Life in Park City

After the snowstorm we had some time to explore some of the attractions around Park City. The Sundance Film Festival is held in Park City every year in January. It lasts about two weeks and during that time most of the movie theaters around Park City and also Salt Lake City show movies entered in the festival. Most tickets go to people that buy a pass to attend the entire festival, but they sell single show tickets for the remaining seats. We were able to snag seats to a Monday night showing of a movie called Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat at the Egyptian Theatre. It was a packed house, and unfortunately I think I picked up a cold during the 2.5 hour movie. BUT it was a unique opportunity to see a movie premier for the first time, and to be in a Q&A session with the director. We even got to vote on the movie!

Later in the week we went on a tour of Utah Olympic Park, which is practically in the backyard of housesit. The Park is where several of the ski-related events were held for the 2002 Winter Olympics. It was a really cool experience to be able to see and stand at the top of the bobsled, skeleton, luge, and various ski jumps. There was also a great view of the valley from the top! Utah Park is still quite active and it’s where the US teams often go to practice, and also hosts various other competitions throughout the year. In fact, we heard Park City bid on the 2034 Winter Olympics!

We joined the local recreation center, which I’ve found is common in most towns in the western US states. They are fantastic, and the eastern US states should really pick up on this trend. The rec centers are general purpose athletic facilities that generally have great cardio and weight room areas, and typically an indoor/outdoor swimming pool, hot tub, and multiple types of courts and fields for team sports. The best part is how affordable it is. I believe local tax dollars are used to support these facilities, so people that live in the county pay slightly lower rates, but even for out of towners it’s only $50/month.

We’ve explored some local restaurants and shopping outlets, which are all less than five minutes from our house. One of the more interesting finds was a fast casual Korean BBQ in a cup joint. At this point we’ve skied almost every ski lift on the Park City and Canyons sides. This is no small feat given Park City has over 7,300 acres of skiable terrain!

It’s our last night at this pet sit, but we’ll be back next week (starting Monday) at a house even closer to the ski resort!