Stay-Sortof-Cation

I think it was last spring that Troy went to a home show or something for work and while wandering the giant convention center filled with booths and displays, he came across a person offering cheap weekends at the Westgate Hotel in Park City.  We knew it was a time share deal and we'd have to suffer through a presentation (and suffer we did) but it seemed worth it to take the kids on a quick get away for almost nothing. Initially we wanted to use the weekend as a summer vacation but we were surprised at how quickly the summer weekends filled up, so we saved our ticket until the fall when Park City would be cooling down and we might see some fall colors on the hills.

I'm not going to say (much to the chagrin of the Westgate honchos) that that big hotel is my favorite destination in the world because it's definitely not.  I will say, however, that our little family had a really nice time together.  Yes, sometimes when you stay in a big place like that you're not sure what to do with yourself all day, but the kids had so much fun just being away from home and getting excited about all those hotel things like ice machines and free soap.  We watched movies we could have watched at home on a t.v. that wasn't especially nice and ate the food we brought with us out of the fancy hotel kitchen fridge.  We slept in rather uncomfortable beds but the fact that the girls had the party bed (that's what we named the hide-a-bed couch in the living room) and Stomper got to snuggle up next to me and Troy in the king size bed just seemed to make them happy.  We had a very pleasant weekend despite the fancy hotel!

Honestly, I think what the kids did most of all was be wet.  Our room had this big old shower with a steamer and a shower head on the ceiling plus a sizable jetted tub.  Then of course there was the pool with two hot tubs; the pool never got deeper than Skippidy could stand, which was heaven for everyone, especially her.  We didn't really take advantage of a single thing the hotel advertises: no kids club so Troy and I could escape to the adults-only pool, no video game room, no pool-side root beer floats, no spa days or fitness centers or yoga.  Just hopping back and forth between the shower and the tub and the pool and putting all of our free shampoo to good use.

Oh yeah, we did eat out a little.  We ate out the first night we got there - we all kinda love Panda Express and because we weren't arriving in Park City until Friday evening we decided to eat there before we got to the Westgate.  Yum.  We all shared a few plates of noodles and orange chicken and shrimp.  On Saturday night we thought it would be fun to head to Main Street in Park City and find a kid-friendly place to take the kids.  Well, we didn't really get a chance to even find a restaurant because we couldn't even find a parking spot.  The kids were starving, the streets were crowded, the sun was going down so we just left and headed to....Panda Express.  Upon the kids' request.  We passed around more plates of noodles and orange chicken and shrimp.  This time we really went for broke and got egg rolls too.  I thought it was pretty funny that Panda Express has all we could ever want in the way of fine dining.

The worst part was absolutely the Time Share....torture session.  Actually, I found it more tortuous for our poor guide, who was this young and darling gal from Spain who just didn't know how to sell a time share deed to a couple of people who haven't paid for a hotel in almost their entire marriage.  Her slick-haired boss sure tried, and we thought he was pushy, but Laura from Spain was really sweet.

The best part was the entire Saturday afternoon as the kids discovered what happens when you pour body soap into a jetted tub and turn on the jets.  Mountains.  Piles.  Heaps.  Glaciers of bubbles.  We almost lost a kid or two under those towering peaks.  They couldn't have been more delighted.  The other best part was a visit from some dear neighbors (you know who you are!!) who brought their boys up to hang out, wander around the commons area and ride the free ski-lift thing a time or two (it takes you to 7-11 so you can get a slurpee and then head back. Quite the ride.)

I'm realizing what a long entry this is just to describe a quiet weekend at a hotel...with almost no pictures.  We brought the camera we just didn't use it much.  Or at all.  That's okay.  We were having too much fun in our weird boring wonderful hotel room.