After leaving Starvation State Park, UT we were hoping their state parks got better in that they at least offered electric -- especially as we were getting closer to Salt Lake City. So the first one we stopped at was Wasatch State Park in Heber City, Utah. It was nestled on the side of the mountain, but the sites were way too small to accommodate our 32' motorhome. So we moved on. Before leaving the area, however, we visited Soldier Hollow, where the nordic Olympic skiing took place in the 2002 Olympic games. Across from Soldier Hollow was a beautiful golf course with a log clubhouse. The original park I was headed to was Jordanelle State Park between Heber City and Park City, Utah. It is Utah's largest campground; whereas Wasatch was their first state park. We loved it when we saw it. It overlooked the Jordanelle Reservoir where the Jordanelle Dam was built on the Provo River as a water storage area for the Central Utah Project. The campsites were built into the hillside overlooking the reservoir where you could swim, boat or fish. We had water, electric, BBQ grill, fire pit, WI-FI and clean nice bathrooms. There was even a laundry on site. All for $20/night. What a bargain after the last few nights of what we went through. Visited Park City on our first day -- very nice town with lots of rich looking homes built into the Mountainsides. And a lot of imports!!! Could not tell that the economy was affected here. Our 2nd day there, we decided to visit all three ski resorts in Park City to obtain ski maps. They were Deer Valley, Park City and the largest was The Canyons. We cannot believe how much ski lift tickets are nowadays. Something like $87/day. WOW it has been awhile since we've been out west skiing. Anyways, the first highlight of our visit to Park City was the Utah Olympic Park. This 400 acre park gave us a close look at the nordic ski jumps, freestyle pool, and the bobsled, luge and skeleton tracks used in the 2002 Winter Olympic games. We also visited the George Eccles Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games Museum where we relived the 2002 Olympic Winter Games through visual highlights and artifacts as well as history of all the disciplines in the intermountain region through interactive touch screen displays, videos, virtual reality ski theater, games and topographic maps. For the public, they offered Bobsled rides, ziplines, and an alpine slide which we did not participate because they were only offered on the weekends and we were there on a Monday. There are guided tours offered every day and you could take your own walking tour of the grounds which we did. We loved watching the Freestyle training pool where young athletes were doing their freestyle skiing and landing in a 750,000 pool featuring a bubbling device that softened their landings. Very interesting park to visit. The website for this park if you need information when you plan to visit is:
www.olyparks.com
Our second highlight of our stay here, was our visit to Sundance Ranch. What a beautiful serene place. No wonder Robert Redford made this his home. And speaking of Robert Redford. At Sundance Ranch they have a chair lift that operates in the summer by taking visitors up the Mountain to see the terrific scenery, to hike the trails or to mountain bike the trails or just to ride back down. As we were getting on the chair lift, coming down on the chairlift was Robert Redford himself. And we know it was him because a mother had asked Mike to take a picture of her and her two kids of which he obliged and she told him Mr. Redford was at the top of the mountain doing some hiking and he was due back down in about 10 minutes. So of course we went to get our lift tickets and that is how we knew it was him. Sure didn't look 74. He was with a woman whom could of been his new wife but we were not sure. That just added more excitement to the most beautiful setting we have ever visited thus far. Plus it is a ski mountain in the winter months -- smaller then usual but manageable. There was a log lodge to stay in, and mountain cottages that were rustic and enhanced the surrounding landscape. There were 4 restaurants and a deli, a spa, conference and meeting rooms and an art shack. Sundance is dedicated to the balance of art and nature. Each January, the Sundance Village features 40 screenings during the Sundance Film Festival held in Park City, Utah. Also there was a babbling stream that went through the village which just made it very serene and it was just a nice quaint place to visit and Mike begged us to leave him there. Surely a place to visit in Utah and their website is:
www.sundanceresort.com
Now on to our Send Out Cards Convention in Salt Lake City.
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