Park City, et al

I took a tour to Park City, away from the area I travel to go to work. I took some pictures during my travels. Here’s some of the things I saw:

Shoe tree: It’s on the road I travel, so I finally took a picture of it. It is on Poison Creek in Park City, outside of the Marriott Hotel. It looks like it has been going on for a while. Why? Who knows. It is an interesting if somewhat disturbing site. Why disturbing? All those shoes that could be used by people who can’t afford decent shoes. Some of them appear pretty good.

Another sight: On the plaza before Main Street at the Marriott, an artist had some metal sculptures outside. I like this one of a mare and her colt. All of the parts appear to be old car/mechanical parts: springs, pistons, etc., welded together. Very well done.

Since these were taken later in the season (early March), there is not a lot of snow. You can see from the Main Street pictures, the streets are narrow and crowded. Sidewalks are narrow. Just to the right of where I took the picture is a lift that takes you up to the main Park City Resort ski area.

I took this picture on the way into Park City. You can see the runs. Not a lot of snow, but enough to keep almost all the runs open. Not sure how long that is going to last.

Here’s a picture of Deer Valley from the upper parking lot. The building is the Snow Park Lodge, the main building for the resort. This is where I usually work, up on the third floor – the one with no windows, no skylights, no way of ever seeing out. But, the season is almost over – only a couple of more weeks.

My thoughts on being here: Park City is a tourist trap/resort. Yes, there are people who live here year round, but the ski resort, Sundance and the Park City Film Festival (after Sundance) draw in tourists. One person said to me that the billionaires are pricing out the millionaires. Ugh.

The problem is that I am living in a beautiful, but very manicured resort. It is nice, but so very civilized, I might as well be living in a condo. Park City and Deer Valley are more of the same. For a while, before I started my adventure, I lived at Eddos on the Sacramento River and drove over Willow Pass to Walnut Creek. Compared to Eddos, this is like living in downtown Walnut Creek. I’ve discovered that this is not the kind of environment I want, at all. Yes, I can see the mountains and with a little bit of traveling, I can get away from all this, but not entirely.

In addition, I vow never to work where I have to worry about the snow. I have the only two-wheel-drive-that-isn’t-a-front-wheel-drive in all of Utah. I don’t enjoy driving when I have to worry about sliding or hitting black ice. Fortunately, the snow has been so bad, there have only been a couple of days when driving from Heber City to Park City might have been considered “iffy.” The plows and sanders have been very good on those days, but sometimes not before I got to the roads in the morning.

I’ll have to see how working at Whitefish Lake State Park in Montana will be. I will have to work more hours, but I will be close to Glacier National Park from mid-May to mid-September. Only 4 months compared to the 5-1/2 I have been here. And during the summer! Can’t wait.