Park City - A Month Back In The Mountains - Week 5

We had to extend our visit to Park City by one week so that will give us a total of about 6 weeks of mountain time by the time we leave August 7th.  The extension of a week is totally bumming Trace out since waves have been firing in Sayulita and he misses his life in Mexico.  With the reported power situation being so bad in Sayulita this summer we may have picked a good one to be away for a little while.  No fans or AC for those who have it.  Bugs and heat.  Not a good combination.  It has also meant mold in our apartment.  Heat, humidity, no ventilation and the fans and dehumidifier not being able to run.  Not sure what we will go back to.

What have we been up to?  Oh, house stuff of course.  Some things are finally done and we can move on to other items.  Gram-O and Gramp-O have reported for work duty almost every day during their time in Park City and have been a HUGE help with cleaning, painting and providing some needed help with some demolition.  Alex and Trace have been able to pitch in a bit more that do not require much supervision.  Ashley is now seeing the finish line and is motivated to be done with this too.

Trace and Gram-O kicking ass in the kitchen.

The early morning hikes with Trace have continued and we are getting stronger and accustomed to the thinner air.  Hikes we needed multiple stops for a couple weeks ago are done with little or no break.  We may not have had water time but our legs and lungs will be ready for the surf when we get back.  Alex has mostly opted to sleep in but joins in with the strength workouts Trace has put together after the hikes.  The kid action on the street has been quiet lately so the bikes have been parked and have not moved.

Trace and I are rewarded by our early morning hiking efforts. 

 The grandparents have not only been a big help around the house but took us out to eat in Old Town one night.  We took the free Electric Express bus into town for dinner and arrived early so we walked around Main Street for a bit.  For years I would see visitors stop and look around and have no idea where to go or what to do once they arrived.  Well, we were suddenly in that position.  We were now the tourists strolling down Main Street and not locals anymore.  We all were in agreement that Main Street now resembled something like Main Street USA at Disney.  So clean, so tidy, so well maintained and essentially "perfect".  In the 90's I worked for the City of Park City and this was essentially our goal with Main Street, parks and facilities.  Now that Main Street and Park City has achieved that I feel that it has lost a lot of it's character and local feel.  It is all like a photo shoot.  It is "Disney-esque".  Some of the same names/establishments are still there but most of the smaller unique shops have been replaced by big name brands who can afford the current rents downtown.

Strolling the streets of Park City after dinner

Alex in front of the famous Banksy mural

Trace and I went out one night to get some Mexican food and to see my old softball team play in City Park.  I played a few nights a week for over a decade and brought the kids in their baby carriers to games as other players on my team helped me keep an eye on them or even give them a bottle if needed.  They grew up going to games until we moved to Mexico.  Well, there are not that many familiar faces left on the team since my last game 7 years ago but it was super fun to be at the ball field in City Park mid-summer in the mountains.  So many fun memories and it was great to see a few familiar faces and Trace interested in the game too.

From behind the backstop.  Photo by Trace.

Ashley and I celebrated our 14th anniversary.  Tequila and vino tinto!

How we roll.  Red and Reposado.

Access to more choices is certainly reality here and Alex took advantage of it this week when Ashley and her went to an equestrian outfitter shop in Salt Lake City.  Alex was borrowing riding clothes for her competitions and now finally has her own gear to take into this winter's season.  She looks great!

White pants and white polo.  If you do not have it you do not compete...so say the judges.

What is up in Sayulita? Besides the heat and power issues, the biggest news came from a friend of ours who took this photo of what looks to be our street getting ready for resurfacing. NOT a bunch of dirt thrown on the street to fill in the trench created but the summer rains but a real effort to begin putting down a real road. We will see how that develops but we might go back to a new house AND a new street.

So, here we are at the end of July and the house is not ready and we do not have a renter yet.  Got to fix both those situations in a hurry.  We will be on our way on the 7th.

Our neighbor's trees get some trimming. Super high boom.  3.5 stories plus...?

Reflections:
-All of our items here in Utah fit in to an 8x8 storage shed.  I incorrectly assumed we had very little in the way "stuff".  Nope, we still have lots of "stuff".  It was just efficiently stacked in the shed.
-People have big vehicles here that carry or tow really BIG toys.
-Gas prices.  Wow! With big vehicles so common I cannot even think about how expensive it is to fill the gas tank.  500 pesos will mostly fill our little car by in Mexico.  $30 USD does not even fill the tank of our rented Subaru Outback half way here.  When you have to drive everywhere here it gets painful.
-We are taking a lot of stuff back with us that have been in storage for a long time.  It will be nice to have some additional personal items back home in Mexico.