Utah - Day Five - Park City

One of the things Chad wanted to do on this trip was mountain bike.  He suggested the idea to my brother and brothers-in-law and they were totally on board.  So this morning the boys got up right away, got their bikes prepped and ready and headed into the mountains to do some mountain biking at the Park City Resort.  In the summer, the resorts add a bike carrier to the chair lift so mountain bikers can ride down the trails.  The boys couldn't wait to get started!

We couldn't let the boys have all the fun.  We let them get a head start and then we met them at the resort for some more fun.  In the meantime though, the little kids had fun playing with each other at Nana and Papa's house!  Air hockey was the game of choice.

They also got to take rides with Papa in Black Sally.  This is definitely one of the most requested activities at Nana and Papa's house!

Nana and Papa were kind enough to watch Ashlyn and Cambria, while the girls took the rest of the kids up to Park City.  We were going to take a ride on the Alpine Slide - something we have wanted to do for a while!

We met up with the guys and we heard lots of stories.  There had been a couple of falls.  The scariest fall was when Trevor got going down the mountain too fast and hit a ditch.  The impact sent him soaring head over heals into the air more than 15 ft.  He landed on his head.  Luckily, he was okay and came away with only a couple of bumps and bruises.

Since the line for the Alpine Slide was long, we let the the boys go for one more ride down the mountain while we got the slide tickets, and let the kids ride the carousel.  The little kids were definitely happy to oblige!

It was pretty hot, so we splurged and got some slurpees!  They were so cool and refreshing!

As we were waiting and playing with the kids, we were keeping an eye on the weather.  Dark clouds were starting to move in and we knew that rain would shut down the slide.  The guys got back down the mountain in time for us to make it up lift to the slide though.

We were still in a hurry though, because it was getting darker and darker.  We were told that if it started raining while we were on the slide that we would have to stop and walk down the mountain - not cool.

Luckily, we were all able to make it down the slide before it started to rain!  The slide was a lot of fun!  I went down with Austin and Chad went down with Devon.  The big boys got to go on their own!  It was fun, I just wish we could have gone down more than once.  Oh well, there's always the next time!

Once everyone made it down the slide, Chad and Aaron were talking about going down the mountain one more time on their bikes.  By this time, the dark clouds were above us and we could hear thunder.  I told Chad he could go (not that I could have convinced him to stay), but I said the boys could not.  I was worried enough about Chad and Aaron going again.  When they got the go ahead, they took off and got onto the chair lift.

The rest of us decided we would eat at one of the restaurants at the resort.  While we were deciding on which one to go to a huge gust of wind came up and started blowing tables and chairs over.  Then the rain started and lightning flashed.  We grabbed the kids and headed for the nearest restaurant.  Our thoughts turned to Chad and Aaron.  We hoped they had made it off of the chair lift before the lightning hit.  Since we were stuck in the restaurant we decided to order something to eat.  Much to our surprise, when we went to order we were told that the kitchen had been closed and they were closing up shop because of the storm.  We were amazed!  All the other places at the resort had done the same.  Within minutes it was a ghost town.  It was really odd, especially since the storm was very short lived.

Since the restaurant was closing we decided to make our way to the cars and wait for Chad and Aaron there.  By the time we got to the car, Chad and Aaron came riding up on their bikes.  They were both beaming with joy and they exclaimed, "That was the best ride!"  They were both on cloud nine and you couldn't wipe the smiles off their faces.

They were covered head to foot in mud (part of why the ride was so cool!).  They told us that they had just barely made it to the top of the chair lift when it had started to rain.  They worker told them they had to wait for the van to be driven down the mountain.  Aaron told him there was no way he was riding down the mountain in a van - he was biking.  The worker took one look at them and told them to hurry up and get going!  Chad said it was such a cool ride.  When I asked him if he had seen any lightning, he told me yes, but it was at least four to five yards away!  Oh, is that all!!  Scary!