The drive out of Grand Teton, heading south toward Park City was lovely - with the terrain slowly changing from sharp craggy mountains to the red erosion that is more common as you drive south.
We saw on our ChargePoint App that there was a fast charger at a place call the Bread Board in Lander, WY. We stopped for breakfast, and were pleasantly surprised by great bread/sandwiches, and a single charger that offered 5$ an hour (pro-rated if you don't stay a full hour) for charging, at a speedy 45 mph (not Tesla, supercharger speedy, which can top 360 mph, but very good for a generic all purpose charger). We headed out after breakfast and made our way south.
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| Super cool canyon walls outside Grand Teton |
We continued on the winding roads, whose speed limit quickly jumped to 80 MPH, which I thought was pretty awesome. Around each bend, we found new terrain... Bill converted this to black and white, but the low boulders and general lack of color really made us feel like we were on the moon.
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This part of Wyoming was eerie.
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Slowly, we stepped down into more colorful environs. Most of the drive, we saw only cows and a few low buildings. Coming from the density of the Bay Area, I found it somehow comforting that there is still this much wide open space in the world.
We had planned to spend a night in Park City, Utah, as it was about halfway between the Tetons and Bryce Canyon. We booked a stay at the Marriott Mountainside, a suite-style hotel right at the base of the Park City ski slopes. Initially, we were just going to stay the night, and head out the next morning, but our awesome host Jorge convinced us that our kids would love the resort and we should stay longer if we could. We began wandering the property, and quickly decided we needed more time in Park City! Parking in the hotel's fairly narrow garage, we had finally backed into a parking spot and were heading up with our bags to the lobby, when Bill spotted a narrow space next to a wall with... da da da dum... an outlet. Despite the kids' (and me) whining, we took a few minutes to relocate the car so we could plug it in. Boom. Free charging (edit from Bill - we asked if it was ok to plug in before we moved our car to that space).
The next morning, we decided to explore the Park City summer activities. They convert their ski slopes into an awesome roller coaster, luge-type slides, trampolines, ropes courses and many other activities that are perfect for families. We bought the day pass, and started out with the roller coaster. The cars are made for one or two people -- and you get to control how fast you go using little handles that you push forward to go fast, and pull back to brake. Needless to say we went full throttle! It is seriously a blast!
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| Mackay and I at the top of the slide. |
To do the slide, you take the chairlift up, and line up at the top of the slide. Similar to the coaster, you control your speed as you zip back down the track. The guide said they have 4-5 people a week who go too fast and end up flipping on the track, resulting in a trip to the ER. Hmm. Seems safe. It was fun, though.
The kids also had fun on the trampoline, and the mini-ropes course and climbing wall.
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| Mackay doing a back flip on the trampoline |
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| Owen on the climbing wall |
We continued to learn about the interesting alcohol laws of these south-western states. In Utah, you can only purchase wine or liquor from state-run stores (and they are closed on Sundays). Bill headed over to the market to get stuff for dinner, and made a stop in the liquor store to check it out. He was impressed. He said he was the only person in the store who walked out with less than a case of wine.
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| The State Liquor store in Park City |
While they seemingly try to control alcohol, the Marriott apparently doesn't subscribe. They have endless wine in the lobby in the early evenings, and Bill discovered that the fridge in the kids club is fully stocked, and the kid club counselors are more than happy to spike the strawberry or pina colada smoothies for the parents. Hilarious!
The kids club is pretty fantastic. They have a small movie theater that runs a variety of movies throughout the day and evenings, complete with popcorn.
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| Movie theater at the Marriott |
The activities for the kids are great -- you can mine for fossils or arrowheads in their back patio sluice.
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| Nifty 'mining' operation in the kids club patio |
And they have some educational activities like silly science experiments, where they taught the kids how to make a homemade lava lamp and rockets out of film canisters. Their counselor's entertaining first question was 'Does anyone know what a film canister is?' Not a single hand went up.
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| Inside 'The Mine' - the kids club at the Marriott |
The next day was pretty mellow with a late breakfast, and time spent at the pool. We took advantage of the evening activity - wine and painting! The staff put out canvases and paint (and wine, of course), and encouraged participants to paint away. Bill and I started with a fairly rudimentary dabbling, and then Mackay came in to save the day, converting our silliness into a true work of art!
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Mackay's finished 'Sunset over the Ocean'. I think she's missing home.
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While fairly dense, Park City is beautiful, and I wish we had even more time to explore the hikes and biking the city has to offer. We learned that in the early days, skiers coming to Park City would take an underground mining train in for two miles in a pitch black tunnel, then transfer to a mining elevator that would deliver them to the resort. Those are some dedicated skiers. The hiking and mountain biking also look epic.
But, we must head on to our next destination, camping at the Riverside park outside Bryce Canyon.
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| Adding the drive from Dubois, ID to Park City, Utah |
