Utah Vacations by Ruth Paget
I have happily visited Utah five times with my husband Laurent in the 2010s on business trips. Ruth, the stage mother, knew that the Sundance Institute is located in the mountains outside Salt Lake City.
So, on the first free weekend of our trips to Utah, we always drove out to Sundance to buy merchandise for our daughter Florence Paget, who was studying playwriting at Juilliard in New York.
Our first Sundance purchase was knit cap with the word “Sundance” knit in it. I wrote my mother in Wisconsin to get a picture of Florence in her Sundance cap with a snowman. (My mom is a stage grandma and got this done right away.)
Some of our other fun Sundance purchases include:
-snow jackets -a leather journal with Sundance embossed on the cover
-Western scarves book
-Wilderness knives with corkscrews
-Cowboy doodle books
-paper journals for project management
After shopping, we would go to the café for fizzy, non-caffeinated soft drinks and muffins. We would look over our purchases and discuss them. I am a stage mom who will sell film downloads, tickets, and merchandise for my family’s products, so I like discussing markets and merchandise sales.
Once we had visited Sundance, we would drive into Park City to eat a more substantial meal at El Chabusco Mexican restaurant. You order at the counter here and a restaurant worker will bring it to you when it is ready. El Chabusco has lots of sauces on its buffet counter. I stir mango-pepper sauce into my refried beans and cilantro-lime sauce into my rice for extra kick. I like shredded chicken or cheese enchiladas with tomatillo sauce for lunch.
After our meal at El Chabusco, we would walk down a few doors to Einstein Brother Bagels to order bagels for dinner. I could relive my youth in Detroit (Michigan) here when I would go to suburban Southfield for bagels – onion in winter and salt in summer with lots of cream cheese.
On other weekends during our trips over five years, Laurent and I would visit one of Utah’s many national parks:
-Arches – This national park was made famous as an Apple screensaver and mousepad. It is scorching hot, so make sure to bring water, a hat, and sunscreen.
-Zion – The massive tablelands in this park were created by erosion, exposing layers of varying colors of red rock. The mesas (tables) glisten in the sun and are very photogenic.
-Bryce Canyon – Famous for its hoo doos or rock chimneys that you can view from above. You can drive through the hoo doos on the valley floor as well. The valley landscape resembles Mars with red rocks and red soil.
-Canyonlands – These are vast and sizzling hot even in a car with air conditioning. The Colorado River cuts through this area carrying red soil with it.
-Sandy – This is not a national park, but has dramatic scenery in a mining area. The California Tectonic Plate collides with the North America Tectonic Plate here and creates towering pillars that surround you as you go through the mountains on a one-lane free on stilts.
Utah has many areas for skiing and zip lining (Sundance has a zip line) in addition to historic and cultural centers in downtown Salt Lake City.
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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| Ruth Paget Photo |
