Kicking Off Summer Travel in Park City, Utah

We have a pretty crazy travel summer this year due to a series of family events all falling around the same time. Unlike much of our regular travel, most of our boondoggles this summer don’t include our boys. We have lots of adult-only trips with our families. 

We kicked off our summer of kid-free travel with a trip to Park City, Utah for a wedding of one of my cousins. In addition to some pretty hardcore, costume themed party events, we spent the bulk of our non-wedding event time enjoying the local mountains.

I had never visited Utah nor spent much time hiking through beautiful mountain ranges. I loved tromping through the hills soaking up some sun and enjoying the serene sounds of nature.

If you’re a parent, you know that much of life revolves around your children. Calendars are driven by extracurricular and school activities, and conversations are filled with logistics and the well-being of your kids. Walking together along the mountain bike paths and hiking trails gave M and me many opportunities to chat about a wealth of things beyond our boys’ schedules. How novel and refreshing right?

On the last day, we even snuck in a four-mile trail run along some beautiful trails with amazing mountain views to boot.

Food In Park City, Utah

While I love spending time with our kids, I also really enjoy opportunities to visit restaurants without our children in tow. We’ve taken our boys to plenty of fancy-ish restaurants, but when we’re home, we eat most of our meals with the boys at home or at local fast casual dining joints. Five Guys is a favorite. 

During our five-day stay in Park City, we enjoyed a chance to eat in peace at restaurants with slightly more “grown-up” menus. We ate at tupelo, Riverhorse, and The Eating Establishment among other places. 

Tupelo was delicious. In Park City during the off-season, we were the only guests in the restaurant, and the hostess seated us at a perfect corner table. Just as our food arrived a few of my family members started to climb the stairs to the back area of the restaurant and eventually the entire wedding party arrived. Little did we know, we had inadvertently crashed the rehearsal dinner. Not awkward at all. Ha.

We laughed about it with the bride and groom after finishing our meal, and then allowed them to finish their dinner as we walked up and down Park City’s quaint main street. If you’re ever in Park City, Utah, Tupelo is a great option to add to your dining adventures.

On our last day in Park City, we ate dinner at a restaurant called Riverhorse. I definitely think we saved the best for last. The restaurant is a little pricey, but the food was amazing and worth every penny. They served warm, delicious bread with herb butter. I ordered the filet mignon, a favorite of mine that I don’t order often but reserve for special dinners a few times a year. 

One of my sisters and her husband joined us for dinner before catching a flight. My brother-in-law ordered one of the signature dishes, a game trio of buffalo, elk, and venison. We knew it was amazing when he announced to the table that he was unwilling to share even a single bite with his wife. As the much older sister, I executed my “older sister authority” and asked to try one bite of his meal. 

He begrudgingly obliged, and I can testify that it was amazing. Threatened by my bold move to ask for a bite despite his proclamation, he proceeded to inhale the rest of his meal for fear that I would ask him to share again. For the record, I did not and had no plans to do so. 🙂 

Secondhand Style For All Soirees

This wedding took the cake as far as planning required by a wedding guest. Each of three evening events commanded its own theme: Canadian Tuxedo, Western Cocktail, and Black Tie. Reluctant to buy brand new outfits for each evening, M and I scoured our closets for appropriate attire. In the end, he bought one new shirt that he’s already worn a few times. I purchased a few secondhand pieces and rented my dress from Rent The Runway.  

For the Canadian Tuxedo night, he wore jeans and his new denim shirt. I sported a secondhand pair of jeans and a tank (both of which have been in my closet for years) along with a pair of booties that get regular use and a brand-new-to-me denim jacket I found at a local thrift shop.

For years, I’ve struggled to find a denim jacket that felt right, despite the popularity of the trend. Friends have questioned my discontent with denim and wondered how I couldn’t find a version of something so simple that I actually loved. I had no plans to do head-to-toe denim for the Canadian Tuxedo night, but I landed on a gem, scooped it up and it worked perfectly. I’m pretty stoked to finally have a denim jacket in my closet that I’m sure will last for years. 

When we received the Western Cocktail theme notice, I crossed my eyes and just about declared defeat. What the heck was I going to wear to that?! Paired with a dress I received in my thredUP Rescue box, I found this fringe jacket that finished off the outfit. Done and done, courtesy of my local consignment shop. 

For the main event, we looked our finest in Black Tie attire. I knew I would rent a dress for that night. In a fortuitous turn of events, I ended up with three dresses for the price of one from Rent the Runway.

Typically, each order comes with the dress of choice and a backup dress in the same style but a different size. Having not ordered in a while, they offered to send me another dress for free. Just a couple weeks before the event, they notified me that the backup size of my main dress was no longer available, so they would send over a third dress in my back up size selected by one of their stylists. 

As luck would have it, my sisters and I ended up wearing all three of the dresses. Three sisters decked out in fancy, Rent the Runway dresses for the price of one felt like a serious win. 

No Vacation From The Vacation

Over our five days, we hit up a few restaurants, hiked the hills, and exercised every day together. We had a great time, but we definitely didn’t see everything. We didn’t spend any time in Salt Lake City or visit any tourist hot spots in the area. 

When we travel, we prefer to keep it simple. I like to read while M naps in the afternoon. On this trip, I read American Spy, a thoroughly entertaining book and insightful about the consequences of being a spy in the United States government (something I not-so-surprisingly don’t think about very often). 

We don’t need to do and see everything on our first visit. If it’s worthwhile, we’ll happily return another time to visit places we missed on our first foray. I don’t want to feel like I need a vacation after a vacation; what’s the point?!

Have you been to Park City, Utah? Do you have any favorite spots we missed or should be sure to check out if we’re back in town? 

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