april visitors: the rest of the days

We got to keep our houseguests for another three days and although I had to go back to work, the rest of them found fun things to fill their days.

Living Room

Day 3:  Tuesday was cloudy and cool.  H, K and D hiked to the Living Room, finding the trail mostly dry and practically empty: there were hardly any other hikers/walkers and once they got to the Living Room, they had it to themselves for nearly a half hour.  There were lots of animal tracks but no critter sights, other than a deer on a golf course.  After their hike, they swung by Ruth's for lunch on the patio (taking advantage of the propane heaters, of course).  They reported that Ruth's was busier than you might have thought for a Tuesday.  They kept driving up Emigration Canyon after lunch but, as suspected, the road to Big Mountain still closed for winter.

Lunch at Ruth's

Day 4: Wednesday was a gorgeous day, sunny and low 70s, and I was very envious that I had to work.  Especially since H, D and K went to breakfast at Silver Fork where all three had oatmeal with brown sugar, bananas, strawberries and walnuts (!!).  There was still lots of snow and plenty of skiers at Brighton and Solitude.  Next, the crew drove to Millcreek Canyon, where they parked at the Burch Hollow parking lot and went up the switchbacks to the Pipeline Trail to hike to Elbow Fork (and back).  Midweek, the Pipeline Trail was not heavily used, where they only shared the trail with a couple of runners and couple of dog walkers only.  The canyon road was still covered with snow; the trail was wet and muddy in a few spots but never impassable.  When I got home from work, they were out on the patio, enjoying the mild temperatures, and I gladly joined them.

Still a fair amount of snow in Millcreek Canyon

Day 5:  Thursday was D and K's last day in Utah and it was another nice one, mostly sunny and low 70s, but windier.  I slaved away at work again while H, D and K cruised on over to Park City.  They hiked at Round Valley - H reported that D and K have a very fast walking pace - and then lunch at Squatter's.  They were on our patio when I got home - but it was slightly less pleasant than prior days since it was very windy and the valley had filled with dust.  By the time we left for dinner at the Porcupine, however, the temperature had dropped 20 degrees and the dust was clearing.  By the time we left dinner and headed for the airport for D and K's flight home, the air was clear and we were all wishing we'd brought jackets.

K and H, Millcreek Canyon

We had a wonderful time with D and K.  They were great (and easy) houseguests, psyched to do anything we suggested.  It certainly helped that we had one of the best days conditions-wise for our ski day too!  Come back ANYTIME, D and K!