I recently read in Ski Magazine that, “there are ski trips and ski vacations. Deer Valley is a ski vacation.” And, after spending nearly a week there, I would agree with that assessment.
Where it’s located
Just outside of Park City in the Wasatch Mountains– literally a 5 or 10 minute shuttle ride up the mountain from Park City, which is 32 miles east of Salt Lake City, the nearest major airport. You may have heard about Park City – you know, home of the famous Sundance Film Festival that takes place every year in January? Well, in 2016, Sundance had over 46,000 people attend. I have no idea how that many people fit into a town so small – it has a population of less than 8,400!
Where we stayed
Hubby found an outstanding place called The Chateaux, an independently owned hotel/residences which just happens to also be part of the Stash Hotel Rewards. Back in August 2018, I wrote about staying at the Hotel Providence (in well, Providence, RI) and they were also part of the Stash Rewards program. We reserved a Deluxe Studio for early December. And, since we were going in early ski season, we got a deal on the rooms – probably about 40% off the high season rate – we’ll take it! It was FANTASTIC! Not only were the people who worked there unbelievably nice, but our place had a giant living area AND a full size kitchen, complete with a Thermador oven/stove and a Sub Zero fridge!
For all my non-cooking readers… I just completely geeked out… sorry.
Side note: I have a really great kitchen at home, but I decided to forego those ridiculously expensive appliances and spend the extra money traveling. Hey, a girl has her priorities!
What we did
Uh, well ski. My hubby and I are enthusiastic skiers (notice that I did not say “good skiers”) so we try and ski as much as our schedules allow during ski season in the northern hemisphere. But, as a skier, one of the biggest expenses is a lift ticket. You’ve read some of my previous posts about saving on skiing which includes saving on lift tickets (see, 8 ½ Ski Season Savings Tips). Another way to save is to buy what is known as a multiple resort ski pass. If you're a skier, you may have heard their names – IKON, Epic, Mountain Collective or Powder Alliance. Basically, you pay a fixed fee and depending on the level of pass you buy, you get access to a bunch of different ski resorts across the U.S. and some other ski resorts throughout the world.
We bought IKON Base Passes that give us access to 38 ski resorts, including 5 days of skiing at Deer Valley. Buying a multi-resort pass can be a great bargain if you use it.
*Note: We also took one of the free mountain tours at Deer Valley. They're available several times a day, for varying skill levels. Deer Valley offers a mountain host to take you down some fun trails, stopping along the way to give some of the history of the mountain, and the area. Hubby and I were in a group of nine – the two of us and a group of friends from California. It was really a lot of fun and I recommend it if you’re so inclined.
Where we ate
There is no shortage of great places to eat in Park City, but since we had a full size kitchen, we cooked at home some nights and ate out a couple of times. Here are two of our favorites:
Wastach Brew Pub: Pub fare
According to the servers at the Wasatch Brew Pub, if you’re going to drink, you also have to buy food. Although I’may sure I’m getting the finer points wrong, basically, by law, you can’t just have a beer at a brew pub. You also have to eat, so if you’re at brew pub you have to buy brew AND food. No problem. We were hungry! We had deep fried brussel sprouts, because what isn’t better once it’s fried? I had a beet salad and Hubby had meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Of course, since we were at a brew pub, we had one of their delicious craft brews.
Chimayo: Southwestern cuisine!
Of course for starters we had…calamari! It was fantastic! We’re perpetually on a quest to find calamari that equals the Best Calamari I Ever Ate! Let’s just say it may be a close second…. Anyway, I had the Branzino (I know, very predictable)! Hubby had an Elk steak! No room for dessert!
So, after an outstanding week, it was time to come home. We headed back to Salt Lake City for our flight thinking that it was one of our top ski vacations of all time!
Have you been to Deer Valley or to Park City? What did you do? I'd love to hear about it on Facebook or in Traveleidoscope's comment section!
