I feel fairly certain that every Christmas song ever written was inspired by the winter wonderland that is Park City. And while that is definitely a very fabricated exaggeration and while I most certainly will not fact check that statement, you get the picture. This was the second December in a row that we have been blessed enough to visit park city during its most magical season and once again, it did not disappoint.

We started off the trip with a plane ride that ended up being far more enjoyable than one would expect when traveling with a toddler. Everything went smoothly (despite leaving the house 30 minutes late), the airport was amazingly accommodating towards travelers with young children, and Liam only had about 2-3 minor fits on the plane, which I deem a major success.

Park City is about a 30 minute drive out of Salt Lake, but the drive is so scenic that it really feels like 10 minutes. A quick stop at a business meeting for my husband, lunch at an awesome BBQ joint, and a few too many tantrums later and we were at our hotel. We chose to stay at the Westgate Park City thanks to our incredibly enjoyable experience there last year. They have a one bedroom villa that is perfect for families, is in prime location for just about anything that one would want to do in the area, plus the balcony view and fire place provide the perfect setting for a vacation full of cozy bundled up evenings.

Our first night there was spent with a lot of middle of the night wake ups. And our second night. And our third night. How is it that somehow a three foot-ish human being can manage to take up 75% of a king sized bed?

Minus the poor sleep however, I would have to say the trip was a great success. My husband had several business meetings in the area that show potential, we ate a ton of delicious food, and went on long drives through the beautiful snowy mountainsides. We drove through neighborhoods full of dreamy homes, walked around with coffee as the snow fell on us, and got to frolic around main street for a while. On our second night there, Liam fell asleep in the car on our way back to the hotel with some take out. My husband somehow managed to quietly ninja walk him back up to the room and put him into bed without him waking, creating the most relaxing of evenings for us. Curled up on the couch in front of the fire watching Elf with pizza, beer, and my husband, all I could think was “man…someone up there REALLY loves us”.

It was the kind of trip that did nothing but remind me of how incredibly blessed we are. There were tantrums and there was not quite enough sleep. My son threw a water glass all over me at a restaurant while it was snowing outside and on a couple of other occasions judgy uptight old people stared us down with the wrath of god in their eyes while we tried to get our two year old to behave. But none of that mattered because I was with my two favorite people in the whole wide world exploring a winter wonderland that looked like something out of a magical fantasy novel or a snowglobe. The pictures do not even do this place justice, so I highly recommend that you all put this place on your travel to-do lists.

There’s nothing to put you in the Christmas spirit quite like a trip to a small snow covered mountain town. With Christmas next week, I go into the holiday feeling blessed blessed blessed and am greatly looking forward to seeing my little man’s excitement on Christmas morning. Wishing all of you and your families a whole lot of loving, smiling, eating, cheersing, relaxing, laughing, and celebrating as Christmas rolls around.

Cheers,

The Whine Connoisseur.