Playing in Park City

My time at Sewing Summit was so fun, but I missed being with Mr. Romance on his birthday for the first time in 42 years! I have the best husband, ever! To make up for not being with him on his actual birthday,  I suggested he come to Salt Lake City at the end of the Sewing Summit and we could have a fun, fall vacation in Utah.

My husband has a bucket list full of things he wants to see and do in his lifetime. One of them was fly fishing. So he checked into the availability of fly fishing and found out that the Provo River has some of the best fly fishing in the Western United States.

So, we looked into accommodations and other things we could do in the area and came up with a three day plan.

First up was finding a hotel. How lucky are we that we had enough Starwood points to stay at the St. Regis Deer Valley hotel for F*R*E*E?

The hotel is built on a hill and you must take a funicular up to the resort.

The panoramic view from the funicular.

We arrived at the hotel Sunday afternoon but had to wait for our room to be ready, so we enjoyed sitting on the patio enjoying an Irish coffee and a snack.

The view from our room 

the bathroom had a TV built into the mirror. Pretty cool, huh?

I was still on my Sewing Summit high, so I decorated our room with the bunting I received in the swap at the Salt Lake City Modern Quilt Guild mixer.

Park City has some pretty fantastic restaurants and we ate at two of them.The first was a little French Bistro called Bistro 421. They have a lovely menu and the restaurant is small and cozy and the food was delicious. We liked the decor and thought the way the water was kept chilled in this cool ice bag was interesting.

photo edited with iphone app Glaze

photo edited with iphone app Glaze

Because it was a Sunday and sort of off season, most of the shops were closed on Main Street, so we just took a quick walk before dinner to get familiar with the town. Park City is small and quaint in a good way. The last time we were here was pre-2002 Winter Olympics, so the city has grown and changed but kept it's charm.

The hotel offers s'mores every night at 8 o'clock. Its fun to sit outside by the fire with the other guests, chatting and making a snack. I can't imagine doing it in the freezing winter, but the cold fall night was fun.

Monday was our most anticipated day of fun. Fly fishing is not for sissies! You must get up early, wear really "cute" clothes

and stand in cold water on slippery, uneven river beds. It was a blast and we actually caught some fish. This was catch and release so no fish were hurt or maimed on this day.

Our guide, Will, was great and so tolerant of our ignorance. You wouldn't think throwing a 3 oz. rod back and forth {at least 500 times} would be a work out, but the next day my arm, chest and shoulder were so sore.
Here's my first fish, I caught the most (9 total)!          

Paul caught the biggest fish, at 17 inches.

 So that's another tick on Paul's bucket list.

The next day we went on a beautiful drive and photo shoot through the Alpine Loop.
We stopped at Sundance to do a little shopping and site seeing. The only "stars" we saw were the flock of wild turkeys that were making their way through the Sundance property.

Can you tell we are a little crazy over fall color photos? We just don't see this in Southern California and it is so different from the fall color in the eastern US. These Aspen trees were just beautiful!

The last night we ate at a restaurant called Chimayo. If you are ever in Park City I highly recommend this place. The food and ambiance were perfect.

edited with Glaze iphone app

The scallop entree'

the baby back rib entree'

The next morning when we woke up it was 27'F and when we arrived at home at 3:30 that afternoon it was 97'F...now that's just wrong! We had a wonderful time and as always the time went too fast.

Thanks for stopping by,

"di"