becomesreality

I made my first trip to Park City in 2003 for a friend’s wedding in Deer Valley. Then I made the second trip in 2007 for the Sundance Film Festival, and completely fell in love with the place. I was lucky enough to stay with a friend who has a gorgeous cabin in nearby Heber City. I went with the same group of friends in 2008, again for the festival, and we’ve decided to go every year. It’s breathtakingly beautiful, and it’s so interesting seeing such a lot of activity going on in town in such cold weather. I had my first snowboarding experience here. I’m no expert, but I’m told the powder is excellent! It was between 2 degrees and 20 degrees the whole time we were there, both times, but the streets are full of people waiting to get in to movies and parties. Main Street, the heart of the festival, is all glammed up, but to see the real Utah life check out Heber city nearby with its cozy down-home rustic atmosphere.

One of the neatest places I’ve been, it’s the kind of place you wish you had a cabin for the winter so you could go write a book.

Its depressingly poor, stiflingly hot, and dangerously polluted.
Children chase you in the street begging for money and then say, “go away evil American” when you don’t give it to them. The pyramids are in ruins and perpetually covered with scaffolding helping to keep them erect. Men on camels with machine guns circle them. You can see a KFC from the Sphinx. It’s unsafe to drive on the chaotic roads. The buildings are crumbling everywhere. The air is a thick yellow smoke. The Nile looks like a pool of black tar with huge amounts of garbage washing up on the shores of either side.

Save in your mind the majestic images you’ve seen from the books. You don’t want the reality.