Sundance and More

I flew into Salt Lake City at about 9PM. My Delta connection from Los Angeles had been delayed by three hours due to a mechanical problem in the aircraft. Earlier, I had flown into the US from Mumbai via Hong Kong on Cathay-Pacific.

My hotel in the city of Orem, was about forty minutes drive from the airport. Too tired after the long journey, I went to bed directly after a hot shower and without dinner.

The Hampton Inn & Suites at Orem is a bed-and-breakfast lodging surrounded by a few diners and restaurants. The snow-clad peaks all around makes for a pretty sight during the early morning hours. I went for a stroll in the crisp morning air and then walked into the nearby iHop for breakfast. The old-fashioned pot roast with vegetables and hash-browns washed down by lots of iced-tea was just the thing I needed to face the day!

Since we still had a couple of hours, I decided to drive down to the well-known Sundance Ski Resort which is a 20 minute drive from my hotel. The Sundance Resort became popular after Robert Redford bought the property in 1968. He also started the Sundance Film Festival in Utah which is now one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world.

The Sundance's Owl Bar was moved from Wyoming. The restored 1890's bar is the original Rosewood Bar once frequented by Butch Cassidy's Hole-in-the-Wall Gang and now features live music on weekends.The cottages in the resort build with rough hewn wood, warm tones, and Native American accents blends nicely with the surroundings.

The scenic views are a sight to behold, both enroute and in the resort itself. I will let my pictures do the talking! The ski-lifts were closed but there were a few visitors taking a liesurely stroll through winding paths between the tall fir trees. The sky was a bright blue, a mountain stream gurgled its way beside us, and snow-clad peak of Mt. Timpanogos rose above us. I would have loved to spend more time here, but we had a day full of meetings ahead.