Salt Lake City

May 24

Lucky us...it's May 24 and we get to witness the latest measurable accumulation of snow in the history of the world for this area.

Salt Lake City is only 30 mile. Arrive at a brand new park called Pony Express RV Resort, (ponyexpressrvresort.com.) It's a fine mid-level, nicely kept facility and close to downtown. The exterior B row offers the best views and the middle of the row keeps you away from highway noises. Here's our view. 


It's early enough to do a little excursion....we choose the Capitol Building, nestled at the foot of the Wasactch Mountains.

Chicken Milanese for dinner.  This is a great spring/summer dinner (also can use a veal chop which is fabulous, but tres expensive these days.) Lightly bread a chicken breast or chop and cook through in a little olive oil.  Top with a pile of greens dressed with a mustard vinagrette. Surprising taste. Served with couscous and snow peas.  Used the last of the homemade bread crumbs I brought with us...will miss them and don't think I can make more easily on the road without a food processor.

Olympic Park

May 23

Olympic Park, site of the 2002 Alpine events, was one of the main reasons we wanted to visit Park City.  We've been waiting for a day that is not either teaming rain, raging winds or snow.  Sunday it's sunny, calm and in the 50's...perfect....finally....and it's are last day here, so it's our last chance. 

After a leisurely Sunday morning breakfast, I look up the website for the address.  Big red letters run across their site....Park closed to visitors at noon on May 23 for a private event!!!!  It's 10 already....throw on jeans and race over. 

Go to the Museum first since we figure it's easier for them to throw us out of there by noon than find us walking through the event venues.  There are a lot of things to "play" with.

And I love the great headresses from the opening ceremonies hanging from the wall.

There are some interactive games that kids would love....like a table-top slalom run. We kind of race through these since we are trying to get through it in a limited amount of time.

Head outside, dodging caterers, to the aerial practice facility. It's very steep and very cool....landing in a pool.  Starting in June, they have a show daily at 1 p.m....really sorry we missed that by just a few days.

We find the bobsled run which is now just a very long, twisting concrete trough.  Apparently you can take a ride at speeds up to 70 mph, but nothing is going on this morning.  So we just pretend.

Run over to the ski jumps..can't imagine the nerve it takes to fly down one of these things....especially the first time.

This would be a really cool place to go under better circumstances....check hours open, show times, rides before you go.

We have the whole afternoon ahead of us and plan on taking a hike following the stream and up the hill that we look over.  By the time we get back, the rain is starting, the winds are kicking up and it's totally miserable.  Scratch the hike.

Really need comfort food for dinner.  On Sunday nights, I like to make something easy and very simple.  I've had a leftover container in the freezer for quite a while marked "would be hash"......full of bits of steak, pork, chicken and potatoes.  Chopped them all up very finely, chopped a whole onion and a red pepper.  Added crushed red pepper flakes and tobasco.  Fried it all up in a bit of oil and butter nice and crispy.  Topped with fried egg.  It turned out fantastic and helped us endure the near blizzard outside.

Leaving for Salt Lake City in the morning....maybe we can finally catch some good weather.

The Road to Park City, Utah

May 20 ~ 22

We're not catching any breaks weatherwise.  It's a two day drive to Park City and the weather through Wyoming is making it a bit trying. It turns from rain to snow to hard rain.  We stop for the night in Rawlins, WY at another one night only place, Western Hills Campground...it is a sea of mud.  Everything, including us, looks like we've been on an off-road adventure. On top of the rain, there are high winds and it's 37 degrees.  The woman at the check-in tells me it never rains here!  At least they have a good selection of cable channels and I make a little comfort food....Chicken Chanterelle Risotto.

We are out of there early the next morning, hoping to get to Park City early enough to get into town and have a nice dinner out.  But, not so fast!  The weather has cleared up, though there are high winds and the driving is tough. But the good news is Gigantor's new pump seems to help a great deal in climbing the mountains.  But we're getting another warning that the car's batteries are low.  The tow bar hook-up is supposed to keep the battery charged, but that seems to not be happening. 

We stop at a rest area and find the car completely dead.  Rick gets out his diagnostic tools and calls the shop in LA that installed the hook-up on the new car.

Again it's a wiring thing and no one can figure it out.  After over an hour of this, we decide to just drag the dead car which means it's rear lights/signals will not be working...but it appears our only choice.

We make it to Park City late in the afternoon but are too depressed and tired to go out.  We are grateful we have pizza in the freezer.

The Park City RV Resort (parkcityrvresort.com) is new and is very close to town.  It's all paved, decent pool, hot tub etc. But the only sites with any semblance of a view or room are the "E" sites.  E6 is the very best.  It has a nice gazebo with table and chairs and looks over a pretty little stream.  We are very anxious to take a walk on the trails in the morning.

All night the wind is howling and the rain is pelting down.  Then the temperature plummets. We awake to this in the morning. It's May 21st for heaven's sake!

Mid-afternoon we drive downtown planning to spend the time investigating the shops and galleries until dinner, then try one of a couple of restaurants I've read about. 

Park City is not a chic alpine village, but does have nicely restored old west buildings.  One catches our eye.

Our stroll through town doesn't last long enough 'til dinner, so we decide to drive up to Deer Valley to take a look at the ski resorts and site of some the 2002 Olympic ski events.

We stop at the Stein Erickson Lodge (steinlodge.com) for a drink and find it eerily empty. It's a perfectly pleasant ski lodge-type hotel, but we do not understand the $800 a night ticket during peak season.  The drinks are a bit pricey, but not over the top, but it's the $6 bowl of undistinguished nuts that sends us over the edge. 

We're really trying hard to have a good time...it's not been easy these past few weeks....all of the mechanical issues and the dreadful weather we've encoutered is taking it's toll. We have been talking about turning around and going home.  But we keep thinking we have to press on....some of the spots we've yet to see are some of the premiere destinations of the entire trip and we'll never do anything like this again.  We keep trying to remember how great the first six months were.

We go back to town to try Bistro 412 for their "happy hour" dinner (which actually is from 5-9 p.m.) in the upstairs bar.  The bar food menu is half-price and we only want a nibble after those awful nuts.  This was a very good choice.  Rick gets a small steak and frites, nicely cooked and flavored....I have very good curry mussels.  At half price they are actually priced fairly.

Tomorrow's weather is looking worse...cold and rain.

It's a miserable morning, but we have found a Farmer's Market we want to visit....this will get us going.  The market is a total bust...not one bit of fresh produce, a few vendors with frozen meat and mostly a conglomeration of flea market type things.  Go to Whole Foods.  Head back and spend the day doing the laundry and ironing. 

We hope that tomorrow proves better....been putting off going to the 2002 Olympic Park, waiting for better weather.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up! ~ Part Two

May 17 ~ 18

The frustrations just keep on coming!  Rick has contacted everyone he can get in hands on at Forest River, the manufacturer.  They received the epistle e-mail he sent to the Indiana headquarters early Monday morning. They call him immediately and are promising an electrician will be calling the shop people here and they will send wiring diagrams.  But here's the real kicker....they are telling the repair shop that the problem wire does not exisit.  Funny, because everyone here can see it and are unable to determine its function but know it is the source of warning signals.

By 2 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time, no one has called and the repairmen here are at a standstill.  But Rick keeps plugging, trying to devine what the heck is going on.  No surprise that there is no resolution with Forest River and we are destined to remain in Boulder for the 17th day!  Rick arranges a conference between all parties for the following morning. Nobody exhales.

Wonder of wonders, the all parties hook up in the morning....they actually figure it all out....and Tor is sprung!  Hail the hero! 














Tor gets a great big welcome home hug!

We pop open champagne and celebrate our release from the hostage situation.

Next morning we are off like a herd of turtles!  Takes four hours to get our things back into Tor and check all the systems.  We are so grateful for Jim and Linda's hospitality and it was so good to spend this time with Big Jim, but we are ready to get back the Great Adventure.  On to Park City, Utah.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

May 10 ~ 16

Two days turned into a week....a week turned into two weeks...Tor is still in the "spa". The series of circumstances are almost too bizarre to recount.  At first it was a bit comedic...it quickly grew into so not funny, totally inexplicable and beyond the brink of frustrating.

The Reader's Digest version is the recalled part arrived and is installed.  Then they couldn't get the computer things to talk to each other and accept the transplant.  They ordered new software...the parts then agreed to live together.  Then, apparently during the course of installation, some wire was disturbed that keep sending out danger signals concerning the parking brake.  Days later they still hadn't been able to fix it and we were not prepared to accept that it might just be one of those "don't mean anything" computer signals going off.  There could be inherent danger in driving this big thing and putting our lives on the line just wasn't part of our Great Adventure. 

Rick is beyond frustration and goes out to the shop to see what he can do to shepherd this along.  He spends two very trying days attempting to get the manufacturer involved.  And while they keep saying they are going to have one of their electricians call, it doesn't happen.  By Friday afternoon, we know we're here for at least another weekend.  I proclaim if it isn't fixed by Monday and we're not out of here by Tuesday morning, I'm going to start walking!

Rick continues to fix things around the house, then soothe his soul in the hot tub.  Notice the fire inside...there was 4 inches of snow on the ground...it's the middle of May for heaven's sake!

Linda and I continue cooking up a storm and everynight turns into a Big Chill kitchen!

We get out for dinner on Saturday night to a very happening place called Jax (jaxfishhouseboulder.com) on Pearl Street.  Have drinks and calamari at the bar....never have seen calamari like this and am most curious about the part of the squid it comes from.  We have some of the normal rings, but many pieces look like fish sticks and are terrific.  Bartender Ben tells us they come from the "steak".  Never heard of that before, but have since learned it comes from a giant squid.

Move to a table and wait for our next appetizer order of duck sliders and buffalo shrimp.  They provide toys to occupy your time.

After that, I'm ready to quit eating, but we decide to split two entrees, a house special halibut and a steel-head trout.  Need a walk after all that...Pearl Street provides exceptional people watching and good window shopping.

Sunday dawns a beautiful day....finally!  We go to Walden  Pond (no kidding, that's what they call it) which is an old gravel pit that 30 years ago was turned into a bird sanctuary.  We get a real good long walk and see some of the residents.

The backdrop is stunning.

Tomorrow we get back to the angst of this repair.  Rick has composed a very detailed e-mail sent to the manufacturer and the shop.  He will go out there first thing in the morning and try to rally everyone involved.

The Parties Keep on Coming!

May 2 ~ May 9

The Cunningham family just  doesn't wear out!  The party continues the next morning.  Linda is a most accommodating hostess!

Janet then decides she will lead a yoga session.















Jim keeps the party going in the garden.

Big Jim, Rick's Dad, hosts the others inside.

Janet and Tony head back to New York on Tuesday; Athena and Josh, back to Savannah on Thursday.  We move out of the driveway and into the guest room and Rick takes Tor in for a "spa day"....to get the transmission fluid changed, check out a clunking noise and a general overall check-up.  We assume we will get Tor back in a day or two......not so fast!

We are told there has been a recall of some sort of engine pump....think this might be the reason that Tor is having a hard time up the mountains.  We tell them to order the replacement part and our departure has been pushed back until Monday...10 days after we arrived....poor Linda and Jim....but we are so grateful, that once again, when something bad or unexpected happens we've been in places where we have a great roof over our heads....not stuck out in the middle of nowhere!

We occupy our time in varying ways....Rick is fixing everything he can in the house.

Linda and I are playing refrigerator/freezer diving every night to pare down on what's on hand.  We came up with some great things....grilled salmon with citrus salsa.....chicken satay.....teriyaki steak.....panini's...good stuff.

Mother's Day dawns with a wonderful sight.

Niece Erin and beau Todd have invited all of us to a Mother's Day brunch.  She's a bit nervous...says she's not a cook.  She's wrong!   What a lovely day and a lovely meal.

We hope to hear we can pick Tor up in the morning and leave for places north and west.

Off To Boulder ~ Not So Fast!

April 29 ~ May 1

Return from dinner last night, and the sky was starting to get a little funky looking.  The wind was picking up substantially and Tor is rockin' in the wind.  Go to bed and the wind is so strong, we close our bedroom slide that's being rocked about and making a dreadful noise.  Very little sleep that night. 

In the morning, we learn the winds are at a steady 40 mph with gusts to 80!  We needed no time to make the decision that we weren't going anywhere in that kind of weather.  You can barely walk, the dust storms have created accidents everywhere and the mountain we used to look at is totally gone.

Take the opportunity of the "bonus" down day to clean Tor and do the laundry.  Spend the rest of the day in the RV park's clubhouse reading.  So glad they have a comfortable facility.  You can barely tell there's a hurricane going on out there...the building isn't moving at all!  By the late evening, the wind is dying down and we think it will be possible to sleep, though we leave the slide in just in case.

Finally get on the road in the morning.  Everything is going just fine until we get to Colorado Springs.  It's almost May for heaven's sake and it's snowing!  Decide to stop in Castle Rock for the night and look up a friend we made three years ago, Ian Steyne, the owner of Castle Rock Campground.  Lo and behold, we get there and Ian's turned his facility into a Yogi Bear Jellystone Park. (Website is still castlerockrvpark.com) We love them because we've had such a good time with our grandson, Ian, at one in Maryland.

Catch up with Ian over coffee the next morning and he is very excited about the new franchise, the growth of his property and plans for further expansion.  Great to see him...admire his vision and energy!

Finally make it to Boulder about 1 p.m.  The big party is at 4.  We need to get Tor in Jim and Linda's driveway which turns out to be more of an adventure than we anticipated.....not the backing in part....Rick's really good at that....it's the low hanging branches part!  Rick gets out of Tor and surveys the situation.

He decides a little pruning is in order.  Nephew Jason keeps him steady.

One branch proves too much for Rick, so Josh, niece Theena's husband who is perhaps one of the buffest guys on the face of the earth because he's an Army Ranger, is called in.  Success.

Tor gets happily settled in the driveway.

The party, in honor of Theena and Josh just in from Savannah, is a roaring success. Crowds come to wish them well and to give Josh a send-off for his fourth deployment to Afghanistan next week. We give continuing tours of Tor, indulge ourselves in food and drink and hit the sack early.  We're staying in the driveway for a few days because the house is full!

The Road To Boulder & Santa Fe Redux

April 26 ~ 29

The first leg to Boulder is totally uneventful (that's a good thing) and boring (that's not a good thing). Stop overnight in Gallup, New Mexico in some "one night only" place.  Getting chillier and since we are still freezer diving, we haul out Chicken Provencal soup that I made early in the trip...add a salad and settle in for the evening. 

We look forward to the next two days in Santa Fe.  Takes us much longer to get there than we planned.  Tor is acting up again on the mountain climbs.  Spend four hours in Albuqurque having the transmission, oil etc. checked out.  After a minor fix, but with the knowledge we need to take Tor in for a "spa day" in Boulder, we plod on to Santa Fe.

Stay at the same place as last fall, Santa Fe Skies, (santafeskiesrvpark.com) and are able to get the space we like looking over the valley and out to the mountains. We were hoping to have dinner in town, but are too exhuasted to even think about it.  Freezer diving leads us to making "designer pizzas".  Have naan bread, remnants of chicken sausages....carmelize some onions, throw in julienned peppers, top with chevre and fresh basil.....plop in front of the tv, then enjoy the full moon.

We didn't make Los Alamos on our last visit and I know Rick will really love it...so that's our day tomorrow. 

Los Alamos is about 45 minutes from where we're staying....the drive is interesting. Some striking formations....

And some challenging roads....glad we don't have Tor with us.

Rick was, as expected since he's a nuclear engineer and computer scientist, enthralled with the Bradbury Science Museum (lanl.gov/museum). I, however, keep getting this feeling the whole thing is one big propaganda exercise for bombs and war.  I'm beginning to get a bit angry at the whole place.  Only later did I discover (see the website address) that it's been built by Los Alamos National Laboratory for exactly that purpose.

The fun thing to do in Los Alamos is a visit to The Black Hole (blackholesurplus.com).  This is shop,while bizarre to a lot of us, a treasure-trove to some, of used scientific equipment, electronics, lab supplies and about anything else you can think of.  Rick was in seventh heaven.

I love the things that were totally counterintuitive to the whole area.

And some things that are cross-bred...like a huge sunflower made out of missile casings.

Dinner at the Catina at Coyote Cafe (coyotecafe.com).  Coyote Cafe, opened in 1987,  is a restaurant that has been credited with creating modern southwestern cooking.  We opt for the open rooftop, casual Cantina that shares the same kitchen.  It's fun, lively and the portions are ginormous.  You have to order chips and salsa though and I'd recommend not popping for their signature, Silver Coin, margarita....no flavor, all ice.  Rick's Navajo taco is good and would serve about 4.  My fish tacos, also good, could round out a table for at least 6!Way too much to eat and they must have this happen all the time.....the waiter comes to the table with boxes and containers that are perfect for keeping everything in place.

We will head to Boulder in the morning and join the Cunningham clan in what I know will be a very festive weekend!