Park City Things to Do

Park City, Utah was once a mining town....now it is a hot trendy spot for the skiing and skateboarding enthusiast....but much more, it is the home of the famous Robert Redford Sundance Film Festival.

The Film Festival was going on during my visit there. The main street was sectioned off at some points, and tents, film trucks, media, and lots of people were like a bees nest in this small city. You could very easily bump into a famous actor or actress or director or even a new film maker excited with his debute. It was also the height of the ski season so there was a mix of the snow bunny or Bohemian type.

I was lucky enough to be staying with a friend who just purchased a huge mountain home that sat on the side of Aire Drive that overlooked the city and other mountains. Traffic was tough and restaurtants so croweded....so it was nice to stay home and sit by one of our own fireplaces.....and then we would sneak out of town to visit others parts of Utah.

Park City in the summer is just as wonderful, ski lifts operate to take rides and see the beautiful mountains, hot air balloons can be rented also. And the Olympic Park gives rides on the luge and bobsled runs. What fun for the whole family.

I went to Park City (Deer Valley) the last week in March, and it was soo hot that people were skiing in shorts and T-Shirts---some even went as far as putting on bathing suits....Its quite a site, snow and bathing suits, go figure! Also if you go during Spring Break its extremely crowded, and full of teenagers!

All the shops in the area are well kept and some are just elegant but all have friendly help and a large variety of items for sale. We hit the jackpot, so to speak, and came home with some nice Fostoria glassware. We met one group of ladies who found a Tyco Beanie-Baby jackpot of their own.

People everywhere !
We found it less crowded during the Sundance FIlm Festival. We were here in September, during the off season also. We found it to be an uncrowded, relaxed, layed-back atmosphere. Lots of things to see and do. The downtown restraunts are most casual. You can find a variety of fares from fajitas to haute cuisine, along with a tall margarita or a cold beer to wet your whistle. If you get the chance, mingle with the locals they are friendly and can lead you to many out of the ordinary things to see and do. After all, they are here year round !
We had an interactive Murder Mystery Dinner. The whole cast sat down with us to a luscious five course meal. They were all in period clothing and never broke from playing their roles until the night was over. It was a suspenseful evening of love, mahem amd murder. ????Was that a gunshot ???? Right before our eyes, there was a murder..........but who done it ? The jealous lover ? The husband ? Oh crud there are two people dead ! One was poisoned. One was shot. Where'd the butler go ? I'll never tell !
Book an evening for yourself and find out who dies at your party.

These two story shops are the nicest I've ever seen. Run by friendly people, who usually reside above or below the establishment. You can find everything from expensive collector items to .99 cent novelty items.

Mountain biking the Wasatch crest trail above Park City is one of my favorite rides. I usually shuttle a car and start near Guardsman Pass behind Park City. We then ride up Puke Hill near the backside of Scott's bowl at PCMR. From there you ride the crestline of the mountains between Park City and Big Cottonwood Canyon. The views are simply amazing and the singletrack is awesome among the aspens and pines. We usually ride down near Murdoch Peak at The Canyons.

Here you can see the train as it pulls us over the roads and countryside. You may notice that as it crosses the road, there is NO barriers. The soot from the coal buring was quite intense when the wind was coming from the WRONG direction, but it was worth it to experience a little of what we would have had to put up with if we had been born only 50 years earlier.

You can catch a ride on the Union Pacific Railroad, it uses an old coal burning engine that pulls the cars, you can see the engine here as it comes to attach to the line of cars it will pull over the 10 mile track.