A Trip to Park City and a Few Fires!

(photographing)

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If you’ve noticed that I’ve been absent on the internet the last few days (you probably didn’t) it’s because my hubby and I were with my family in an adult-only weekend in Park City, Utah.

We left the five kids in Michigan and flew to Salt Lake.

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I love flying into Utah. It’s so beautiful. This is what Utah mountains should look like.

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I was especially anxious to visit because of the fires in Utah.

One fire in particular had me quite nervous. The Alpine fire was one of those that spread like mad. Within two hours it had climbed the entire mountain. Right behind my parents’ home.

The scary part is the fire came within 500 yards of their house. They were evacuated for two days last week. But due to the amazing firefighting forces in Utah, it never got any closer than that — thankfully. But it was still frightening though.

As they cleared out their necessities (pictures, computers, and other non-replaceables) my dad watched the flames reach 100 feet, if not more. Very scary. Here’s a few pictures. The top three were taken by my brother at my parents’ house.

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You can see the roof of my parents’ house just behind the trees. The smoke rose close to 20,000 feet. The flames alone were between 100-200 feet high.

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But my parents’ house is fine. In fact, last report I heard, all the houses in Alpine were saved. This is amazing because so much of the mountainside is not. Several ridges are now blackened.

For my husband and I to fly in two days after all this was super crazy timing.

Unfortunately, we were sitting on the wrong side of the plane so I couldn’t see the Alpine mountainside. I snapped this photo of another charred spot in Utah instead.

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I think this is Eagle Mountain (Correct me if I’m wrong)

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Though the adult weekend was scheduled for Park City, my hubby and I headed to my parents’ house first.

I had to see.

Yet, as I apprehensively waited to see the full damage from the fire, it started to rain. The day before, this rainstorm wasn’t even in the forecast. I believe it was prayed in. It wasn’t just any rainstorm either. It was a long, hard rain.

Even more amazing was as we got off I-15 in Lehi, we spotted this…

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A DOUBLE rainbow driving into Alpine!

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The rainbow is the universal sign of peace, or tranquility, or something. I don’t know. To see not only a rainbow, but a double rainbow, was comforting after all the anxiety I’d felt all week. 

So here’s Alpine as of Thursday. Not the best picture, but it gives you a little idea of the damage. The bottom right corner of the mountain is the only green spot left. Everything else was burned. The black spots aren’t entirely black either, but somewhat red because of the flame retardant they dumped. You can see the white smoke towards the top of the mountain where the fire was still smoldering.

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There was still smoke rising from the hot spots on top of the mountain when we drove up.  Note: that is grass in the bottom of the picture, not wheat, if that gives you an idea of how dry Utah has been.

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The mountain behind my parents will never be the same in their lifetime–or mine. Yet, I am extremely grateful everyone was safe and more damage wasn’t done.

Once I saw that they (and their house) were okay, we headed up to Park City for the fun-filled adult weekend.

If you haven’t visited Utah, you should. Seriously. It is one of the most geographically diverse states. Down south is the red rock canyons and Lake Powell. Out west is the barren deserts. Up north is the pine-filled, granite mountains, plus the bizarre and amazing Great Salt Lake.

I love it!

Park City is in Northern Utah, about twenty miles east of Salt Lake City. The base elevation of Park City is 7,000 feet above sea level, but my hubby and I drove up Guardsman’s pass, which is near 10,000 feet.

I am the sixth of seven children, so with my parents, there were fourteen adults up in a beautiful condo. We had so much fun. Tons of food and laughing. (And no kids.)

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Sometimes I forget what it’s like to be an adult. I spend so much time as a mom, it was fun to rejuvenate. Plus, my family is so sarcastic and hilarious, I spent the weekend laughing.

My hubby and I had some time before and after the others came and went, so we explored Park City’s cute little Main Street, drove up in the mountains, and even spent some time at Olympic Park.

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Guardsman Pass — 10,000 ft. above sea level

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The only way you’ll see me on a pair of skis. Yes, I wrote SADIE, but I like skiing as much as she does.

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Now I’m back to the green farmland of Michigan, which is beautiful in its own way. I’m back to dishes, laundry, and fighting with my adorable children. I’m also back to writing, blogging, and twitter. :)

It was an all-too-short weekend, but well worth it!

Have a great one!