Christmas Getaway to Park City - 2019

For the fourth year in a row, we traveled to Park City for our Christmas getaway. This year we stayed at a different hotel - for the past 3 years we have stayed on Main Street, which was great for dinner but required a bus to the main lift area so we decided to stay at the Park City Mountain Base - still at a Marriott property that offered full suites with kitchens but did not require the bus to the main lift area.

We left early on December 22 and the Cincinnati airport was quite hectic - there was a line for the shuttle from the parking area, a line for Sky Priority bag drop, and even a small line for TSA precheck - I realize we are spoiled with having a home airport that is fairly calm but this took longer than I expected. We made our plane with a bit of time to spare and even had an extra seat (due to someone else missing the flight as it was supposed to be full) to stretch out on and let C nap.

Upon arrival, we got our bags and headed to our favorite diner for brunch/lunch - Penny Ann's - before heading to Park City. Our room wasn't ready yet but we were able to check our bags with the hotel, head to the grocery and check our food with the hotel too, and go pick up the girls' ski gear.

J took the girls out for a few minutes- S quickly got her ski legs back and C got familiar with having skis on, etc before her day of ski school the next day.

We checked out the rest of the hotel, including the family area, and had some s'mores in the fire pits before an early dinner. We found a cool Disney family feud game in the family area and borrowed it for our room for the rest of the week - this made for fun breakfast conversation each day.



December 23 highlights
J and S skied together this day, C went to ski school, and this meant I had a rare day to myself. The weather was amazing so I decided to get a nice run in - I went for 6.6 miles and felt every single foot of elevation gain through the run. J and S met me at the hotel for lunch before heading back for an afternoon of skiing. I picked up C and while she enjoyed ski school, she didnt want to go back the next day. We had dinner in our room and all got a great night sleep.



December 24 highlights
S went to ski school today and J went out skiing on his own - unfortunately J was injured today and ski patrol had to bring him down the mountain - luckily, nothing broken (but lots of bruising and soreness) so C and I headed to pick him up once he was ready to go.


S had a great day at ski school and was exhausted.

C and I headed out for the torchlight parade (right outside our hotel) and met a lovely Australian couple while waiting for the ski instructors to bring Santa down.

Christmas Day highlights
We woke up early and enjoyed some family time on Christmas morning before S went to ski school while the rest of us spent a day mostly at the hotel - J and C played games at the kids area while I ran and then J rested while C and I went ice skating  during a beautiful winter snow storm.

We picked up S, relaxed a bit, and then headed out to a Christmas dinner - I found this restaurant from a list of recommended kid-friendly places and it was fine- the regular menu looked amazing and I wish we had tried this place on a different night vs. their special Christmas menu night.

December 26 highlights
S and J were supposed to ski together today but J needed to rest still so S went back to ski school and totally rocked it!



I stopped taking notes today but I know we hung out at the kids club and C and I went swimming in the outdoor pool while S was at ski school. The pool is under some of the ski lifts and kept quite warm - we had the pool all to ourselves since most people were likely skiing and had a great time.



Everyone was tired this evening so we went to a Mexican place right outside the hotel instead of venturing to Main Street before our last night at the hotel.

December 27
We were able to get late check out (1pm) so I ran early and then J went to the gym for what he could do with his injury. The family area had a make your own waffles activity so we happily went and enjoyed waffles (yum!) before playing Shuffleboard (S beat me!) and heading to the room to pack up. We arrived to the airport early so enjoyed a sit down lunch/dinner and bought a new Mad Libs book to pass the time before flying home.

Other than J's injury this was an amazing family vacation and nice way to end the year - we will be back!