Day 30 (Park City, good; heat & bugs, bad)
Day 30
July 21, 2006
Capitol Reef NP, UT to Midway, UT (194 miles)
We got underway at about 9:30 AM and drove, with one stop for fuel, until lunchtime. The country just west of Torrey, in and around Bicknell and Loa, UT, looked even more like Iceland to us than the areas we had already seen. As we headed northwest toward the Provo/Salt Lake City region, the population density slowly increased. In Provo I-15 goes to the west of the Wasatch Mountains and US 189 goes through Provo Canyon to the east of them. We took 189 and paralleled a beautiful river that people were tubing in.
Our destination was Wasatch Mountain State Park near the towns of Midway and Heber City. Mom and Dad stayed in a Holiday Inn Express in Heber City. This was our first experience with a Utah state park and we were impressed with the visitor center, but the campground, although adequate, was nothing special.
During the drive to Midway, the temperatures climbed until, upon arrival, it was 103 degrees. The air conditioner in the minivan has had quite a workout on this trip and we think perhaps it’s been too much for it. Slowly, over a period of days, the A/C has been less and less effective at keeping the van’s interior cool. It got to the point today where we were very uncomfortable (sweating), so soon after we arrived and set up our campsite we drove to the Heber City Chrysler dealer with hopes that they could do something to help us. Unfortunately the dealer was closing for the weekend just as we arrived, but the service manager helped us find a dealer south of Salt Lake City that has Saturday service hours and Frank made an appointment with it to have the van looked at tomorrow.
This happens to be the “Days of ‘47” celebration weekend in Utah. We had never heard of this and didn’t have a clue what it was about. As it turns out, “’47” refers to 1847 and is a celebration of the pioneer (Mormon) history of Utah. This is a big deal in these parts. In fact, Monday is a Utah state holiday! From what we can tell, Pioneer Days are celebrated primarily with parades, carnivals and rodeos. It has been years since we’ve seen a rodeo and the kids have never been to one, so we hope to catch one in SLC on Saturday night.
We next drove 20 miles to the west for a look around Park City. One of Elliot’s classmate’s families, the D’Zmuras, recently purchased a Courchevel vacation condo in the Deer Valley section of town and we drove by it to take a look at it. We loved Park City. It is absolutely beautiful. There are many Olympics-driven improvements evident throughout the town that have left it looking fantastic and will carry it architecturally for years to come. The heart of the historic section has some wonderful pedestrian-only avenues flanked by new construction meant to look historic. They got it right and the effect is very inviting.
Frank, Elliot and Emily decided to ride the Town Ski Lift, which operates in the summer in spite of the lack of snow, and originates right in the historic area, while Norman, Sylvia and Sessy drove back to the campground to start cooking supper. The lift provided a great ride and gave some really good bird’s eye views of Park City. Elliot said Park City reminded him of Lake Tahoe. After the ride, we listened to some very good live music being played in a public courtyard before driving back to the campground.
The supper that Sessy and Mom cooked tasted great but was spoiled a bit by some incredibly bothersome and aggressive tiny flies. We don’t even know what they are called, and although they didn’t bite, they did get in our ears and eyes and seemed impervious to citronella candles and Deep Woods Off. This was our first encounter with insects on this trip and we realized that we’ve quickly become accustomed to camping without bugs in the desert southwest. We worry that this is a sign of things to come on our return trip across the northern tier states.
July 21, 2006
Capitol Reef NP, UT to Midway, UT (194 miles)
We got underway at about 9:30 AM and drove, with one stop for fuel, until lunchtime. The country just west of Torrey, in and around Bicknell and Loa, UT, looked even more like Iceland to us than the areas we had already seen. As we headed northwest toward the Provo/Salt Lake City region, the population density slowly increased. In Provo I-15 goes to the west of the Wasatch Mountains and US 189 goes through Provo Canyon to the east of them. We took 189 and paralleled a beautiful river that people were tubing in.Our destination was Wasatch Mountain State Park near the towns of Midway and Heber City. Mom and Dad stayed in a Holiday Inn Express in Heber City. This was our first experience with a Utah state park and we were impressed with the visitor center, but the campground, although adequate, was nothing special.
During the drive to Midway, the temperatures climbed until, upon arrival, it was 103 degrees. The air conditioner in the minivan has had quite a workout on this trip and we think perhaps it’s been too much for it. Slowly, over a period of days, the A/C has been less and less effective at keeping the van’s interior cool. It got to the point today where we were very uncomfortable (sweating), so soon after we arrived and set up our campsite we drove to the Heber City Chrysler dealer with hopes that they could do something to help us. Unfortunately the dealer was closing for the weekend just as we arrived, but the service manager helped us find a dealer south of Salt Lake City that has Saturday service hours and Frank made an appointment with it to have the van looked at tomorrow.
This happens to be the “Days of ‘47” celebration weekend in Utah. We had never heard of this and didn’t have a clue what it was about. As it turns out, “’47” refers to 1847 and is a celebration of the pioneer (Mormon) history of Utah. This is a big deal in these parts. In fact, Monday is a Utah state holiday! From what we can tell, Pioneer Days are celebrated primarily with parades, carnivals and rodeos. It has been years since we’ve seen a rodeo and the kids have never been to one, so we hope to catch one in SLC on Saturday night.
We next drove 20 miles to the west for a look around Park City. One of Elliot’s classmate’s families, the D’Zmuras, recently purchased a Courchevel vacation condo in the Deer Valley section of town and we drove by it to take a look at it. We loved Park City. It is absolutely beautiful. There are many Olympics-driven improvements evident throughout the town that have left it looking fantastic and will carry it architecturally for years to come. The heart of the historic section has some wonderful pedestrian-only avenues flanked by new construction meant to look historic. They got it right and the effect is very inviting.
Frank, Elliot and Emily decided to ride the Town Ski Lift, which operates in the summer in spite of the lack of snow, and originates right in the historic area, while Norman, Sylvia and Sessy drove back to the campground to start cooking supper. The lift provided a great ride and gave some really good bird’s eye views of Park City. Elliot said Park City reminded him of Lake Tahoe. After the ride, we listened to some very good live music being played in a public courtyard before driving back to the campground.
The supper that Sessy and Mom cooked tasted great but was spoiled a bit by some incredibly bothersome and aggressive tiny flies. We don’t even know what they are called, and although they didn’t bite, they did get in our ears and eyes and seemed impervious to citronella candles and Deep Woods Off. This was our first encounter with insects on this trip and we realized that we’ve quickly become accustomed to camping without bugs in the desert southwest. We worry that this is a sign of things to come on our return trip across the northern tier states.
posted by Hazzard Family | 21:53
2 Comments:
I hope the gap in your posts doesn't indicate serious van trouble (or any other trouble)! Let us know you are all okay. Also, Inquiring minds want to know how you are posting these from the road. We're loving the story so far. -- The Parr Family
Hi Parrs, The delay was due to a lack of hot spots for the family laptop. There is no Wi-Fi service anywhere in Yellowstone Park, so we had to wait until we got back to civilization.
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