Park City, Utah

When someone thinks of Park City, they usually think of its world famous ski resorts or the Sundance film festival. When someone thinks of bachlorette parties, they usually think of groups of obnoxious drunk girls with tiaras, pink boas and penis necklaces. (Or is that just my friends?) Anyways, it is pretty unusual and random that someone (and that someone being one of my wildest friends) would decide to hold their bachlorette party in Utah, the land of the non-drinking Mormons. 

Park City is an old mining town that is located about 45 minutes east of Salt Lake City. There are three major ski resorts in the immediate area (Park City Mountain, the Canyons, and Deer Valley). The Sundance festival is held towards the end of January and celebs can be spotted all over Main Street during this week. We decided to go in October....neither summer, nor ski season, nor Sundance. I was picturing an abandoned town in the Wild Wild West. Thankfully, this was not the case.

We flew in from Chicago on a Thursday night. I knew the weekend was starting off well when the rental car company upgraded us from a lameo compacto car to a huge SUV. There is a shuttle from the airport to Park City for $32 (http://www.allresort.com/). Park City has a number of great hotels and lodges to stay in, however, we decided to rent a house off VRBO. We got a GREAT deal ($300 a night for a 3 bedroom house that sleeps 6-8) and the house was unbelievable. It had all of the amenities for a great ski house (fireplaces, huge kitchen and comfy family rooms, steam showers, hot tub, etc) and I would recommend this house to anyone! (FYI, if you want to rent the house during Sundance - be prepared to pay $10k for the week). You can find the house at http://www.vrbo.com/154024.

On Friday, we spent the day hiking, exploring the town, trying out bison burgers, and having a girls night in. We also went to the Align Spa on the outskirts of Park City in the afternoon. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures from this but we each chose our own spa treatments and they provided a waiting room with snacks and champagne. It was a great spot for the bachlorette party! http://www.alignspa.com/

On Saturday, we spent the morning shopping on Main Street, attending a art class, eating out and hitting the nightlife of Park City. The liquor laws have eased up considerably in Park City and you no longer need to be a "member" of the bars. You can buy alcohol in the stores (although they have their own beer with 3.2% alcohol) but the bars serve up regular spirits and beer.

All in all, it was a great weekend and I plan on returning to Park City to hit up the ski areas next winter!

http://www.parkcity.org/

Polygamy Porter = Amazing name but tastes disgusting

All of the ladies in downtown Park City. The downtown area is centered around historic Main Street which is full of great shops, restaurants and bars. We grabbed lunch at the No Name Saloon at 447 Main Street and this is where I tried my first bison burger. I am not a foodie by any means and by that I mean I am not adventurous in my food choices ever. However, the bison burger was delicious, tasted very similar to a cheeseburger and is healthier for you.

http://www.nonamesaloon.net/

This is our nerdy hiking picture. Park City has amazing trails to hike on and they range from easy to more difficult. There are maps that you can get at the ski ticket windows. I can't say ours was too strenuous because we made it up as we went along. Pretty sure we were hiking up random ski trails.

http://www.parkcitymountain.com/summer/summer-activities/mountain-biking-and-hiking

 

Views of the surrounding mountains

 

View looking into Park City & the chair lift

 

Enjoying the hot tub after our hike!

 

Our house had an AMAZING view overlooking Park City!

 

Our bachlorette Colleen is one artsy girl! She went to SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design) and even started designing her own greeting cards! On Saturday afternoon, we decided to celebrate her artistic side by taking a craft class. I am pretty much the exact opposite of artsy so I was positive that I was going to end up gluing my fingers together. 

The class was held at the Kimball art center in Park City. It was fantastic! We had our own private instructor (who was super patient with my lack of creativity) and we were allowed to bring in our own wine and snacks. We took the "Altered Art Pendant Necklace" class. The class was $50 per person (this includes Colleen's fee too) and you keep the jewelry that you create. Although they are hard to see in the picture above, we are all wearing the pendants that we made. The description of the class is below:

"Reflect your own personality by choosing from a variety of modern or vintage images that students will alter to create their own unique necklace pendant.  Sandwiched between two pieces of 2" sq. glass in a cool metal frame with suede cording, students will create a wonderful one-of-a-kind wearable piece of art that is 2-sided & reversible.  Project is ready to wear when you leave class."

http://www.kimballartcenter.org/

We chose 350 Main for dinner on Saturday night which lives up to its name considering that the address is 350 Main Street. It was voted best restaurant in Park City in 2009 and it is absolutely amazing. The menu is split into signature foods, sante foods and gluten-free. Colleen and I split ravoli and steak frites off the signature entrees and they were both delicious! They are well known for the sante entrees and the other girls ordered off this menu which is all food that is rich in antioxidants and vitamins and low in fat and calories. (And despite this, actually tastes good).

The best part about restaurants in Park City is the "brown bagging policy". While 350 Main served wine, we chose to bring our own wine and champagne. Our bachlorette loooooves Andre champagne (thats my girl!) and champagne can be expensive when you are ordering several bottles so we chose to bring our own. There is nothing more fun than a girls BYOB dinner to start out a night out! 

http://www.350main.com/menu.asp?checkLoad=[type+Function]&nProgress=1

After 350 Main, we headed to O'Shucks which is the local dive bar to get the night started. Earlier in the day, we had all bought crazy sunglasses which we proceeded to wear for the rest of the night.

We ended the night at the Downstairs.

Can you guess who this celeb is that we ran into who looks just SUPER happy to be taking a picture with Colleen? Fun Fact: his DJ name is DJ Mom Jeans.