Park City first impression (this is the fall, not ski season). A great town, very compact and easy to navigate and walk. Somewhere between Breckenridge and Aspen as far as shops, restaurants and art galleries. Better shops, more restaurant choices than Breckenridge. More affordable fur stores, jewelry stores and art galleries than Aspen.

We stayed at the Washington School Inn on Park Avenue, one street up from Main. Loved the place and the wonderful innkeepers.

Found it rated #1 on tripadvisor and we were beyond happy with the place. $110/night for a great (queen bed) room that looks like something your wealthy widowed aunt would have in her Victorian era home. Wonderful bed linens and pillows made me feel as if I were sleeping on my own bed at home. The bathroom was relatively small but very well stocked with Gilchrist and Soames products and all the stuff I usually forget to pack like Q-tips, cosmetic pads, and cotton balls.

Breakfasts were awesome. The first morning we had apple, walnut French toast cassarole, mixed fresh fruit, Scottish Oatmeal with raisins, nuts and brown sugar, and coffee cake. The second day featured a Mexican breakfast cassarole, the best fresh peaches and pears I've ever tasted, Scottish oatmeal and another kind of coffee cake.

At 5pm fresh cookies are laid out for anyone who needs a bit of a pick me up. We got in late the first night and I found three cookies still at the front desk and I wolfed them down. The first was a chocolate, chocolate chip cookie and the next two were chocolate chip, raisin, and pecan cookies. The second day featured chocolate, cheesecake bar cookies.

The innkeepers were fantastic. I walked into the breakfast room the first day and was greeted by name by someone I hadn't even met. Ideas for restaurants, bike shops, biking routes, a map for the bike trip, you name it, it was produced. Great people. Can't wait to stay there again. The kind of place you think about often after you get back home.

The first day in town we walked along Main Street window shopping then scoped out Deer Valley for future potential skiing. Checked out the Stein Erickson Lodge and wandered around a bit. Is it my imagination or do runs seem short at DV?

Took a ride on the Town Ski lift at PC and enjoyed the view. Again the runs seemed short but I haven't seen a trail map of the runs.

Enjoyed lunch at Zoom at Main and Heber and dinner at Riverhorse which was one of the restaurants suggested on this message board. Originally planned to have dinner at Chimayo thanks to a coupon gleaned from the local newspaper given to us by the shopkeeper of the fur store downstairs in the Caledonian Hotel. Unfortunately, I didn't have the foresight to make ressies and they were booked solid for the evening.

Walked into Riverhorse and got seated immediately. No coupon as theirs was only good M-Th and this was a Saturday night. Good service, good food. Four very drunk people at the table next to us which started out as interesting but just turned to irritating.

DH had the buffalo steak with horseradish mashed potatos which is on the menu. I had duck breast and confit of duck legs over wasabi mashed potatos and covered with a slaw of several kinds of cabbage which was an evening special. Best duck I've ever had. For dessert we had the molten chocolate cake with ice cream and caramel rum sauce at the suggestion of our waitress. Caramel rum sauce makes my mouth water even as I type this. Wonderful choice.

On Day Two we rented mountain bikes at White Pine Touring which is right along the Rails to Trails path. North of Main, not right downtown. Jan's and Cole's also rent bikes and are closer to the old Main Street area. I believe they are close to a bike path as well. We used White Pine Touring because Jean, an innkeeper at Washington School Inn, is on a cycling team sponsored by White Pine.

We chose to stay on the level Rails to Trails path because I wasn't sure if altitude would affect us. Didn't want to get a headache while huffing and puffing up and down hills. The path is paved for a short while out of town then turns to gravel. The path is well maintained and has several little signs with old photos and information about the start of the Park City area. There are several gates that we had to open and shut as we entered private property which turned out to be cattle pastures. Kind of funny to watch the cows watch us as we cruised past. We stopped at at the Spring Chicken Inn in Wanship for lunch (13 miles from PC) then headed back to town. The path actually goes 26 miles to Echo but we didn't have time for a long ride.

The Spring Chicken Inn was filled with locals, a few Harley riders, and a couple of groups of bike riders. Basic menu of fried chicken dinners and sandwiches.

White Pine Touring and the Washington School Inn both have websites if you are interested in getting more info. I suggest making dinner reservations and reserving bikes in advance. We had planned to bike both days but all bikes at all three bike shops were rented for our first day in town. Washington School Inn's website includes pictures of all rooms and also has recipes for some of the breakfast foods.

Thanks for sharing your trip with us! I'm glad to hear that you searched out and used the Rails to Trail path.

Thanks for the trip report. I'm going to check the Washington School Inn for the breakfast recipes.

Sounds like you had a great time!! Glad you tried the Riverhorse as I had suggested. We have stayed at the Washington School Inn many times and have always had a good experience. Was Zoom okay?? We tried a couple of times, only to have very poor service. We won't return. But glad your trip turned out good!

Zoom was good for lunch. It was nearly empty when we were there. There was a group of ladies from the conference we attended that ate there several days later and they all liked their lunch also.

Thanks for posting, lots of helpful details.
Sounds like a great getaway.
Something else for our *To-See* list!