Warm Days and Mountain Mornings: A Park City Birthday 🎂

A birthday trip to Park City that started with a canceled flight, ten missed calls at 2am, and a very long day of airport purgatory — and still managed to be exactly what I needed. Tubing for the first time, a bowling loss I'm still processing, homemade chicken and dumplings by request, and enough slow sunny deck time to actually feel like I rested. Park City, you never disappoint. 🏔️

Prologue: Delayed Gratification...Park City, Eventually

Some travel days are smooth. You get to the airport, you board, you land, you're done. And then there are travel days like this one, where the universe apparently has other plans for you. ✈️

The original itinerary was simple enough: a 6am flight out of MDT connecting through Chicago, landing in Salt Lake City with plenty of time to settle in before the Park City fun began. Simple. Clean. Optimistic, in hindsight.

What actually happened was getting jolted awake in the middle of the night by my phone absolutely losing its mind — notifications cascading in, and somewhere in the mix, ten missed calls from my partner. (Ten. He was trying to help. It was very sweet and also very 2am.) The ORD flight had been canceled while I was asleep, and the airline had already automatically rebooked me onto a flight through Philadelphia. Nothing left to do at that hour but try to go back to sleep and deal with it in the morning.

So I did. I headed to the airport later that day, boarded the PHL flight on time, and let myself think for a moment that maybe the worst of it was already behind me.

It was not.

PHL had other ideas. Severe weather had essentially locked down a massive chunk of the country, and what was supposed to be a brief layover turned into hours of waiting, watching the departure board, and refreshing apps that had nothing useful to tell me. Eventually I boarded — progress! — and then sat on the plane for two full hours while the crew tried to find a flight path through the storm system. At some point, that effort was abandoned, the pilots timed out, and I was sent back to the gate to wait for new ones.

New pilots arrived. I allowed myself a cautious exhale.

Then: lightning in the area, ramp closed.

Ramp reopened. I braced to board again — and then the gate agent announced that one of the flight attendants had timed out while we were waiting. Because of course they had. 😂

By the grace of whatever travel gods were still paying attention, a replacement arrived, got settled, and we finally boarded for real. A flight that was supposed to depart PHL at 6:30pm ET didn't actually push back until after 10pm ET. I landed in Salt Lake City somewhere past 2am Mountain Time, in that particular brand of exhausted that only a day of airport purgatory can produce.

The guy I was flying out to see, that same partner — who was very sweetly waiting up — was also running on fumes by the time I landed. (Spoiler: he survived the test.) 😄

Park City was going to have to wait until morning. But hey — I made it. Eventually. 🏔️

Good Morning, Park City, the Birthday Girl is Here!

There's something a little surreal about waking up on your birthday in the mountains. Not at home, not at some resort, but in an actual house — someone's home — with the Wasatch Range just sitting there outside the window like it's no big deal. That was my birthday morning, and honestly? It was exactly the kind of birthday I didn't know I needed.

This was my second trip out to Park City to visit my long-distance partner, and already the city is starting to feel like my place too. His sister was gracious enough to host us again — and this time she was actually home, which was a fun change from my last visit when she was away training. (She is, fittingly, a skier. We were in the right place for it.)

Birthday Breakfast and a Very Important Thermos

We kicked off the day at Cupla Coffee for birthday breakfast, which immediately set the right tone. Good food, good company, no complaints. From there: pedicures. At this point I'm willing to officially call it a trip tradition — every Park City visit includes a pedicure, apparently, and I am not fighting it.

The afternoon was gifts and relaxing, which is genuinely my ideal birthday situation. He'd just returned from a trip to Switzerland and Italy before I arrived, and the souvenirs he picked up were so thoughtful — including a penguin thermos that is an inside joke I won't fully explain here but absolutely made me smile, and a Milano Cortina sweater that I am obsessed with 🧡. Dinner was takeout Thai from Taste of Thai, and we just hung out for the rest of the night. No big plans, no packed itinerary. Just a really, really good day.

First-Time Tuber, Do Not Test Me

Friday brought one of my favorite surprises of the trip: tubing at Woodward Park City. Now, I had never been tubing in my life. Not once. And I was not entirely sure what I was getting myself into. But the weather was warm-ish for a Utah winter — genuinely sunny and beautiful — and it turned out to be an absolute blast. Highly recommend, even (especially?) if you've also somehow made it to adulthood without going.

Post-tubing, we swung by Panda Express, which I want to note was technically a Lenten decision. I am not a shrimp person by history or reputation — but honey walnut shrimp with fried rice during Lent? I didn't hate it. That's the official verdict. 😂

We made it back to the house in time to eat lunch out on the deck, which — given the sunshine — felt like a small miracle and we were not going to waste it. That evening, sushi date at Sushi Blue, which I had been looking forward to since my last visit. It holds up. Completely worth the return trip.

A Chill Saturday (Plus a Bowling Upset)

Saturday was a house day by design, which I say with zero regret. We did eventually venture out for bowling at Holiday Lanes in Heber City — another trip staple activity at this point — and I will be the first to admit that I usually hold my own. This time, however, I got absolutely crushed by the sibling duo. A true team effort on their part. I'm taking it on the chin. 😂

After bowling, dinner in nearby Midway at Midway Mercantile Restaurant, which was a lovely low-key end to a low-key day.

Chicken and Dumplings: A Crowd-Pleaser, Apparently

Sunday was another slow one — the kind of day I actually needed. I cooked up a batch of chicken and dumplings for everyone, which I'll note was specifically requested before I even landed. It was apparently a hit on my last visit, and I'm happy to report it held up under the pressure of expectation. We capped off the evening with hot pot, which was his sister's first time. She dominated both of us immediately. Beginner's luck? Natural talent? We may never know.

Remote Work With a View

Monday and Tuesday were work days — I had planned to remote in for the final stretch of the trip to save some PTO for future adventures. (Spoiler: there are a lot of future adventures planned.) Given the time zone difference and my company running mostly on East Coast hours, I was up early-ish while he worked from his desk. I set up in the living room, took a few calls on the deck because the weather refused to be ignored, and honestly? The days flew. Mini distractions helped.

The Flight Home (Blessedly Uneventful)

Departure day is always bittersweet, and this one was no exception. I squeezed in some work at the airport, made it through SLC without any drama — flights were not just on time, they were early — hit the Admiral's Club in Philadelphia for a bit before my connection, and landed in Harrisburg almost 30 minutes ahead of schedule.

It was the first time I've ever landed at home while it was still light out. A small thing, but it felt like a little gift at the end of the trip.

Until Next Time, Park City

This was exactly the trip I needed: unhurried, warm (literally and figuratively), and full of moments that didn't need to be anything more than what they were. Park City is quietly becoming one of my favorite places, and I'm already counting down to the next visit.

As for what comes next — we've already got our next trip on the books: Houston. And I may or may not have already built an entire capsule wardrobe for it. 😄 ✈️