Poking Around Main Street Park City

September 23^rd, Park City, UT

Monday morning in Park City was a leisurely beginning.  Joyce and I were loathe to leave the comforts of Silvia’s AirBnB home and it was nice not to have an agenda after the long haul from Denver.  With getting such a late start, we decided on strolling around the historic Main Street area and checking out all the art galleries and shops.  The day was another perfect day of warm sun, blue sky and just cool enough for a pullover. 

Park City was a familiar place for me but many changes had taken place since I was there back in 2002.  There were quite a few new buildings and some past restaurants were gone.  I looked for Mother Hubbards’ Brew Pub known for 300 draft beers only to be disappointed that it was a brand new building and that cool cellar bar was gone.  Park City had its beginnings as a rough and rowdy silver mining town and became a cool place for powder hounds, youthful adventurers and the streets full of peoples’ dogs with freedom to roam and a treat around every corner. It has lost a lot of that feel now but I was happy to see big water bowls set out for dogs and at least one gallery owner had his dog at work with him.  People are still friendly and the mountains envelope the city with beauty and dramatic appeal.  It felt good to be back in surroundings I knew.  I still managed to get around without a map.  We finished our gallery walk with a beer at the No Name Saloon, an icon and main stay of Main.

I had been telling Joyce about this high country road above the tree line where the views were amazing and we may see some wildlife.  After a false start, I got us heading up and up. 

We made our way up Guardsman Pass that towers over everything, even the ski slopes.  It ends up being closed to traffic once the first snow comes but it was wide open that day.  It wasn’t long before we finally found ourselves being treated to aspens in gold.  It all looked so fresh and bright with blue sky, gold aspens and views that made us feel like it was the top of the world.  We have really lucked out on our weather for this trip so far and feeling thankful. 

One of the high points of that day for me was dinner with my wonderful friend, Ruth, from my massage school days.  Ruth was a real mentor for me, not only in the school but with my job at Utah College of Massage Therapy.  I knew her first as a coworker before she became one of my teachers but right from the start we had a deep friendship.  Truly one of the kindest-hearted people I know.  I had not seen her since I left Utah back in 2002 so I was quite excited to finally lay eyes on her. 

We met for dinner in Salt Lake City at the Red Rock Brewery and I practically jumped up and down when she walked through the door.  Big hugs and kisses all around as I introduced her to Joyce.  It was so great to see her and I was amazed at how little she has changed in 11 years.  Still the same lovely, sweet woman she’s always been, with her expressive way of talking that has you not wanting to miss a thing.  It was too short of a visit but one I was very happy to have been able to have.  

Our first day in Park City was a full and memorable one.  We had only originally planned on being in Park City for two nights but it became obvious that day we really wanted more time so we extended another night with our departure as Wednesday morning.  To be honest, I think it had a lot to do with not wanting to leave our paradise at Silvia’s more than anything else J.