Saturday, August 25, 2012

A Great Escape

John and I snuck away for a long weekend trip to Park City, Utah, and this little escape from reality couldn’t have come at a better time. Helen Grace was happy as a pig in you-know-what with her grandparents for the weekend, and Mama and Daddy were able to kick our feet up and RELAX.

After a direct flight {a small miracle in itself} to Salt Lake City on Friday afternoon, we checked into the St. Regis at Deer Valley. It’s a fabulous hotel that sits high up on a mountain with a funicular down to the Deer Valley ski resort, and our room overlooked the pool and terrace. This place is the epitome of good service. We enjoyed cocktails and dinner that night on the terrace, followed by s’mores cooked by John over the fire pit. Yummmm!

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On Saturday morning, I visited the spa for a $200 massage that was worth every penny. I’d consider a trip back there just for another one! Afterward, we headed into Park City for lunch and shopping.

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That afternoon, we went back to the hotel for more spa time. I had loved my massage so much that morning that I booked a facial for the afternoon, and John had a massage as well. My esthetician had no sooner put the first cream on my face when the power went out. Like, out out. We waited in complete darkness for a few moments, and when it didn’t come back on, she went to find some candles. I have to say that was my first {and hopefully, last} facial by candlelight. When we finished up in the spa, we quickly cleaned up- still no power- and headed downstairs for cocktail hour. We immediately noticed that the staff were antsy and soon learned that the power was out because of a wildfire that was close to the hotel. Within minutes, we received evacuation orders, complete with police officers standing outside the doors of the hotel. We ran upstairs, packed an overnight bag, ran back downstairs only to be told we needed to pack ALL of our bags, and were finally evacuated to the Montage a few miles away. It was a little eerie as we pulled out of the hotel and saw the planes dropping water on the flames and the huge plumes of smoke.

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“We made it at last!”montage couple

While we thought the St. Regis was decadent, the Montage was on a whole new level- it was breathtakingly classic and wonderful! We ate dinner there at the Apex, and the food finally got in front of us around 10:30 p.m. Zzzzz….what a day!montage diptic

It was all worth it when I woke up to this view on Sunday morning…montage sunrise CF6C3924 IMG_2517

We were shipped back to the St. Regis that morning once the ‘all clear’ was given. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at the hotel and then headed into Park City for the Park Silly Market, a street market in the middle of downtown.

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For dinner on Sunday night, we went into town to eat at 350 Main Brasserie.

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On Monday morning, I decided to finally get my butt out of bed, and we ventured out to ‘climb’ Bald Mountain {via ski lifts}. It was a breathtakingly beautiful view from the top.

bald mtn couple2 bald mtn couple3 John, ever faithful, taking a work call from the top of the mountain.bald mtn john1 Our friend, Summerbald mtn summer 

Monday night, we rode a ski lift up to the top of the mountain where we were greeted with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, and then we came back down for dinner at the lodge. While I didn’t wear my stilettos that night, I did have on my platform wedges, and I was quite proud of myself for making it safely on and off the ski lift without incident, although I refrained from any wine until my feet were safely on the ground at the lodge!IMG_2535IMG_2543mountain top diptic

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Tuesday morning, we headed back to reality. On the way to the airport, we saw the damage from the fire- wow, it was CLOSE- and passed these pretty hot air balloons.

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We couldn’t have been MORE excited to get home to this little girl. While she did really well while we were gone, she obviously doesn’t want us to take a suitcase anywhere without her again.

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