Utah holds a special place in my heart because it was on Salt Lake soil that I decided to go into business for myself. Basically, it’s up there with Virginia (where I was born) and Illinois (where I got married) in terms of State that have Changed my Life.
In 2013 I returned to Salt Lake City for Alt Summit – this time to speak as well as attend. A dream come true, basically. The conference ended on Saturday and my sister, Kerry, came out that night to continue my Utah vacation.
We headed up to Solitude to ski. Our room in the Inn at Solitude had a lovely view of the mini-village at the base of the mountain. We watched the snow fall over the Alpine-esque architecture of the clock tower/ski rental place.
That evening, we went for pizza at the small pizza place right outside the Inn. This dinner was the source of many stories and laughter for the rest of the trip.
While awaiting our pie, we chatted about our room at the Inn and contemplated one of us running upstairs to stand on the balcony while the other stayed outside to get a picture. A man at a nearby table leaned over and told us we were idiots for getting a village-view room rather than a mountain-view room. We smiled slowly as we edged our chairs further from him.
This, unfortunately, put us closer to the guy at another booth who had been narrating our visit aloud.
“Those girls have olives on their pizza.”
“That one just got more root beer.”
“They got a box. I guess they are taking pizza back to their room.”
Kerry and I kept eyeing each other beaming “IS THIS REAL LIFE??” type messages back and forth. The next night, we got take out and ate in our room.
Odd dinner-mates aside, the skiing was beyond fantastic. We had fresh snow, nearly empty mountains, and no lift lines. At night, we were alone in the outdoor hot tub where we steamed ourselves while watching fat flakes dissolve on the water’s surface.
I’m so glad my sister and I share a love of wintery mountains.