All the peace and calm and fishing and reading and biking and hiking and relaxing didn't crimp us. We hopped back on the hill with freshly waxed boards and took to it like...excuse the overly used expression...fish to water. We returned to our favorite campsite and enjoyed the view, which is beautiful albeit much different from that of Flaming Gorge.
Campground...with a view of the Olympic Aerial Jumps.
The lengthy road trip has its advantages for the snow-bound traveler. Basically, since we aren't restrained by timelines, if the weather is bad we don't have to hit the hill. We miss out on 50mph gusts below freezing, wind-swung lift chairs, and the battle against poor visibility as the ever light snow whips this way and that, turning the atmosphere pale and nearly opaque. Granted, with the right clothes you can be toasty even in those conditions, but somehow we still prefer to board on fresh pow in the sun. So we waited out a storm on Tuesday, and another particularly nasty and confused one on Thursday.
Which left us with cloudless blue sky at Brighton on Wednesday, and sun-kissed powder at Park City on Friday. And if things keep on this way, we'll get packed powder in spring conditions at The Canyons tomorrow.
Aryn, heelside.
On Wednesday night, we stopped on our way down the hill at our favorite eatery thus far, Creekside at Solitude. We caught a few meals there two weeks ago, and just couldn't pass it up as it was right on our way. The dinner was fantastic as usual, and topped off by the most incredible Chocolate Conspiracy Cake...a twelve-layer confection that could be deadly without a tall glass of moo.
As we were finishing off the last of the CCC, we glimpsed someone with rather large, bright red boots skating down off the slopes outside the window. At first it seemed to be a straggling skiier with some of those "Big Feet" foot-long skis, but as the figure neared it became obvious that there was something abnormal. The boots were not ski boots, but rather huge curling furry elf boots with short skiis attached. The figure was hooded with a huge brown jacket covering his upper body. The other restaurant patrons, two young women in their twenties, caught sight of the strange figure as well. As he slid right past the window, we noticed his over-sized butt and skinny legs were covered in green hair!
"It's the Grinch!"
Sure enough, they were filming all the second-crew action scenes for next year's upcoming The Grinch Who Stole Christmas at Solitude. So the fuzzy-butted figure that just skated by was Jim Carrey's stunt double.
The rest of the filming crew and doubles straggled down the hill, some ripping around on snowmobiles, and others being carted down in snow cats. The two women at the other table were standing at the window, pointing and gasping and reliving old Christmas memories of watching the Grinch cartoon. Another man, in his fifties, approached the window where they were standing and asked them politely what was going on.
"They're filming the Grinch Who Stole Christmas here," one of the women replied. "You just missed The Grinch."
The gentleman looked puzzled. "The Who?"
"The Grinch." The woman looked at him incredulously. "You know, from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. You have to have seen it. They play it every year several times."
"I must have missed it," the man shrugged. "I've never heard of The Grinch."
The woman turned her gaze from the window to the stranger, complete disbelief and a bit of disgust plastered on her face.
"You should be shot."
We huddled down at our table and pretended not to hear, hoping the woman wouldn't turn her wrath on us. Then we paid our bill and snuck out, safe. That was a close call. We saw the man come out of the establishment a few minutes later, so apparently the woman didn't have her Grinch-ignorance gun on her. Lucky for him.
Brant hand dragging at Park City.
We lived to see another day, another ski resort. Park City rocked. The Village at the bottom is amazing, and they're expanding even more for the 2002 Olympics. After skiing the terrain, it's easy to see why Park City is one of Utah's premiere ski areas.
Park City preparing for the Olympics.
Tomorrow, The Canyons...Grinch-free.
