Day Thirteen: St. George, Ut to Ogden, Ut Via Park City, UT

This morning we headed out on Day 12 of our 25 day journey.... Had breakfast at the Hampton Inn and were on the road by 715..... We were on the road just cruising along.... Matt was asleep so I decided to call my friend Pam Ray.... 

While I was on the phone with her I noticed a police man coming behind me with his lights on.... I told her ooo I better get over he must be after someone.... Little did I know... 

IT WAS ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  More than 3,000 miles logged in our journey and finally it happened.... A speeding ticket.... I was sooo mad at myself.... I honestly had no idea how fast I was going... I wasn't passing anyone because there were only 5 people on the road.... There are not many interstate travelers out here early in the morning....

I very sulkily pulled over and up he came... Anyone who has ever gotten a ticket knows the feeling that I was having... My stomach was twisting... I was scared.... I was mad... at the cop, at myself... at Matt for sleeping and not telling me to slow down.... 

When he got there, I asked him how fast I was going and he said *( in a &%.... (You can figure out my secret code by using your keyboard.... I told him I had no idea I was going that fast.... He responded... "If you would get off that phone and drive your vehicle maybe you would know how fast you are going." 

***( Insert Disclaimer.... Please save your comments about driving while talking on a cell... It was 8am in the middle of a desert, not rush hour traffic.... I was hardly a safety risk.)

I digress.... When he came back he must have seen my clean driving record and had pity on me.... The fine...82 dollars. Not too bad considering the speed.... Regardless I was sick and kick my self in the tail!!!!!

If any of you are interested in donating to the cause please let me know via email....

mrdearybury@hotmail.com

:0)

Now.... Onto my day.... After the ticket incident we headed on towards Park City, UT.... Although its not winter the ski resort had tons to do, and we figured it would be a great way to spend the day as we drove north through Utah.

We arrived at the mountain around 12, so that was about 5 hours driving... Not too bad, but we didn't stop the whole way and I was ready to be out of the car.

Three of the things we chose to do were while on the mountain were the Zip Line, Alpine Coaster, and Alpine Slide.... Let me explain using the pics below...

Zip Line is obvious.... There was a huge zip line that went way up the mountain.... We got strapped in a harness.... put our feet against this door.... The door flopped open and WHOOOOOOOOOSH, down we went...... The website says that you reach speeds upwards of 45 mph... IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!  I must admit I was TERRIFIED as we waited... but it was so cool as we flew down that mountain...

If you look towards the top of the mountain you can see a little station in between the trees.... That is where we started.... dangling from the cables you see at the bottom... CRAZY!!!

The next thing we did was called an Alpine Coaster... It was a 1 person roller coaster that ran down the side of the mountain.... Notice below the kind of car we were in...

Matt took this shot of me as I was in front of him... I am being pulled up the mountain in my car by a pulley system.

I tried to shoot a video on the way up and my camera died.... Watch what I got.... It kinda shows how it works a bit better, then cuts off at a random point...... This coaster thing was absolutely.... crazy fast..... that is because you controlled the speed... It had breaks on your car and if you wanted to slow down  you could... me.... I went as fast as I could.... I hit the breaks once right at the top and then let it ride all the way down.... A few of the curves really almost gave me a heart attack but i was determined not to stop it...

Next, we took the chair lift up for the second time and headed down the Alpine Slide... Its kind like the Luge, but not as fast.....

My ride on this slide kinda stunk because I was going really fast and ran up on some lady and her little girl and had to slow WAAAYY down half way through.... I never really got my momentum back.... :0(

Matt and I had a great time here... We already decided we would love to come back out here in the winter and ski.... The temp on the mountain was a nice 79 degrees.... We didn't know how to act after being over 100 for the past 12 days.....

Below are some scenic pics of the ride up to Park City... It was really nice to see something other than cacti or palm trees... 

Yes, that is snow on the mountain... There was snow still on one ski trail too... we could see it just to the left of the chair lift.

To all of you who are reading along daily I cannot thank you enough... It has been so neat to share this trip with you.... As a reward for you I am scheming up an idea... I want as many of you as possible to comment and then I am gonna draw your name out of a hat to win a prize from Yellowstone.... My friend Jen back in El Paso told me to do this as she saw it on another blog.... SOOOO... GET TO COMMENTING!!!!!!!!

If you sign as anonymous you have to type your name in the message so I'll know... I think I have picked up a couple of readers I don't know along the journey out here....... 

I put this at the bottom on purpose to see who reads all the way down!!! :0)

Day 12 Stats:

Mileage: 365 miles

Drive Time: 6 hours

Gas: $58... $4.19 a gallon in St. George

Pray for our safety tomorrow... We are headed to Jackson Hole, WY to go white water rafting on an over night trip down the river.... Then on to Yellow Stone on Saturday.... Chances are we will not have any cell phone service for the next few days... but Internet is free at our next hotel!!!!