Welcome to Park City, Utah

I have been in Park City, Utah, one of the best ski resorts in the country, for 33 hours and have yet to ride a chair life or ski a slope. My mom, Judy and I are here for 28 days (well, 26 more days) because... because we decided to spoil ourselves a little (OK a lot) bit. That's not entirely true. My mom decided to spoil herself, and I am getting spoiled by default.

We rented a condo in Redstone that we found on Vacation Rentals by Owner. We got a great deal on a two bedroom (each with a private balcony), three bathroom, floor through kitchen/dining/living area with gas fireplace, laundry room, garage, office alcove, in a two story condo. Oh, and did I mention it's an end unit with a private outdoor hot tub overlooking a wildlife preserve? Yes, we hit the jackpot.

Yesterday was kind of a blurry whirlwind because of all the running around. Between waking up early, flying, running errands, and getting (sort of) settled, we barely had time to stop and smell the roses, er... snow. Our wonderful City Cab driver took us to Canyon Sports where we were able to purchase discount lift tickets for Deer Valley and Snowbird. Costco was next where we picked up 5-pack discount tickets for Park City and 2-pack discount tickets for The Canyons. The Park City 5-packs have the highest discount, but the small discount on the other mountain lift tickets are worth purchasing. We figured we should ski most of the resorts in the area since they are all easily accessible, except for Snowbird which has the best powder in the USA.

The condo in Redstone is in the perfect location. Since we're car-less, it is important to stay somewhere with shops within walking distance and on a shuttle route. In Redstone there is a Smith's grocery store, Whole Foods Market, Bed Bath and Beyond, Best Buy, Petco, TJ Maxx (I'm in heaven), Starbucks, Chase bank, post office, movie theater, and a variety of restaurants. The shuttle bus stop is literally 300 feet from our door. Everything we need is here.

Today was our first full day in the city, and there was lots to do. After waking up and lolly gaging for a good 4 hours, we walked the 2 minuted to the bus stop, hopped on the pink line shuttle, and headed into Park City. The first stop was Cole Sports where we had purchased Volkl skis over the phone with the great help of Ryan, who luckily was also in the store today. Ryan and Brett fitted Judy and I for boots. We both have the same shaped foot, narrow heel compared to a wide toe. What can I say? Like mother like daughter. We laughed when they brought out the same brand of boot, Dalbell0, only a harder more aggressive boot for me and a more cushy flexible boot for my "elderly" mother. Having never been fitted for boots before in my life, the experience was one to be remembered. My favorite part was when my custom insoles were made. They literally take a mold of your foot and then heat up your insoles and shape them between the mold and your foot. I found it very fun.

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At Cole Sports I also picked up some brand new socks, which Brett claims are the best ski socks on the market, XXX socks, which at $45 are actually on the less expensive side for good technical skiing socks. I also snagged some Hot Chillys warmwear (aka long johns) for $45 each. Judy and I also got matching Sorel boots to wear when walking around in the wet and snow to keep our feet toasty and dry and to make sure we don't slip and hurt ourselves, because then we wouldn't be able to ski and that would defeat the whole purpose of our trip. Fabulous Brett told us that our skis would be mounted with their bindings overnight and brought to the base of the mountain so that we could pick them up in the morning before we headed out for our first run. Thanks, Brett (and Ryan - who lucky duck is going to Jackson Hole for a few days so we didn't get to say goodbye). Cole Sports is the premier ski gear shop in Park City. They carry only the best of everything and the customer service was top notch. And with four locations in Park City and Deer Valley, with one shop specializing in snowboard gear, there is no reason to go to any other ski shop.

After our pleasant experience at Cole Sports we returned to the condo and walked over to Smith's grocery store with a Whole Foods Market shopping cart that we jacked yesterday and stored in our garage (we promise we'll return it before we go back to NY). We stocked up on food and water but there were a few things we were unable to purchase; matzo ball soup mix (Jewish) and rice crackers (Asian). We were directed to the "international" food aisle, which actually made us laugh because Kraft Mac and Cheese was in this aisle as well as ramen noodles. I will stop there, and let you figure out the rest.

Now, after having eaten and fully unpacked, I am sitting in my cozy room planning my day for tomorrow. I'm going to take it easy, because I haven't skied in a year and it would be terrible if I injured myself on the first day. Wish me luck for tomorrow which will be my first time skiing in my own skis and boots, and my first time skiing in Park City. I can't wait.