Parked up in Park City!

Howdy y'all.  Hope our friends and family in NZ are enjoying the snow!!  We hear there's been a good dumping of white powder on Te Mata Peak.  Go make some snowmen!!

Well, we are in a total contrast to the winter of Hawke's Bay...it is about 29 degrees right now, and I am sitting next to a pool!  We are in Park City (a small town really), which is in northern Utah, and about 35 miles from Salt Lake City.  Found ourselves a great camping spot - only $20

a night, and the place is virtually empty - and it has a pool, spa, hot showers, a pool table, a pretty stream with lots of birdlife and shade!  Oh, what luxury we live in!  Been here for 4 days, exploring their mountain bikes trails (what a surprise).  It is a posh ski resort in winter, and a mt bike mecca (yes, another one) in summer.  About 400 miles of trails here, they reckon.  Plenty of chairlifts here too, for those with an aversion to climbing at altitude.  Done some neat rides around their ski resorts, and along their flagship track, the 'Mid Mountain Trail'.  Will head out again soon for another one - maybe to Wasatch Crest, although there's too many damn options, it takes ages for us to make up our mind! Haha.  Also been to the Sunday 'Park Silly' market which must be the only market I've been to where you can get a Bloody Mary at 10am.  Last night we went out for a nice meal with an acquaintance of Brent's sister - a lovely lady called Diane, who was a fountain of knowledge when it came to local insider advice! 
Before we got here to Park City, we stayed 1 night in Idaho.  Bit of a shame to fly through the 'Potato State' (this is their motto apparently, as indicated on their car numberplates).  However we happened to arrive in Idaho Falls when there was heaps of events on in town - including a jet boat / speed boat drag race down their Snake River.  We had to watch that, and hang out with the boguns for awhile - however only for about 10 minutes as drag racing on boats just isn't that exciting as a spectator!  However they had a fast car / antique car show on at the same time, so that was ok.  Lots of red Corvettes.  Think that'll be my next car :-) Yeh right.  We also visited their Museum of Idaho, which had a display of 'Bodies' -  difficult to explain, but full figures of human bodies showing the intracies of it - and how complex we truly are.  Real bodies were used for the exhibition - brought in from Chinese Authorities - does that sound dodgy to you??!!  We thought so, but they assured us it was all legit.

So, next stop is Bonneville, for the Salt Flat Racing.  This is where land speed records are made - remember Burt Munro and his Indian?  That's the one.  Need to put sun lotion on everywhere at this event - under your nose, under your chin, up your skirt (haha), as apparently it's hot, hot, hot and the sun reflects off the salt on to everything.  Plan to stay there for 2 days. 

Then, we'll cruise across Nevada, and make our way towards Yosemite and Lake Tahoe/Reno.  Only a few more weeks of exploring this part of the States, and then we're off to Ecuador!  Adios amigos x