Saturday in Park City

I planned to blog this morning before our day started, but now it's Saturday night and we've just had an amazing day so thought a "day in the life" blog might be in order.  People save up for years to vacation in a ski resort town while the majority of others never experience it, so we try to capitalize on all that Park City throws at us.  Today was a good example.  We work very hard and have sacrificed to live here and our proud of our community.  We may have more money than the average US town, but we all have big hearts, love a good time, and are extremely sports motivated.

Speaking of working hard, the last 12 days have been intense.  My software project is officially Live after 11 months of planning, designing, testing, validating, and training.  Last weekend I worked from home, but it was very stressful and my only breaks were for a couple Sundance movies.  Most days this last month at work have gone long and when I did leave in time to make cycling class, I logged back on and worked late.  Did I mention that I've been sitting with several others in a conference room since June and although most of us got along, that is a long time in close quarters.  This is actually pretty standard procedure for these types of projects and we were very successful.  My mind and body were on hyper-active setting until Thursday, when we had a few days of production under our belts and had hit important milestones and I could leave before dark.  By Friday, I just did what I could to get thru the day before crashing.  After a great night sleep, I was ready to go out and enjoy a Saturday in Park City!

Project Go-Live Weekend Command Center

Before I relive our day, a quick update on Sundance.  My parents had a fabulous time and left last Sunday promising to return again next year.  Because of all our schedules, we ended up passing notes and only spent a few hours together over 14 days.  Hopefully next year we'll have more time to visit.  We didn't use any of their waitlist tickets, but I had purchased tickets to the Award Winning films - Dramatic on Saturday night (Fruitvale) and Documentary on Sunday afternoon (Blood Brother).  Both movies were beautifully done with very passionate directors.  It was easy to see why they each won both the Grand Jury and Audience awards for their categories. Although we only "Sundanced" for a couple hours, it is such a unique experience and so much fun. Again, another incredible opportunity thanks to living in Park City.

Fruitvale Director Ryan Coogler (only 26) and his team discussing the movie

Today began nice and slow but got exciting as the UCI Cyclo-Cross World Championships started streaming live on the internet.  The Worlds were held outside of Europe for the 1st time and of all places, in Louisville, Kentucky.  We watched the Men's Juniors race and then Terry went out to shovel while I watched the Women's Elite race.  The coverage was fantastic and the crowds were huge!  I was really pulling for American Katie Compton and she didn't disappoint with a silver medal behind superstar Marianne Vos.

I couldn't delay any longer, so joined Terry for shoveling camp.  As soon as my parents left on Sunday, it started dumping and we ended up with over 20" in 3 days.  We kept up with the driveway and back deck but the roof slid and we had to dig out the fence.  One day I may write about the fence, but the adult thing to do is keep on top of it.  With our new landscaping, we can't get the snowblower as close, so we shoveled, chipped, and sweated for a couple hours.  Actually, Terry did 2hrs and I got away with 1, which he's been reminding me all day.  In addition to all the fresh snow for skiing, the storm provided a new batch of photos for Mailbox Monday.  Last week's is Corrie's masterpiece, but I'll start posting the storm pics next week.

Latest Storm brings 20"+

Fence Shovel Camp

We came in from shoveling and had an early lunch and watched the end of the Men's U23 race, then changed from sweaty snow gear to dry gear for an afternoon on the slopes.  The plan was to meet up for an adult play-date but unfortunately CB wasn't feeling too spunky, so it was just Joe, Kelly, Terry, and me.  We arrived early, parked right by the Town Lift in Park City then rode up and skiied back down to the halfpipe. PCMR hosted the U.S. Grand Prix this week and today's event was women's and men's freestyle.  It was quite the party scene and we watched all the women, including American Maddie Bowman take home gold!  Just as the men started, Joe and Kelly arrived, so we went up Eagle lift to see a few more competitors on our way to ski.

U.S. Grand Prix Freestyle Halfpipe

U.S. Grand Prix crowds on a perfect Park City Saturday

We skiied hard all afternoon, then ended up back in town for apres ski at High West Distillery.  Kelly and I became instant fans of the Mexican Hot Chocolate.  Too bad we had to leave to pick up their kids, otherwise we would have had a few more. We regrouped and went out for pizza, then they went home and we headed to Deer Valley for yet another Park City event.

PCMR Ski Date - Kelly, Joe, Jenny, Terry

Almost every year since we've moved to Park City, we've attended the FIS Freestyle event. Usually just the dual moguls, but we've also caught the aerials a few times.  It is an Olympic style event with big crowds, fireworks, and superstar athletes.  We've perfected the best place to park to leave without sitting in traffic and usually wear enough clothing to last the night.  Since we hadn't gone home, we were still in our ski gear and just added a few more layers and started hiking up.  The men and women were taking turns showing off their quad strength, speed, and aerial moves.  The crowd was rocking and we all erupted when Park City "local" (and Butte, Montana native) Bradley Wilson nailed his runs and moved into the final four and ended up with bronze!  On the women's side, American Hannah Kearney won her 2nd gold of the weekend.  We decided we could skip the fireworks and headed for the truck.  So that's our Saturday in Park City, what a good one it was!

FIS Freestyle Dual Moguls