Summer fun for everyone

PARK CITY, Utah - My wife looked at me like I’d sprouted arugula from my ears.

All I’d done was suggest we spend our summer vacation in Park City.

“Utah?”

This is the same woman who had to be convinced that Las Vegas would be a terrific destination for a three-day arts getaway for the two of us. (She was mostly — well, least partly — convinced.)

OK, Park City isn’t exactly our usual kind of vacation spot. Mexico, sure. Hawaii, when we have the money. Florida, in moderation. . . . but Utah?

My job is to blame for putting Park City on my radar. I used to cover the Sundance Film Festival and fell in love with the town when it was blanketed in snow and swarming with celebrities.

The other culprit here is timeshare ownership. When you own a time share (ours is in Breckenridge) and you like to trade it, as we do, you need to think outside the tourist box. When money’s tight, you look to trade a week somewhere within driving distance, and if you’re careful, you can keep the vacation under $600.

Park City (which is a pleasant 8½-hour drive) in the summer might seem a strange destination for a Coloradan. After all, our state has plenty of mountain resort towns that offer beauty, the arts and outdoor recreation. But few offer such a well-balanced vacation experience.

Park City’s vibrant Main Street and surrounding areas have art galleries, concerts and theater on par with Aspen but without the snooty factor. The hiking, biking and boating scene is at least as good as you’ll find in Breckenridge, but because it’s out of state, it offers a greater sense of discovery. (The wildflowers were gorgeous when we visited in June.)

The lodging options lean toward high-rise resorts, with a few boutique lodges also available.

We stayed at the sprawling Marriott Summit Watch, which is available as a hotel as well as a time share. Its mining theme, played out with a giant trestle running through the indoor-outdoor swimming-pool area, is fun, if a bit Disney-ish. The rooms are wellfurnished, and the common areas comfortable and clean. Unfortunately, a time-share tour of the nearby Marriott MountainSide found it newer and more luxurious, particularly in the pool area.

Still, Summit Watch enjoys a terrific central location, and we really took advantage of it. It’s right on the town’s main bike path, with the shops and galleries of Main Street uphill and the parks and playgrounds downhill. Just outside our door was the town’s famous Shoe Tree, its branches adorned with dozens of shoes, inviting visitors to toss off their footwear and enjoy Park City, Bohemian style.

Quick tip: Don’t toss your hiking boots. The trails can be rocky.

Our oldest son, the skateboarder, declared that the skate park, a short coast from our door, was “totally sick.” Which I think is a good thing. It’s certainly bigger and more elaborate than any of the parks in Colorado Springs, and it’s being expanded. To me, it’s just one sign of the town’s commitment to kids, and you see more of that commitment as you roll down the bike path and run into one park after another. (Hey, it ain’t called “Park City” for nothing.)

Younger kids will go nuts over the musical playground, which offers a bizarre array of instruments for the little ones.

We had a blast riding up and down the bike paths, along the stream and through the tunnels, which are plastered with murals depicting the town’s mining heritage.

If you’re looking for more of a hard-core mountain-biking experience, you can ride across the street to the Town Lift and tear down the ski runs.

Quick tip: Bring your own bikes. At least five local shops will rent you bikes, but the cost, about $40 a day, could eat into your fun budget.

MORE ON THE SLOPES

Many ski areas have added alpine slides to make the most of their mountains in summer. The Park City area has two: one at the Park City Mountain Resort and the other at the Olympic Park, site of the 2002 Olympic Games, a few miles east of town, near Kimball Junction.

At both locations, the alpine slides are just one ride in a veritable summer play land. We’re talking mazes, zip lines (the Olympic Village boasts the highest in the world), a carousel and miniature golf. The mountainside area even has a new alpine coaster: a whiteknuckle hybrid of a slide and a roller coaster built on the side of the mountain.

Quick tip: Dads, don’t do the alpine slide.

I recommend the zip lines — which, unless you’re scared of heights — are more peaceful than they are thrilling, sort of a speedy downhill chairlift, and the coaster above the slides.

The problem with an alpine slide is that you’re on a plastic sled that’s free to climb up and out of the confines of the concrete walls of the slide. You control the speed. The rest of my family had no trouble with this. I, however — not about to let my 14-year-old beat me down the hill — went so fast that I fell partially out of the sled, leaving some of my skin behind.

I noticed when returning to our resort’s pool that another dad had similarly skinned hands, arms and legs.

“Alpine slide?” I asked.

“Yep.”

Why is it only the dads who get hurt on this ride? Not a good question to ask, I suppose.

The true adrenalin hounds should go to the Olympic Park for the bobsled ride, which will send you hurtling down the mountain at up to 70 mph. You’ll have an experienced driver in your bobsled, but, believe me, that won’t dull the terror. (Cost is $65, and you have to be 14 or older.)

FUN ON THE LAKE

Every family vacation needs water, and the pool at the Marriott wasn’t cutting it, so we opted for a 15-minute drive to Jordanelle State Park, near Heber City.

We rented a speed boat, skis and a wake board and spent four hours zipping across the gorgeous reservoir there, surrounded my mountains. Rentals range from $245 to $375.

Quick tip: Ask about early bird specials, which can save you $100 to $200 for a four-hour rental.

We had lots of fun on the wake board and skis, but we spent most of our time trying out the multishaped one-, twoand three-person tubes and floats.

For the kids, this was the highlight of the trip, and my wife and I had a blast, too.

I felt fairly confident driving the boat until it was time to park it in the slip afterward. I bumped the dock clumsily, dinging the front of the boat, but the rental people just shook their heads and assured me that a recent boat driver had done even worse. Great.

CULTURE VULTURES

Park City tends to draw a moneyed tourist crowd, and that’s reflected in ultrasophisticated dining and arts scenes.

Robert Redford, who owns a ranch at his nearby Sundance resort, has a restaurant on Main Street called Zoom that boasts a fabulous Buffalo Osso Buco with Pancetta White Beans and Braised Spinach.

We also loved the Asian restaurants on Main Street. The maki at Oishi Sushi Bar & Grill are worthy of San Francisco, and the beautiful, creative and delicious fusion “freestyle cuisine” at Shabu show the culinary expertise of a prime New York City hot spot. Food & Wine magazine recently raved about the place. (Eat on the balcony at Shabu, overlooking Main Street for the full effect.)

During our trip, we caught Randy Newman (as clever and musical as ever) at the Eccles Theatre and a hilarious professional production of the musical “Urinetown” at the Egyptian, performed by the Egyptian Theatre Company.

The artistic side of Park City charmed me with its wonderful sense of whimsy, evident in the form of decorated moose spread throughout the town. (You know, like Chicago’s cows and Colorado Springs’ bears.) They’re dressed in high heels or tricked out with electronic text displays.

The historic Main Street has several of those moose, and plenty more diversions. The 100-year-old Western-style buildings line a street that’s at a steep grade.

Quick tip: If you want to do the Main Street window shop and gallery hop and aren’t in great shape, take the free trolley to the top and just work your way down.

We started at the bottom and worked our way up one side and down the other.

The galleries are heavy on nature photography, and you’ll find some of the best landscapes and animal shots you’ll see anywhere. There’s also a recently restored barn near Kimball Junction that has found its way into numerous photos and paintings.

For fine art, one of our favorite spots was the Stanfield gallery at the bottom of the hill, (which also has a location in Aspen). The Stanfield was celebrating Rembrandt’s 400th birthday last summer with some phenomenal original etchings and lithographs.

The shops of Park City include fewer T-shirt and souvenir shops than you usually find in tourist destinations.

You absolutely must stop at Dolly’s Book Store, named after a tabby who can be seen lounging around near the shelves. Here you can find an eclectic array of best-sellers, quirky comedy books and guides to the nearby bike and hiking trails. A Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory is attached, so you won’t leave hungry.

But save some of your sweet tooth for an ice cream cone at Cows, which is a few doors down.

The home-furnishing shops here also are fabulous and, for the most part, fairly expensive. (We particularly liked Eleganté.) But there are plenty of deals if you look hard enough.

Quick tip: There’s no avoiding the time-share hucksters here. Be

prepared to say “no” many times.

A shop on Main Street that baits your kids by letting them pet a famous owl that appeared in the Harry Potter movies (Ron’s) will not only sell you photos of your kid and the owl, it will give you free gifts if you tour Marriott Mountain-Side. Even a space that promotes itself as the local tourism office is really a time-share sales outlet.

These time-share tours tend to give you gifts valued at $75 to $100 and take about 90 minutes. We always do the tours, and the sales pitches are often so good that saying “no” is tough.

This trip, we fell for a pitch from Ultimate Vacations, a wholesale vacation club with a big upfront fee and the promise of cheap trips for the rest of our lives. It’s supposed to make our time share obsolete. The jury’s still out on whether we got a deal or got ripped off.

THE DEBRIEF

My wife’s skepticism about Park City melted away within the first few days. She fell in love with the town, especially Main Street, and was soon talking about a return visit.

The kids would second that notion, especially if we rent a boat again and speed around the Jordanelle.

One thing we’d do differently would be to get a larger unit. The studios at the Summit Watch had kitchenettes, but they were really no bigger than most hotel rooms. Feeling cramped in your lodgings can put a damper on your whole trip.

The other thing we’d do is look for a unit at Mountain-Side, which is a few blocks off Main Street, but the walk is easy.

OTHER SUMMER PARK CITY OPTIONS

Park City has several other fun summer activities, such as golfing, fly-fishing, hiking, hunting and four-wheeling.

Great day trips include sightseeing at the Great Salt Lake and picnicking at the awesome Temple Square in Salt Lake City.