Reminiscing about Park City

 The packing debacle continues. Yesterday I packed up our snow globes (we collect them when we travel) and our dresser, which had far more on top of it than I'd like to admit. However, things are starting to come together, so I'll keep trucking along.

My doTERRA came yesterday, and I diffused some peppermint while I was packing, and lavender for sleeping. the diffuser is such a comforting sound and the scents are diffused instantly. Husband had a migraine and the peppermint oil (applied topically and diffused) allowed him to finally fall asleep (during my packing). I swear I'm going to start applying the one to help with snoring when he's sleeping. Snores like a buffalo, that man.

 

Today, I'm remembering my trip to Utah. Last night I was watching videos from the concert and it still shocks me how close we were to Maroon 5, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani. The trip itself though - incredible! We were in Park City at the Stein Erikson Lodge and it was just unbelievable. The room was bigger than our condo. it had two bathrooms, one with a Jacuzzi, a master bedroom, a murphy bed that looked like a giant bookcase in the living room, a full kitchen, three fireplaces (1 outside -- 2 wood burning, 1 electric) and even a hot tub on the balcony. When we arrived, it was to a bottle of champagne on ice and chocolate covered strawberries. I wish I had pictures of the room, but sadly I only took a video! However, I did take a picture of our view!

 

 

The first night we went to an event that was basically centered around Rose wine/champagne. It was magical. There were women with skirts holding champagne glasses, people on stilts, big billowing tents, bubbles, and so much food and wine. It was truly something out of a movie!

 

 

 

 

The next day we went horseback riding through the mountains with blue sky ranch. We did a lot of practicing before we went out and then had a 3 hour trek through the mountains. It was so beautiful to see Utah from so high up, but omg was it ever hot!

There were some parts where it was kind of frightening - steep inclines and declines and sometimes the horse would slip slightly on the rocks. I also had a horse that would try to bite other horses that came up behind it, so that was startling the first time it happened. It was crazy to go through random areas and see different animals just hanging out. We saw deer, and lots of cows. At one point we were at an area where the horses could drink, and these bulls just came charging out of nowhere. I swear I almost jumped off the horse and ran away - which really wouldn't have achieved anything since those bulls were fast. Luckily they took a quick swerve and ran into the buses. By the time we finished our mountain ride, it felt like I'd been riding a bike for 8 hours. Every movement ... pain inducing.

We went back for lunch and they also brought in different birds to check out. Birds freak me out but I did check out the owl because it was so little and cute.

 

Later that night we had dinner at Grappa, which was just okay. I had pasta with a mix of lamb, beef and pork Bolognese. They used the type of rice noodles you would see in pad thai, which was a little bizarre. There were also no veggies, so I had to order some on the side. They did have a fair amount of gluten free options, but it wasn't for my taste. I can admit that of the other five people I was with, no one was particularly impressed with their food.

We were beat from all the sun from horseback riding, so we missed the night at the club. Apparently it was a good time though.

The following day we went into Park City (it was also our anniversary) and because we were still too full from breakfast, we just had ice cream to celebrate. Definitely the most low-key anniversary we've had so far, but we were on a trip!

That night was the awards ceremony (the whole reason we were there) and after the dinner we went to a party at another location. That party included the US offices and was a good time. They had unlimited drinks and a make your own smores station, with mini fires and piled high with marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers.

 

The last day was pretty low-key. We went into park city again for a little while but had to come back early because we had to transfer to salt lake city for the concert. His company had booked the entire stadium, so when we arrived we were able to have food/drinks at any of the pavilions, but they also had a buffet set up as well.

They even put decals on the stairs with the "U Rock" slogan that was used throughout the week

We had VIP seating from my husbands particular ranking, so we were able to snag spots right on the barricade. Blake Shelton performed first (I don't know any of his music). He had excellent stage presence though. Gwen Stefani was second - also amazing on stage and sang a lot of No Doubt songs and the more popular singles from her more recent days. Maroon 5 was next and to say I was excited was an understatement. I just LOVE Maroon 5 -- I have since they first came out so many years ago. So the music itself was good, but Adam Levine didn't have much of a stage presence. He mostly just segued from song to song. There was a little bit of banter, but not much. I think he's used to playing to massive crowds and not a stadium with maybe 500 people. Regardless, the show was still incredible and his performance still made me so very happy! I'd love to see them live again with a full stadium and see his stage presence.

After the concert we headed back to our hotel in Park City and the next morning we were up bright and early to head home. I think we got maybe 2-3 hours of sleep? It was a painful morning, but we made sure we had time to eat breakfast before we left - best idea ever. With the flight and the time difference, by the time we got home we were ready to eat. I'm always very diligent about eating prior to flying and bringing plenty of snacks, because you never know which airports will have gluten free foods that aren't processed.
Side note: the airport in Detroit has a ton of gluten free options!

 

The trip was amazing and I am so grateful that we were treated to such an amazing time. Thanks to my husband and his performance at work, we got to enjoy a trip to a place we'd never go on our own, and have experiences to last a lifetime!