Park City isn't your usual Utah town, as its residents are happy to tell you. Once a raucous mining center, it was never known for its saintliness, and even today, a local leader boasted that "we're considered a kind of Sodom and Gomorrah by the rest of the state." Yes, there were 22 saloons on Main Street in the 1890s, and these days, it's mostly secular orchestral music at the Arts Festival, making it a very nice place to live, as both residents and snow birds (retired people with second homes here) will testify.
Everything is up to date in Park City, too, if you count their Swaner EcoCenter among its blessings. The center, scheduled for completion this month hopes to be the greenest building in Utah, pursuing Platinum status of LEED Certification. It's part of the Swaner Nature Preserve, some 1,200 acres of wildflowers and recently restored riparian zones right next door to the city.
Highlights
Don't miss the Utah Olympic Park, site of those games in 2002, especially the Flying Ace freestyle aerial show every Saturday in summer (adults $10), featuring former Olympians and aspiring gamesters skiing down four different jumps and twirling into a pool of water at their base.
At the park, you can jump on one of two zip lines or alpine slides year round, in the latter case sliding either on snow and ice in winter or on simulated wet grass the rest of the year. At the Visitors Center, you can check out one or both of the museums here, one on the ground floor dedicated to a Skiing Museum (which I found a perfect introduction to the sport), or the second-floor Olympic 2002 Museum, where the costumes may be their best exhibits. Entrance to the park is free, with no charge to tour the museums or watch future Olympic athletes train. There are fees for the zip lines and slides and other activities, however. Adults pay $5 for chair lift rides, $7 for guided tours, $5 for Snow Zone, $20 for Xtreme Zipline (said to be the world's steepest), $15 for Ultra Zipline, $15 for luge or skeleton slide. Winter bobsled rides cost $200 (summer $60), the bobsled driving school $500, Olympic Legacy Camp for children 9-14 costs $395. At the Ski Museum, you'll learn that Utah's famed powdery snow is only 5% to 7% water, while the heavier stuff in the Sierra, for instance, is 10% to 15% water. More information at tel. 435/658-4200 or at www.olyparks.com.
The Utah Symphony makes its summer home in Park City, and schedules several concerts, mostly classical in nature, though it does have popular music nights and makes a joint appearance with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir as well. The concert I attended happened to be Broadway Night, which was fun, especially because the encore was The Age of Aquarius from the 1968 hit, Hair. The audience of boomers was carried away.This was part of the Deer Valley Music Festival, co-sponsored by the symphony and Utah Opera. Check it out at 800/864-9298, www.deervalleymusicfestival.org. There's a Park City Jazz Festival in August, as well. And if you come here in January, you can see movies at the famed Sundance Film Festival.
Lovers of the arts in general should love the programs presented by the Park City Performing Arts Foundation in its outdoor series at the Deer Valley Resort, with July and August performances that in 2008 included such stars as Feist, Lucinda Williams, the Gipsy Kings and Dwight Yoakum. More info at 435/655-3114 or at www.parkcitytickets.com.
Stroll down Main Street, not up it, by taking a free bus (looks like a trolley) up to the top and walking down, especially if you're new in town and the altitude is getting to you. There are at least 22 art galleries, but not all the 22 saloons here in the 1890s. The neatest drinking spot on this stretch today, in my opinion, is the No Name Saloon, identified by its former moniker above the door as The Alamo. The Main Street Trolley operates from 10am to 10pm.
You might enjoy the Park City Museum at 528 Main Street, or taking their walking tour ($5 adults), which lasts an hour. George Hearst, father of William Randolph, made his fortune here in the silver mines, they told me. (Remember Citizen Kane and the Rosebud sled?) Today, more than 1,000 miles of tunnels lie under the city's mountains with "vast quantities of silver still buried there," say the town historians. (It's too expensive to dig it out now, they say, but someone is digging mines somewhere, as there was a help wanted ad in a Salt Lake City newspaper looking for miners when I visited in August.) More dope at 435/649-7547 or at www.parkcityhistory.org.
If you're lucky, you might encounter the Music Taxi, a dolled-up and bedecked cab operated by a gentleman who calls himself Zafod Beatlebrox, not his real name. His van is white on the outside but looks like a jukebox (with revolving mirror ball and karaoke opportunities) inside. He's carried a lot of famous passengers, he says, and you can be another. Phone him at 435/649-6496, or check out www.music-taxi.com.
You can ice skate even in summer at the Park City Ice Arena, out near the National Ability Center at State 248 and Highway 40.Check it out at www.pcice.org. You might even go hiking on some of the area's 350 miles of trails.
The town's leading resorts are: Deer Valley Resort (tel. 800/424-DEER, www.deervalley.com); The Canyons (tel. 888/CANYONS, www.thecanyons.com); and Park City Mountain Resort (tel. 800/222-PARK, www.parkcitymountain.com).
There's a free public bus service operating in and around town, including to the resorts nearby, running from 7:30am-10:30pm. Get a map or check out www.parkcity.org/citydepartments/transportation.
Dining Out
The best meal I had in Park City was at Wahso (it's an approximation of the French word for bird, oiseaux, they told me), which calls itself an Asian grill, but serves fusion dishes with both Asian and European ancestries. I enjoyed a Hibachi Trio appetizer at $8.95, consisting of satays of shrimp, chicken and beef, and pan-seared Peking duck breast at $28.95. The food and the service were as good as anything I've had in New York recently, the prices a bit lower than the Big Apple's for comparable dining. They are at 577 Main Street, tel. 435/615-0300, website www.wahso.com.
Butcher's, at the bottom of Main Street, is the place to go for comfort food, as well as for steaks and chops in general. A popular item here is Chop House Porterhouse, a broiled 1.5-pound steak with roasted garlic mashed potatoes, sautéed mushrooms and onion jam, at $49. 751 Main Street, tel. 435/647-0040, www.butcherschophouse.com.
If you enjoy gorgeous scenery with your meal, consider the Royal Street Café at the mid-level of the Deer Valley Resort, where you look out on two ski lifts soaring up into the mountains. I enjoyed a Dungeness Crab Tower appetizer for $16, and an innovative fried green tomato and chevre goat cheese salad, also at $16. The service, including that of a very smart young lady from Romania, was impeccable. Phone them at 435/649-1000 or check out www.deervalley.com.
How High is Up?
Park City is about 7,000 feet above sea level, so you will find the air very dry and thin. One leading citizen told me you should spend one day here getting acclimated to the altitude for every thousand feet you have ascended to get here. As I came in from zero-altitude Seattle, I should rest a week before I started running around, but I didn't, and I found myself out of breath after walking uphill only a few blocks. Others say only 15% of people are affected by the altitude, so believe what you wish, I guess. In any case, drink plenty of water and carry a bottle with you in the daytime especially, as summer temperatures under the sun can reach 90 degrees easily and dehydration can be a problem.
Contacts
Everything you ever wanted to know about Deer Valley can be had at the website of its Visitors Bureau, www.parkcityinfo.com.