Park City 2009
Our Blog for Park City
Saturday August 22
We started out early at 6:15 AM with the Vincent's driving us to the airport for our 8:03 AM flight. We upgraded with 6 - 500 mile upgrades so it was pretty sweet. We had row 4 in a 777 with one note to make; the overhead compartments on the window side of row 4 is real small. It's about a third of the size of row 3 & 5's, but we had enough room for our carry-ons. We landed in Denver early so we had a little over 2 hour lay-over. We went to a bar, believe it or not, and had a couple beers before boarding for our last little jump over to Salt Lake City. While waiting to take off, the female pilot came out to tell us (the 1st class cabin) how the flight was going to go; turbulence, time, etc. This was the first time either one of us as had that happen, nice touch. Sitting in front of us on the plane was some big wig from SLC for United. He had to go to Denver to pick up a tire. He was a pretty nice guy we talked to for a little while, but we couldn't help but wonder if the captain came out because he was on the plane. All in all though, a nice flight.
After we got our luggage and car rental, we decided to go to Costco to pick up some water and other supplies. There is no hard liquor or wine at Costco in Utah, although they do sell beer.
We then headed to the Marriott and arrived around 3pm. Our room wasn't ready yet, so we headed to Legends Bar & Grill in the plaza outside the Marriott for some appetizers and beer. The front desk told us they would call when our room was ready, but at 4:30 we headed back (since check in time is 4pm) and sure enough our room was ready. We're in rooms 7515 & 7517, since it's a lock off unit you technically have 2 rooms, with a view of the pool. The room itself isn't too bad, it is far from the elevator which is good and bad, but there are no fans (ceiling or otherwise) in the room. It was also pretty warm in the room when we came in and it took a while to cool it down. We decided to go to the liquor store since they're closed on Sundays. There is a large liquor store off Kearns & Park Aves. (Take Park to Kearns, turn right then left into the Market strip mall). There is also a grocery store that shares a parking lot with the liquor store, so we stopped there for a few minor necessities (like frozen limeade for margaritas). We then headed back to the condo to settle in for the night. We weren't really hungry since we had appetizers at 3ish, so we just had some snacks for dinner and watched tv until we were too tired then went to bed.
Sunday August 23
Today was sort of a lazy day, partly due to the weather. It would rain a little, then the sun would come out, then it would rain again, and so on. This went on all day. Around 9am we were able to take a walk up to Main Street for some exercise. The incline coupled with the thinner air got us both winded, but we walked all the way up to Park Ave, then came down through Park Ave to get back to 13th Street and up to Lowell. We took our showers and then hung out watching tv until it was time to go to lunch. We took a ride to the New Park area right off of 80 and 224, but just drove around. There were a few fast food places and a few restaurants but we didn't stop at any of them. They didn't all look open as the area is still under construction. So we headed back to Squatters Brewery for lunch. We were pretty underwhelmed. For lunch, Mark had the Jambalaya, which had shrimp, chicken and andouille. He thought that the flavors didn't really meld together very well and nothing really stood out about the meal except the occasional piece of andouille. Sue had the buffalo rueben sandwich, which was actually pretty good. For beverages, Mark had the Captain Cooker seasonal beer, which had an odd aftertaste of either clove or orange and the Full Suspension Pale Ale, which was fairly unremarkable and served a little warm due to it's "authentic British Pale Ale" tagline. Sue had the Organic Amber, which tasted a little watered down and the Evolution Amber which wasn't too bad, but again nothing spectacular. It almost felt like our food and beer (when we made it) was better than theirs. I guess we're really getting to be snobs. For dessert Mark had the Devastator Double Bock, which was only served in the bottles, and was really good. Turns out it's not a Squatters beer, but part of a Wasatch area co-op. Even though Squatters has been around 20 years, we're not sure why. Perhaps we were there on a bad day?
We went back to the room and hung out for a while, drinking margaritas and watched the tennis match between Sharapova and Dementieva at the Rogers Canada Cup. It was a really hard fought match which Dementieva won. Then we went down to the pool for a little while. The pool is heated so it was really nice getting in (although the breeze didn't make it quite so nice getting out). After about an hour we went to the condo and chilled out for about an hour or so before heading back downtown for dinner.
Mark really wanted to go to Chimayo, so that's where we headed. Mark ordered their drink special, the Pomegranate Martini. Sue ordered the Herredura Resposado Margarita to see how it compared to hers. It was different, but still good. For dinner Mark ordered the Grilled Buffalo flank steak topped with wild mushrooms and served with corn-poblano potato gratin. Finished with a red chili sauce. Mark thought it was really good for what it was supposed to be, but wasn't crazy about the southwestern flavor. Sue had the London Broil of Elk seasoned with toasted black peppercorns and sesame seeds, accompanied with a potato and cheddar quesadilla, finished with a green chili béarnaise. The Elk was really good, although a little too rare in the middle for Sue. The seasonings and the sauce were fantastic. Also included was a little tomato salsa which was so fresh tasting and had a very fresh lime flavor. Very good! The potato and cheddar quesadilla was ok, but not my favorite thing on the plate.
Monday August 24
It was a lazy kind of day again. The weather wasn't the greatest, overcast with off and on showers. We decided to drive to Jordanelle State Park and see about doing a hike. We found a short hike off of Ross Creek. It wasn't anything too spectacular, but the lake is a nice view and the hike was relatively easy. Coming back, while Fred Kwong called, the clouds looked quite a bit angry (was it because Fred called?) but we didn't get rained on, so that was nice.
When we got back home we stopped at the Market and picked up some lunchmeat. We made sandwiches and had a 2006 Parallele 45 Cotes Du Rhone. The wine was really good especially for the $11 price.
Since we had a late lunch, we weren't really up for going out to dinner, so we just had cheese, sausage and lunchmeat for dinner with more wine. We had a really good Washington wine – Nicholas Cole Cellars Camille (2004). We definitely want to see if we can find it back home. We watched a few shows then went to bed.
Tuesday August 25
Woke up to another cloudy and rainy day. We decided to try finding a hike out near Dinosaur Monument National Park. We didn't have great directions, so we missed the hike, but we decided to head on to the Park, since we had already driven about 3 hours. The park is quite nice. There's some hiking to do, but it was quite warm and very sunny, so it was a little warm to do any hiking. We decided to do the auto tour. There's a guide for purchase at the gift shop for $0.50 and well worth it as it explains all the stops along the way. The views are very nice and the weather was beautiful. The Green River is really nice. Due to the heat, we didn't take the shuttle to see the dinosaur bones, but maybe next time, as it seems like that would be really cool, as they have some huge dinosaur bones there to see.
Mark had his football draft this evening, so we decided to stay in, so he could babysit the draft. We stopped off at the Market and bought some boneless pork chops (only $1.70 for 2), and made some rice, Caesar salad and garlic bread. Sue decided to coat the pork chops in spicy brown mustard and roll them in crushed crackers, then sauté them in margarine. It was our chance to use up a lot of what we had on hand. It was pretty good. With dinner we had an excellent white wine - 2007 Seghesio Arneis.
After dinner we tried a couple of other red wines that were blog-worthy: A 2005 Château De Rochemorin and a 2007 Luna Sangiovese.
Wednesday August 26
Decided to go to the Wasatch National Park to do the Clyde Lake trail. It's just shy of 5 miles, starting at about 10,000 feet. The trailhead is about an hour from Marriott Mountainside (even though Google maps shows an hour and a half). We had done this trail before, about 5 years ago, but we didn't realize this until we were at the trailhead (the joys of getting older). The hike starts out on a fairly rocky, slightly ascending path to Wall Lake (passing Lily Lakes on the way). Past Wall Lake you hit a few switchbacks that rise up about 400 feet (although at over 10,000 feet, it felt like more). Although the switchbacks are a little difficult (especially when you're out of shape), the lakes you pass are so calm and serene, it's definitely worth it. At least until you get to the Twin Lakes. After that we lost the trail. We tried very hard to find it, going on over an hour looking for it, probably going much higher up than was necessary, but we couldn't find it. So we decided to head back the way we came. Luckily we were able to find the original trail and backtracked the way we came. It took us over 4 hours (4 hours, 20 minutes) for a hike we expected to take 2 – 2 ½ hours. On the bright side, we hiked further than we expected, we didn't really have lunch, and we burned a ton of calories, so we decided it made sense for us to go out and enjoy a really nice dinner.
On our way out of the trailhead we ran into about 5 cows in the middle of the road. There are signs warning you of the free roaming cattle, but it's still unexpected to see them walking down the middle of the road. They must be used to cars, however as they moved off to the side as we went towards them, so there really wasn't any hold up. As we descended and got closer to the exit, we saw 2 moose (a mommy and baby) walking through a field toward the road. It was pretty cool. The Mommy was pretty big. Neither Mark nor I had ever since a moose in person before. I'm sure they were as excited as we were.
For dinner we went to Mustang's at the foot of Main Street. We found a coupon for buy one, get one free entrees and $5 corkage fee. So we brought a 2007 Contra Costa County Duarte Zinfandel from Turley vineyards. Great Wine! We picked it up for $33 at the Utah State liquor store. For our dinners, Mark ordered the lamb special, a rack of lamb served in a red wine sauce, served over goat cheese ravioli. The ravioli were phenomenal, the goat cheese was nicely seasoned and it was served with a arugula and fresh tomatoes in the sauce. Very fresh tasting. The lamb was good. Sue had the garlic-thyme marinated NY steak which was pretty good as well, although, it could have had a little bit more garlic flavor. Our server, Tyler, was a lot of fun and a good kid. We sat outside as it was a beautiful evening. For most of the time we were out there, we were the only ones. It was nice.
One thing to note about Park City and the restaurants, especially around Main Street, they seem to be pretty friendly about bringing your own wine in for a corkage fee. The $5 fee is cheap and I think it varies with the season (ski season being higher) and by restaurant, but it's definitely something that we want to take advantage of while we're here.
Thursday August 27
Decided to do a local hike today – called Sweeney's Switchbacks. To get to the trail, take Lowell Ave until it ends, the go up the trail, staying to the left, until you see the Sweeney's Switchbacks sign. It's pretty much all uphill the entire way. It's mostly a slow steady climb, so it's not easy but it's a good workout. The trail is pretty well marked (at least on the way up) althougth it is narrow in some parts. It is a multiuse trail so be prepared to see bikers as well. The views of downtown and the surrounding area are pretty. We hiked up about 90 minutes getting to the ski signs area before deciding to turn back. The hike back was more interesting than the way up because we wound up taking a few "short cuts". We're not really sure how we wound up getting lost, since the trail seemed well marked on the way up. We wound up a on few pretty steep paths on the way down, but we made it and the final path we took, albeit precarious, dropped us off right by the Mountainside entrance. We were out a total of 2 and a half hours, so it was a pretty good hike and we could definitely feel it in our calves.
We came back up to the room and made grilled cheese and proscuitto sandwiches to finish up the bread and lunchmeat. Then made some margaritas and went out to the pool for a while. Sue wanted to go into the hot tub to try to help work out the sore muscles from the last two days of hiking. The hot tub seemed really hot, but it made the muscles feel better.
After a little more pool time we decided to head back up to the room and get ready for dinner. We went to Bangkok Thai on Main. Mark had the Gang Phed Ped: Sliced Boneless Duck Simmered in Medium Red Curry, Coconut Milk, Thai Basil and Fresh Tomato. This dish was very tasty, something we would order again. Sue had a Thai Barbeque dish called Thai Moo Yang: Boneless Pork Marinated with Honey and Thai Spices, then Grilled. Served with a Mildly Spicy Soy Sauce. This was good too, although it was a little different from what Sue was expecting. She ordered it hot and the heat crept on you. We ordered a 2004 Johannishof Riesling Kabinett for our wine. It was rated 93 by Wine Spectator, so we thought it would be nice to try. It was pretty good and went well with our meals.
Afterward, we walked back to the condo and watched some tv before heading to bed.