Slides & Sun Dials

One of the things I wanted to do for my birthday was go to Park City and do the Alpine Slides! (For my Lancaster friends, Park City is not the mall, it's a ski town in Utah.) We didn't have enough time to get up there on my actual birthday, but we did make a trip the very next weekend.

The experience begins with a long wait in the hot sun (long enough that I went and bought sun glasses and sunscreen while Hylan stood in line) to get on the ski lift, but it's followed by a relaxing scenic ride up to the top. Ski lifts or gondola rides in the summertime will never get old to me. I love it!

Once you get off the lift, you drag your heavy awkward sled on a pebbled path to the slides about a quarter mile away. Then you listen to a quick safety lesson by the slide monitor before she lets you go. Each slide is equipped with a hand break that allows you to control your speed, so you can go as fast or slow as you like. Hylan and I went down side-by-side, but we did not race, because it is discouraged, and because I don't need competition to enjoy my experience.

It's quite fun and quite expensive and was something I hadn't yet done in the 11 years I've lived in Utah. Holy smokes, Batman, have I really lived here that long?

Anyway, next time, I want to "buck up" and do the Alpine Coaster (click for video), which is quite a bit more expensive, but most likely worth it.

Later, we took a drive over to a shopping plaza where Hylan showed me a project he worked on several years ago when he was involved in the granite business. I kind of remembered him talking about it, but it was like 3+ years ago...

Let me be clear that he did not build the sun dial, but he did help place the granite on it with a couple of his business partners at the time. The red granite is called "Red Dragon" and it would be beautiful in a theater room!

I think the whole thing is actually very cool. See how the shadow points to a plate on the ground.

Maybe you can't see it very well, but it says, "July 1 3:30." It wasn't July 1st, but it was about 3:30. I don't think they had plates for every day of the year, just the first day of the month and the time in 15 minute increments.

I was impressed. It really is quite a beautiful piece and I'm glad Hylan showed it to me.

Good times. I wish I could say we've done lots more fun stuff like this all summer long, but we are work slaves, which is why I am still so pasty white. *sigh.