Skiing — Park City, Utah — The drive from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Park City, Utah
Finally, on the road to Park City, Utah, for a week of skiing
February 2015
We decided to head to Park City, Utah, to ski as there was very little snow in Tahoe. It was a shame we were heading to Park City as, unlike Tahoe, I had skied the area before. However, it would be fun to revisit Park City as I was last there in the 1990s, and it would be interesting to see how the place had changed.
Park City was one of the first big ski areas I visited outside New England, USA. When I skied it, I remember being impressed by the size of the mountain and the number of lifts and runs. I liked Park City.
On the trip, we also planned to ski Deer Valley, Canyons (I was pretty confident it was called Wolf Mountain when I was last visited) and Snowbird and Alta.
Hertz Car Hire at the Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas
Car hire companies, in this case, Hertz, have one function and one function only — they hire out cars.
We went to pick up the car we had booked two days earlier, and it wasn't available. This would have been a disaster if we had to be somewhere at a fixed time. Luckily, we were flexible, but we wanted to get the car and go, as we had an 8-hour drive to get to the snow.
We were hopeful that Hertz would offer us a "sorry for the inconvenience” upgrade — but they didn’t. They said the problem was that all the cars were at the airport, and they didn’t have anyone to pick them up. We offered to go to the airport and collect our car and discovered that it wasn't known if the vehicle was there. Finally, after some tweeting at Hertz, our car arrived. Only two hours and 45 minutes late, but we had it.
The drive to Park City, Utah
The drive from Las Vegas to Park City took around 8 hours — 430 miles (ca. 690 km).
I enjoyed the drive as even though it was nearly all Interstate, we got to see America and the ever-changing scenery.
Las Vegas was as you would expect. All flashy and full of bright lights.
Photo by Author — Las Vegas — all flash and no substance?
But what was surprising was it didn’t take long to leave the city behind as we drove north on Interstate 15. We soon started to pass through the more run down and seedier areas around the city.
Photo by Author — Las Vegas — leaving town
Next, we drove through an area of light industry and finally into the desert.
Photo by Author — Interstate 15
Photo by Author — Interstate 15
On a drive north out of Las Vegas to Park City, you would think that things would get boring. They didn’t, as the scenery was constantly changing. The countryside was beautiful. I loved the desert.
Photo by Author — Interstate 15
Photo by Author — Interstate 15
Eventually, we left Nevada and entered Arizona.
Photo by Author — Arizona State Line
And one thing I noticed as soon as we hit Arizona was that the roads got worse. Note all the patching in the photo below.
Photo by Author — Welcome to the patched roads of Arizona
The scenery along Interstate 15 was spectacular and constantly changing.
Photo by Author — Interstate 15
Photo by Author — Interstate 15
Finally, we got to Utah.
Photo by Author - welcome to Utah - Utah State Line
And then we saw the first snow.
Photo by Author — the first snow
We took the first snow as a sign that we would have good snow when we got to Park City.
The desert was long gone, and there was grass.
Photo by Author — driving through Utah
One thing I did like was all the signs along the road.
Photo by Author — driving through Utah — road signs
Photo by Author — driving through Utah — road signs
Photo by Author — driving through Utah — road signs
I enjoyed the drive from Las Vegas to Part City, as I got to see America. I love road trips across a country, as you see what makes the place tick and what is going on.
I wish I had more time to make such road trips across more parts of the US and other countries.
