Park City, Utah

In early June a dear friend loaned us their condo timeshare in Park City, Utah.  I left on Friday afternoon with Lydia and Seth and Russ came with Anna on Sunday night after church.  The weather was a little cool, but we enjoyed a relaxing week together.

Lots of swimming and ping-pong

Hiking--I had researched beautiful hikes in the area, but they were not open due to the large amounts of snow at the higher elevations.  The road at one point was even closed as a snowplow had gotten stuck in a snowbank.  Locals admitted this amount of snow was unusual for June 19!  Later we hiked at a lower elevation and enjoyed a beautiful view of the resort/condos.  We hiked up about 4.5 miles and then took the gondola down.

Mini-golf

Shopping at the outlet mall--Seth loved the Harry Potter Vans (they stayed in the store), but Russ did find himself a Brooks Brothers suit for $150!

Olympic Museum

Animal art used in the opening ceremonies

The one skier in the family enjoyed many of the exhibits! 

West Yellowstone

In early June Russ and I and had the pleasure of driving to West Yellowstone to officiate/attend the wedding of a lovely young couple in our church.

On the drive to the rehearsal dinner, we stopped at the Upper and Lower Mesa Falls.

This was our only bear sighting of the trip...just outside our cabin door 🙄

These were waiting for us in our room--cute idea.  The groom's last name is Poortinga.

The day of the wedding Russ and I rose early and made a quick trip into the park.  We were able to drive the lower loop--my favorite.  We saw the Upper and Lower Falls, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and Yellowstone Lake. 

 Snow was still abundant at the higher elevations.  Russ was quite resourceful and used the snow to clean off a dirty windshield.😂

The wedding and reception were held at the historic (and beautiful!) Union Pacific Dining Lodge in West Yellowstone. 

On our way home we went back through Yellowstone and caught an Old Faithful eruption and walked through the West Thumb Geyser Basin.  We then continued to drive south into Grand Teton National Park for some beautiful scenery, and then headed west toward home!

I find these geyser/volcano-y type things on the shore of Yellowstone Lake kind of eerie.