system is excellent in Park City, so if you're close to a stop you'll have no problem getting to the slope. This time we stayed right on main street in a two bedroom condo called 591 Main. The accommodations were nice and there's plenty of room for four people. The location has its pros and cons though. On the plus side, you can pretty much walk downstairs and visit any of the shops and restaurants you want. It also has fantastic bus access to any of the slopes. On the minus side, the front bedroom facing Main street is pretty noisy. Unless your vacation plans include being serenaded at 2 in the morning with a variety of drunken howls and creative expletives, I would recommend either finding another place to stay or bringing a large pair of earmuffs. Seriously. Then again, if you plan to hit the bars till 2a.m. yourself while you're here (every night), noise shouldn't be a problem.

Places to eat and such

Park City has a lot of fancy dining options. Even places that look casual often have pricy menus, but we found some good places to eat for reasonable prices. The bistro on 412 Main Street has some reasonably priced and delicious dishes, plus the atmosphere is cozy and laid back. If it's busy downstairs there's an upstairs bar area where you can easily eat if you don't want to wait. The Wassatch brewery was excellent. They make their own local beer (yes, they make beer in Utah!) and the food is varied and tasty. Finally, we also ordered pizza from the Main Street Pizza and Noodle place that hit the spot after a long day of skiing. If you do want to splurge, we really enjoyed Chimayo, upscale southwestern style food served in a cozy atmosphere.

Next time we're definitely planning to try out the Alta ski area. We were told it's best to rent a car instead of shuttling it if you're going to head to Alta from Park City. If you plan to stick around Park City, no car necessary. Getting a shuttle from the airport to Park City is easy and a much better deal than renting a car (and trying to park it).