14. Live From Park City, UT

Join me on this summer adventure to Park City to escape the 100+ Texas temps. I take you along as I go white water rafting, attend a ghost tour, and learn about the mining history of the city.

Download my free guide: 10 Tips for A Luxe Disney Vacation or connect with me on Instagram @michelevisitsmickey.

This episode was produced by The Podcast Teacher.

Transcript

Hello, my friends. I am so excited to be talking to you today from the Austin Airport where I am on my way out of the 100 and degree heat over to Salt Lake City where it is nearly 90 something, but then we will be renting a car and heading into Park City to get away from the heat, staying at one of our Marriott Vacation Club. We cashed in some points. Our annual get out of the heat, July family trip. And this time, the family is me and “Mr. MichelevisitsMickey.” So I'm super excited and follow along, and I will be telling you all about it as we go. 

It is me after my very exhausting travel day. We have finally made it to our hotel. It is like, 8 o'clock at night, and it is so time to go out and get some good food. Boy. If you haven't yet listened to episode 11 and you want a sense of how I'm feeling right now, please go back and listen to episode 11. And when I said for fuck's sake that your patience, we should have reiterated that to all the way through so you get to your whole tell room because we did not have the kind of welcome that I wanted to be expected in the lobby of the front desk. 

So we had to wait because they didn't have enough people on staff, and none of them was training. We also had some red people who cut in line in front of us. I'm not still salty about that at all. And then we got to our room, and it was the hideous view of the roof with air conditioned vents. Even though we were only on the second floor, like, I don't know how that was, but I went down there. I was like, this is just not gonna work for us. I got the runaround from 2 different people before the manager, the front office manager. 

And, again, let me just take a minute here to tell you who to ask for when you're having issues. So, typically, there is a front desk person who checks you in. Then the next level is the room the signer, and that's the person who blocks all the reservations and rooms and for special requests and things like that, then there is the manager of the front desk. Sometimes that person is also depending on the size of the resort, the front the full front office, which entails bell services, valet services, and the front desk. In this case, that's what it was. And then there is the general manager, or in some cases where the front desk manager is not the front office manager than the general manager. 

So got through the person who was in training, the little front desk person, he was so nice and hopeful that he just really didn't know how to change our room. some room assignment came out and said, you could change it, but it was not gonna be any better of a view. It's gonna be parking lot instead of the roof. And I was like, no. Don't think so. So then the front desk manager who in this case was also the front office manager came out and said, and here is where he really got me. He said the rooms with the view that you are looking for, which was the mountains and the pools, those were blocked for VIPs. So then I had to explain to him that we were here as members and owners in the Marriott Vacation Club, and we would soon be taking a tour where they hope to sell us more points. and I kid you not. I didn't pack my patience when I said, I really don't think you want me going into that sales presentation and losing my shit on them. And that is what I said, and sure enough. He found us a room with the view. So we didn't have to change rooms after our 1st night. It was all very lovely. And once I got past, having a little bit of a temper tantrum, which I don't ever really recommend. I did keep my voice calm even though I was saying not very nice things. You know I advocate being nice. I did it in episode 11. I was trying to be very nice, but when he said that I wasn't a VIP, I kind of you know? Hey. I'm a boojie traveler, and I like to be treated. so to the respect that I deserve. 

So, anyway, we are now here. We're gonna go to dinner, and then probably going to sleep to wake up tomorrow refreshed in cooler temps and off to see parts of the town. Hello, my friends. It is Tuesday. Is it Tuesday? I don't know. That's the beautiful thing about travel. don't necessarily remember what day of the week it is because you're on the leisure. which is actually the new travel industry's term for working vacations, business, and leisure. So the leisure and I am in heavy bleisure mode. But, anyway, I'm very excited because today,”Mr. Michele Visits Mickey” and I are both going to do the ghost tour in haunted Main Street down in Park City Main Street, which is the famous street where the adjacent theater is, which is where the film festival always starts, and where all the stars to send. It is supposed to be the foodie capital. 

Anyway, We're going on a little 90 minute, little hiking tour all about the ghosts that France Park city, and there are several of them. And I'm going to talk to you or play a piece from the Egyptian Theatre when we get to that part of the tour. My favorite ghost a tour We kind of previewed her at the beginning. Lovely, elderly woman in a blue dress. This was a really easy hunt. because the woman whose ghost haunts this theater actually went on record before she died and said she was gonna haunt this theater. Oh, great. She gave a newspaper interview as she neared her 100th birthday. Her name was Blanche Feast, she lived almost a 100 years in this town born and raised. And in the late eighties, she was nearing the end of her life and all the media outlets wanted to interview her, get her story. And it was during a newspaper interview when she said something to the effect of I really love that theater because she was a staple here for her whole life. And she said, I I may not be around much longer, but I'm gonna try to be in theater forever. 

And she died a couple years later, and then it didn't take long before people started reporting seeing this strange blue kinda blur in the corner of their vision, and they were hearing piano music at times, walking through the rafters, And after a while, the figure began to take a little bit more of a clear shape. And then, lo and behold, we learned that it was actually that goes to Blanche Fest. and she was making good on her promise to stay in this theater as a little girl, she'd be standing here giving out tickets and programs volunteering when this was called the Dewey Theatre at the turn of the century, a 120 years ago, she would have been here. And when she grew up and became a teenager, she learned to play piano and she was hired here as the in house pianist for the silent movie -- Mhmm. -- craze. And then as she grew older than that, she served on the board of directors here. She volunteered it. Even into her twilight years, she was a fixture and kind of a regular at the Egyptian Theater. She was she became known as kind of the mother of the theater. And I think it's really awesome that she's still with us. If those locals will come to see a show, and they'll make a point to arrive early and stay late, so that they can take pictures inside and kinda watch in their periphery in hopes of seeing a hearing quench. She's a big part of this town's history. Her son is a man named Mel Fletcher. He's in the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame, one of the first directors of skiing at Treasure Mountain, which opened in 1963. it can be argued that without Blanche Beast, and by extension her son, Mel, none of us will be standing This town might never have survived a ski town.

Hello, my friends. It is early, Wednesday morning. And I am so excited because although Park City is a winter ski town, I am taking advantage of a cool summertime adventure, and I am going white water rafting. So I know most of you are new friends, and you do not know that this is actually something that I used to be terrified of. The first time I ever went. I was eleven years old, and I was scared, and I cried, and I didn't wanna go but we were with my cousins who wanted to go, and, of course, my parents who were super pumped and very excited. And my almost eighty year old mother is actually going white water rafting in the Smoky Mountains next week with our son Elliott. spending a little grandma time. But so something worked despite my terror and that I grew up and found that I actually loved white water rafting. And I've never done any I don't think I've ever done any class 4 rapids, maybe once And if I did, it was actually that very first trip when I was 11, which was in the Smoky mountains. But here for Salt Lake City, it's 2 to 2 point plus rapids, maybe a classified 3 at the most. But so I'm really excited. So shout out to Utah Outdoor Adventures. They are year round, so they provide snow adventures like snowshoeing, sledding, skiing, and then they provide summer adventures such as biking, off off roading experiences, and then what I am gonna do today, which is about a 90 minute to 2 hour. It depends on how fast the rabbits are going. trip down to Lake Yola. I really feel like it was like Yola because I was like, oh, they have that a Hollywood studious. but that doesn't make sense that would be Lake Eola because that would have been in California. But maybe it is. Maybe it comes down from California. You don't really care. So, anyway, I am gonna post some pictures of that adventure on the Instagram. when my Instagram is @michelevisitsmickey. And I will be sure and post all the fun from this adventure and I'll see you real soon.

Hello, friends. I have just returned from the White Water Adventure where Tammy and Dave, my fellow boat mates, and my guy, Devin, not only rescued me from a fall, but rescued my flip flop. So I just have to have Tammy say hello to everyone. 

“Hi, everyone. Devin was the true hero.”

 No. I think I think you did a lot. people in Chicago will feel that I am the true hero. That was right. Tammy is making sure that I have no PTSD about the little incidents. and she is my newfound friends on Instagram. And, yes, all the photos will be posted.

So That's a little more context about that little shout out from my new friends, Tammy, and Dave, and my guy, Devin. So going down, it was this 3rd traffic. I was a look feeling a little too confident in my flip flop shoes And sure enough, I fell backwards right off the raft. It sounds a whole lot worse than it was. I really honestly, it it don't even remember being scared. I didn't hit my head. I didn't hit anything. They I grabs onto what they call the turkey rope or the safety rope that lines along the boat. My guy grabs onto my jacket. you know, the safety jacket. What's that called? What's that thing you wear over your swimsuit when you're in the water? Life vest. Life vest. Yes. That's it. My god. My life vest pulled me into the boat. He said the only thing that went wrong is my life vest was too loose. that would be, of course, because I don't like anything very tight. But anyway so that was bad on on on me, but also on Devin because he shoulda checked that before I get in. But, anyway, my sunglasses, my Tory Burch sunglasses stayed on. Thank you. and I was fine. I was laughing. I was not panicked at all, but I did lose my chief $2 Clubmed flip flop, which, of course, I wore on purpose because I was like, I don't wanna wear anything that I don't wanna lose save those Tory Burch Sunglasses. And so but one flip flops did come off, and, Devin, Like, it was gonna ride the rapids down. And but we got a little bit ahead of it, in our boat, in our raft. Devin stopped the raft. We kinda anchored our wars and down floated my flip flop, and then we chased after it. And Devon managed to steer the boat next to it, and he managed to get my flip flop for me. He performed a whole rescue mission that The rescue mission for my flip flop took more time and was more complicated than getting me back into the boat. Anyway, Devon gave me a high 5 because I've never opted before, not a lot. But this was the first time I've ever fallen off the boat, and he was super prodigy that I just went right into safety mode. And thanks to, of course, Tammy, who you just heard, who pretty much saved my ass, j k. As I walk along historic main street, I am amazed at how small it is, how crowded it is, and how it's a mix start of very new brands like Lululemon And North Face, and old things like the Park City Museum, haunted mansions, you'll hear more about that from the ghost tour. And vocal vendors like the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. It feels like a bit of old nostalgia. There's walkers. There's bicycle riders. There are no cobblestone streets, and, yes, there is a lot of driving traffic as well. But it's really clean. And if you look up, cut a beautiful view of the mountains, which I will post a picture of on my Instagram. 

One thing I am learning here at the Park City museum is that park City has always really been very wealthy town. It started with the silver mines, and there were plenty of minors who lived here. Apparently, there were Park City millionaires, or some would call them robber Behrends because they earned their money selling supplies to the miners, so making their millions off of the backs of others. once the mining season was done for and had blown up, literally, one of the mines blew up. Then that is how we had the roots of the resort skiing and the fabulous ski mountains. And then, of course, along came the sun dance. film festival. But so nearly 7000 feet in the Wausstoch Mountains, Park City faced long winters deep snows. And wherever there was a slippery service, surface, residents found ways to adapt and have fun in the process. Ponds became skating rinks, streets became sleddinghills, and mountains became challenges. And I have learned that many of the chair lifts that went up to the the mountains for the first of the skiers who invaded the area were already in place because they used to take the the original silver miners up to the mines. So there was already an apparatus in place. to bring on the skiers. 

So despite what I said about Park City, always seeming to be a very wealthy town, there was a great fire of 1898, and it destroyed many wooden mining towns wouldn't, meaning the material that was used to build the mining towns across the American west. And so on June 19th 18 98, the heart of part city burnt in a matter of hours, and the damage was immense. It left a total loss of more than a $1,000,000. But It's according to the Tribune's New Year's edition, the Tribune, the local Park City fire. excuse me, the local Park City paper wrote in its New Year's edition, Park City has risen Phoenix like from its ashes, and we cannot underestimate the power of women. It was several Park City women who represented charities and churches and relief committee. helping those whose homes had burnt. Within four months, they raised almost $6000 in cash, and this was in 1898. and they distributed £67100 of flour, 51 tons of coal, and numerous articles of clothing to those in need, including the socially excluded Chinese. I am standing in what is a part of the original Park City jail, which was not destroyed by the big Park city fire that destroyed Main Street. And in in this cell, I can literally stretch my hands from wall to wall.

Orders passed scoundrels, thieves, and monks. But several miners also stared at these Four walls. They found themselves here after standing for their rights at the time when workers know little or no power up against working conditions. My name is dangerous, so who watched out for the minors? It wasn't the right number, the government, or private insurance companies, managed themselves, joined together to form a return on organizations and labor opportunities.

I just left the Park City original jail, which is in the basement of the Park City Museum. And I wanted to be sure to include that information about the union minors in how they tried to unionize themselves. Sadly, they were very unsuccessful, but I felt it was really important to include those initial starts and fits of unions with what's going on in Hollywood, New York, and actually all across the country with the actors and the writers union, SAG-AFTRA, and drug UGA, I have family in each of those in SAG-AFTRA and in the WGA. And so I'm watching the strike very closely. I have purposely not posted anything about Barbenheimer and in particular, the Barbie movie. I haven't gone to see it yet. Even though I'm here on vacation in Park City, I will be home on Friday. when it starts, I'm not going to go see it. I feel like if the actors and writers themselves of that movie cannot promote it, then I shouldn't be either. There are some content creators like my dream podcast from my first Q and a episode at Color Me Courtney who could actually become members of either the WGA or SAG after. They do allow content creators in, and she also has not posted. And she even canceled a birthday party themed, a Barbie themed birthday party. So I am choosing not to post. 

I have seen some content creators who are posting and who are allowing the movie studio to quote, unquote use them as influencers and are inviting them to the premier and sending them large packages swag bags, so to speak, and they are posting. And I have to say that it disappoints me. It does mean they will be barred from ever joining the union, which, you know, the union provides health care to those who reach that standard of almost $28,000 a year. And for those of you who don't know, over 75%. It is 70 6% to be exact, do not qualify for that amount on an annual basis to get health care. Through SAG-AFTRA. And AI cannot write stories. And this I know because I do use AI. I use it to start on blog posts and some to start on my Instagram posts and some even to start on podcast ideas, but it can't take the place of my brain and my voice and my own rewrite in creativity and branding. And so I'm very, very firm believer that AI cannot take the place of actual skilled writers. And in the case of my family, skilled and educated private school education, to become someone who is educated in the writing and running of TV and movies. So that's why I included that little bit about the miners in jail because they tried to strike. 

Dangers for minors began before they even stepped off of a cage, which there is a picture of one of these huge cages with me in it on my Instagram. So many believed that certain actions needed to be avoided to permit bad luck, and they were super superstitious, super superstitious. Yeah. According to superstition, Whistling could drive away the good spirit, and cave ins were more likely to occur between midnight 4 AM. So Park City miners also avoided announcing their last day of work in the mines. for fear that they would become injured or killed on their very last shift. So it became common for minors to quit a day earlier than announced to avoid that fate. 

Hello, friends. So today, I am walking up and down historic Main Street. One of the things you come to is the centerpiece of the Sundance Film Festival, the Egyptian Theater. And the museum has a full size replica of the stage of that theater. So the Sundance Film Festival showcases the best an independent film each winter in Park City. So stars, producers, and the real housewives of Salt Lake City and anybody in their their realm all come down to Park city and invade to see the Egyptian Theatre, which kicks off the first film. The Egyptian Theatre played off of America's fascination with all things Egyptian. And after the discovery of king tut gold relic filled tomb. That was in 1922, dozens of theaters nationwide were designed with an Egyptian theme. So Park Cities is modeled after the Warner's Egyptian Theatre in Pasadena, California. And as I said, it is the center piece at the Sundance Film Festival that happens each winner in Park City, where you will see all the stars, producers, movies, Music stars and the real hotwives at Salt Lake City, all descend upon Park City for the Sundance Film Festival. 

My friends, that is a wrap on park city travels. If I sound out of breath, it is because I am. It is almost a mile of walking because the Salt Lake City airport is not finished. Quick squirrel moment here. Salt Lake expects that they will be getting the Winter Olympics bid. because Canada has pulled out, and so they are doing a lot of updates and construction to their airport. So from the moment we drop the rent car off to get to our gate. Literally, I think it was mile. I had to take a shuttle because I'm feeling some altitude illness. So that is why I'm a little out of breath, which should be a great reminder to everyone to go back and listen to the episode from 3 weeks ago. I believe it was episode 11 on packing your patience when you go to the airport because, sure enough, we are here, and our flight is now went from 15 minutes to a half hour to I think it's now an hour delayed. The plane is here, but because of crew rest, our flight is going to be delayed. So, luckily, I am rested, although a little out of breath from my travels here, and my patience is with me. shout out to Irina for reminding me about ways to ground myself, cut my grounding Stone, and my runner guides on call. And thank you for that, Irina. My patience is here. And until next time, I'll see you real soon.