Here’s a few of the details and random observations from the week we spent in Park City this February. For information and reviews on specific Park City area resorts, check out my reviews of:
Otherwise, if you’re planning a ski or snowboard vacation to Park City or elsewhere, some of this information might come in handy. Then again, some of it might not. Enjoy!
If the ski run is called “Shortcut”, it is not a shortcut.
If you arrive on Sunday or on a Holiday, you will not be able to buy real beer because the State lackeys who work for the liquor stores have the day off, thanks to Mormon socialism!
I ate nothing at the resorts, because don’t care for $14 hamburgers and $11 hot dogs. Instead, I wrapped extra bacon in tin foil, stuffed it in my cargo pockets, and that was my lunch. Mmmmm, bacon! Also, it gives you the sort of instant energy that can only come from a deep-fried menagerie of protein and fat, to help you power through the rest of the afternoon.
Speaking of pork fat… We went through about 8 pounds of bacon, 3 pounds of pork sausage, 2 gallons of milk, 6 dozen eggs, 1 pound of coffee, 1 gallon of orange juice and 8 Freschetta or Tombstone oven-bake pizzas, 4 loaves of sourdough bread and 96 slices of Kraft yellow American cheese, a bundle of bananas, a few green peppers, a few onions, a box of Nature Valley granola bars and a few cans of soup. In total, we spent about $90/person for the week on food and booze for the house (not including 2 meals at restaurants, bar tabs).
For grocery items, we discovered that the Albertson’s in Park City is really expensive. If you have transportation, go down the road a few more miles to the Smith’s. Prices are more reasonable there. The bargain of the trip was the pre-made Party Subs we found at Smiths, each about 24″ long and maybe 7″ wide, probably 3 pounds of meat in each, and they were selling for only $5.99 which sure beats paying $8/pound for cold cuts at the deli counter. One of these subs could feed 5 hungry guys. We ate 4 of them.
We rented a house that I found on VRBO.com – you can check the details, view the availability and contact the owner through http://www.vrbo.com/273593. It’s a 2BR with a Queen, one set of bunk beds, and a full-size Murphy bed. Sleeps 4 adults comfortably, 5 or 6 if you don’t mind doubling up or sleeping on the couch. Newly renovated, and there was a shared hot-tub available. It’s was about a 2-minute walk down two flights of stairs to the Wasatch Brew Pub at the top end of Main Street.
If the place you stay at has a washer/dryer and you’re not worried about wearing the same clothes every day, you can get away with fewer clothes than I packed. I packed fairly light, but didn’t even wear a few of the shirts, so I could’ve packed lighter.
The “Thundercats” statue at the top end of Main Street was a good meeting place. OK, so it’s not really a “Thundercats” but a few whiskey-and-cokes… It’s actually a bronze statue of a native American drawing a bow while hunting but being pounced on from above my a jaguar or mountain lion of some sort.
The nightlife in Park City mid-week is practically non-existent. At several places, we were quite literally the only customers. O’Shuck’s had $2 Tankards one night, but I spent a few years living in a fraternity house and was not terribly eager to relive that on my vacation. Bars that smell like basement+piss+stale beer are not my cup of tea, especially when they’re crowded to capacity and you’re standing nuts-to-butts in the middle of a sausage party.
The Christy Sports location between SLC and Park City offers discounted lift tickets to all of the area resorts. Savings between $10 and $24 per day. At those rates, a full-day pass is cheaper than a half-day pass at the resorts’ ticket windows. Do yourself (and your bank account) a favor and stop there on the way in to town.
