We stayed overnight on Point of the Mountain, hoping that Michael would get one more morning flight in before we left Draper. Unfortunately, the morning was a bust, with the wind gusts too strong for anyone to be flying. So we packed up, feeling a bit sad to leave Salt Lake City/Draper behind after over 9 days filled with friendly strangers, fun hobbies, and lovely weather overall.
Olympic Park
In Park City there are still remnants of the 2002 Winter Olympics, which was hosted here and around Salt Lake City. It'll host the Winter Olympics again in 2034, and we already saw the signs promoting this at the Olympic Park. Here, we also checked out the ski jump and bobsledding area. As the wind picked up, we made it into the nearby Alf Engen Ski Museum, which had a ton of cool memorabilia from the 2002 Olympics, as well as details about Utah's winter sports history.
There's also a couple of interactive experiences (which cost extra), such as attempting to do a ski jump. Someone did try it but it looked pretty hard even virtually, as each landing resulted in what looked like a multiple broken bones fall! It'll be exciting to see the Winter Olympics in Utah again, and see if we can recognize the places we visited!
Park City
We then ventured into the historic main street in Park City, walking along both sides of the street to check out the various restaurants, bars, cafes, and shops. In one side alley there's apparently an original Banksy artwork (protected by glass), and we also stopped at a shop/cafe to try their affogato and matchagato (matcha + ice cream, first time we've seen this). These were definitely a treat as Park City is not cheap--these cost $10 each, and while Lisette was curious to try the matchagato, the matcha melted the ice cream very quickly in comparison to the affogato. It was great to try, but probably not something to purchase again (especially knowing that it's fairly easy to make at home).
As we were leaving Park City, Michael noticed a man with a beautiful and striking owl, which turned out to be a famous owl that has starred in over 100 movies, including Harry Potter! The owner, Jeff, has been raising and training birds since he was 9 years-old (we found a detailed article here). We wanted to take a photo but it would cost $20 for us to do so, and Jeff told us that we needed to have insurance to hold it. They were apparently in town as they're filming a documentary called "Feathered Fury", so we'll keep an eye out for it!
Ute County
We left Park City and drove toward Ute County, named for the portion of the Ute Indian tribe that lived in the basin. We noticed that there were long stretches of land, and in some cases, people lived in trailers rather than fixed homes, as we noticed dozens of them scattered along the landscape.
Our last brief stop was at a Ute Indian Tribe monument, commemorating the men and women who have served in the US Armed Forces, who fought despite the challenges they faced as a people domestically. After a long drive, we were happy to stop to the side of the road. The wind blew heartily through our RV as we settled in for the night.
