Utah Olympic Park

Thursday - 23 May 2002: Salt Lake City, Utah - We were a bit lazy today, and didn't get out of here until nearly 10:00 am. By then the weather was nice! Sunny and warm - a very pretty day. We were driving the BC2 40 minutes east to Park City, Utah - home of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. The drive itself was very scenic. As soon as you get out of town, the road climbs through the Wasatch Range and drops back down into Park City. What a perfect location for ski resorts - so close to Salt Lake City. Every gas station, store, bank and supermarket is made from logs and stone and everything is very, very clean and "aesthetically pleasing". In other words, its a pretty fancy place. Park City is so exclusive; the Wal-Mart does not even allow RVs to camp overnight in their parking lot!

Our first stop was the Utah Olympic Park, site of the XIX Olympic Winter Games for bobsleigh, luge, skeleton, ski jumping and Nordic combined events. (I copied that from the brochure.) We weren't really sure what we were going to see or do, but paid our $7 each and parked. First, we entered the Joe Quinney Winter Sports Center, which houses the Alf Engen Ski Museum. This museum was built to "preserve the rich history of skiing in the Intermountain region". They had several inter-active displays and DT really enjoyed himself, pretending to ski the downhill and then he took a little "ride" in a bobsleigh. (As Jimmy Buffett would say - he's growing older, but not up.)

DT, at play

We also looked at an Olympic photo gallery and looked at film of "memorable" footage. We gathered for a tour, having no idea what we would be touring - it turned out to be a very fun and informative hour on the mountain. About 30 people were shuttled to the top of the hill in big vans. Our driver, also our guide, was a luger in his day and now worked for the Utah Olympic Park. Before the games, he helped organize the luge and bobsled events and during the games, he did commentary for NBC! He was a fabulous guide, since he knew EVERYTHING and he was very friendly and funny too. He took us to the ramp where the luge and skeleton started. To the right was the ramp where the bobsled began. It was sunny on the deck, but we were standing in snow. Our guide explained in detail how each event worked and how they freeze and maintain the ice on the track. Fascinating stuff!

Bobsled, Luge and Skeleton track

Then, we hopped back in the vans and were driven to the top of the ski jump area. Talk about frightening! The most frightening thing about this ramp is that they use it all year - snow or not - and the jumpers land on special, extra-long, wetted-down astro-turf-type stuff. At least the crazy free-style ski jumpers are able to land in a huge pool of water!

Ski jump - from the top...


...and from the bottom

Considering I hardly even watched the Winter Olympics and have no interest in any of this cold-weather stuff - I really, really enjoyed this tour and learned so much, I may actually have to watch next time!  But seriously, can you imagine how scary it must be to stand on the top of that jump?
 
After our tour, and a swing through the gift shop (deeply discounted Olympic merchandise), we drove into the adorably quaint town of Park City. It was SNOWING as we drove into town - but it did not stick and the sun continued to shine!!! We parked and had a simple, yet incredibly expensive, lunch and strolled around the streets, shopping and looking at the real estate postings. You can get a nice little place in Park City for only about two million! Condos are cheaper! Seriously, the developments and resorts in this area are some of the nicest we have ever seen. But enough of these tony shops - there was a Banana Republic at the outlet mall! We found many things for Lisa, so I will be shipping a packet tomorrow. After looking through a few shops, we realized it was already after 4:00 pm, so we headed back to Salt Lake City.
 
We stopped at an Albertson's supermarket/gas station near our campground. DT was filling the car and I was going to buy a few groceries... I was refused entry to the store because their computers were down and they could not checkout the customers. Luckily enough for me, as it looked like a riot was about to break out among the huge lines inside the store and the police were involved! I walked over to the Albertson's gas station and DT was having trouble getting fuel, as their computers were down too. They actually could take CASH, so we were able to fill-up. Someone told us there was another market down the road, so we headed off to re-supply and did not arrive here until after 6 pm! Tonight, we will stay "in" and make it an early night as we leave first thing in the morning. 

RV Park: Salt Lake City KOA

NOTE TO READERS: The next section consists of six days in Las Vegas - seeing Jimmy Buffett (twice), wining, dining and gambling. Pretty boring stuff with few photographs. If you wish, jump ahead to Part 3 on May 30 - where he end up in beautiful Sedona, Arizona!