I guess I should call it the Mountains and the Marty’s cause I’m gonna talk mountains first, but hey, I like the way the title sounds as is so I’m leaving it.

Yesterday we flew from Philly to SLC airport, arrived in SLC about 10am local time. The bros (John and Liam) headed right from the airport to golf while Dad and I headed to our home for the next 4 1/2 day at The Canyons.  We arrived, unpacked a little then Dad (John Sr.) headed up to Alta for the afternoon, I decided to stay in and relax a little bit.  I went out and sat in the hot tub and took a swim in the outdoor heated pool, then just took it easy and watched some Hulu.. specifially, if you care, Lost.

When my Dad came back from Alta, we took a trip out to find the liquor store and get some groceries. When we came out of the liquor store I noticed a nice little mexican place right there. It was time to officially start the vacation. I talked Dad into going for a few margaritas. heh.

After a few margartias we got ‘stuck’ in a one way parking lot, and it took a lot for me not to just crack up laughing. We finally made it to the store, got our groceries and headed back to the condo. I started pouring my cocktails and Dad opened his wine and headed to the hot tub for a bit.

Dad went to bed, bros came back from ‘bar hopping’ (they went to ONE bar and had 2 beers). They kept saying they were going to go back out, but instead fell asleep on the couch. Now they want me to ‘remove the pictures from the internet’, but I’m a bitch of a sister and well, here  it is if you didn’t see it on twitter last night. Of course, I was wide awake and kept drinking. Here’s me drunk on night 1 in Utah..

I love my rum..

Yeah, I’m an attractive drunk…. 

So eventually I was drunk enough to sleep uh, tired enough to go to bed, so I did. Only to wake up at 6 so I could go with Dad to Alta for a ski lesson at 10:30. I didn’t have to get out of bed til almost 8 though.

The weather has been amazing since we got here. Just warm and sunny and well, not what I’m used to in Utah, except in the summer.

A little back track here.. my family (well the 4 of us) have been coming here to Park City/SLC for over 20 years for spring skiing, in various combinations of ‘us’. I also have friends in Ogden and Logan, and have spent time down that way and in the Cache Valley.  I forgot how much I love Utah, until we got here. The mountains are so beautiful and the valley and views are outstanding.

So back to the day.. Dad and I get to Alta. Holy crap-a-moly it’s so beautiful! We meet our instructor for our personal ski lesson. Yeah, I’ve been skiing since I was six, Dad is 75 and has been skiing much longer but you can always learn something and I hadn’t been on skis in 10 years.

It was awesome. Our instructor Terry was just fantastic. Dad had taken lessons from her before and just raved. I get everything he said. It was like I had been on skis every day since the last time. Here’s Dad and Terry…

Dad and our amazing teacher Terry

And this is what I got to look at all day and ski on….. takes your breath away and not just cause of the altitude….

SKI ME!

So I geared up and..

Me on the mountain

Spent the next 3 1/2 hours skiing. 2 hour lesson and a long long run after that killed me. I was in agony. Between the lesson and the altitude, I was sore, tired, DONE. I stopped for the day, Dad kept going. He’s a trooper that one!

The rest of the evening was planned. We were going to meet up with Marty and Mrs. Marty and have dinner. I was super excited. We had met in person last year in Florida, and hit it off, I was looking forward to seeing them both and spending some time with them.

We went to Market Street Grill to meet up with the Marty’s. I would strongly recommend that if you are ever in the area, go here. It was  FREAKIN AWESOME!

I could eat this picture

Marty and Mrs. Marty had Scallops that looked super yummy and Dad had Ahi Tuna. We had a great time. Conversation was fun, people were all great. It really was the high light of my day and most likely my trip. Hopefully we’ll (cause Dad loves them now!) get to see them in spring 2011 when they travel the East Coast. If I had my way, it would be sooner. But there’s this thing called Life and money that gets in the way of travel.

It’s when I have such wonderful evenings with friends that I wish I could win the lottery and just travel and be happy with the people I care about and love spending time with. In the meantime, I’ll take what I can get, and treasure every second I get to spend with the special people in my life, the ones that touch my heart and soul.

Basically, I love Utah. It’s gorgeous, and good people live here. If you ever get this way, I suggest 3 things:

1. Go to Alta and take a personal lesson with Terry, no matter what your skill level. She’ll blow your mind and you’ll ski away with a lot of knowledge.

2. Go to Market Street Grill

Market Street Grill

3. Get to know good people like Marty and Mrs. Marty cause they are totally awesome and worth every second of time you can spend with them.

Good People is Good People

And if you are really interested, here are some pictures I took from the car and on the mountain and of the condo and the resort we’re staying at….   Utah 2010 - amazing scenery amazing ski lesson amazing day amazing people amazing feelings of happy.

Now I am going to bed, cause it’s after midnight and I have to get up early to go skiing with Dad. My body hates me right now, but in a good way.

Good Times