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Showing posts with the label Winter Destinations

Ask the Locals Guide: The Sundance Resort and Park City, Utah

The Sundance Film Festival  screens hundreds of films from January 20-30. Local insiders know that during the festival, the slopes are less crowded than usual. While filmgoers crowd the theaters, restaurants and bars, skiers enjoy shorter lift lines and uncrowded runs. I don't ski but I do eat. For those who are going to watch films, here are some suggestions about where to eat.  With heavy snow falling in Atlanta and New York City where it isn't wanted, there's comfort knowing that snow is also accumulating on ski slopes, where it belongs. At the foot of Utah's Wasatch Mountains, dozens of world-class ski resorts are within easy driving distance of Salt Lake International Airport. The mountains make an impression the minute visitors land at Salt Lake International Airport. In summer or winter, the white capped peaks are evidence that this is rocky mountain country or, as the state logo has it, "Life Elevated."  Salt Lake City itself is over 4,000 feet, s

Park City, Utah and the Sundance Film Festival

If you live in Park City, you're used to the Sundance Film Festival taking over your town for ten days in mid-January. You've adjusted to the tsunami of movie stars and executives who fly in from LA and New York during the first weekend. You know you can't get a room for an out of town friend. The bumper-to-bumper rush hour is as bad as downtown LA. If you want a table at Zoom, the Blind Dog Grill, Riverhorse Cafe, Grappa, or even the Eating Establishment, you'd have to make a reservation months in advance. In Park City every table will be taken by a movie star, writer, director, studio executive, agent, or a manager who's tryin g to grab a quick bite to eat before rushing off to their next meeting or movie. And if all the tables aren't reserved by individuals, then the whole restaurant will be booked for a private party. After its premiere every film has a party. The smaller films have modest get-togethers, while the better funded movies throw big, n