Jill Adler, Author at Ski Play Live

Author Archives: Jill Adler

Ogden Vies For #1 In This Year’s Best Towns Competition

Jill Adler Leave a comment

The heat is on but does Ogden really want to be number one? Just look want has happened to Park City since the historic Utah mining town showed up on several “best” lists. We have a Five Guys and Vail Resorts for s&*t sake. Still, an email arrived in my inbox begging to get the vote out for Outside Magazine’s Best Towns poll. It’s one thing to rave to your friends and family about how amazing your hometown is to live in- and Ogden is one killer draw. It’s another to be featured in “America’s preeminent active and adventure lifestyle” magazine as the “best town in America”. Once that starts happening, there’s no turning back. Companies like Salomon, Suunto, eBay, Del Taco and Best Buy arrive and suddenly life isn’t so quaint anymore. The reasons you relocated are muddied.

We love a vibrant mountain town- the kind of place with locally sourced (non-chain) restaurants, active farmers’ markets, where everyone knows your name and hiking and biking trails are steps from your doorstep.

The voting is now open for Outside’s favorite towns. It starts with a bracket made up of 60 towns selected by OUTSIDE editors and four Wild Card Entries. Readers picked the Wild Cards through a social media-driven voting process on Instagram which used the hashtag #BestTowns2015. Over 6,000 images were posted but Roanoke, VA; Port Angeles, WA; New York, NY and Saugatuck, MI came out on top

You have the next six weeks to vote once per round for each of the six rounds. The winners of each round advance until the final two towns face off for the Best Town of 2015.

OUTSIDE will feature the final 16 towns in its September 2015 issue if you don’t feel like doing your own Googling sooner.

Ogden is representing Utah but I BEG of you, please. Don’t vote for us. Ogden is the WORST town in America. Stay away! The air is clean, the crime is low, it’s at the foot of a gorgeous mountain range with world-class resort and backcountry skiing for miles; traffic, what traffic? You’d absolutely hate it here. You’re way better off in Glenwood Springs, Colo. Or Vegas.

Here are the 64 towns; grouped by region in seeded brackets.

EAST

Annapolis, MD; Bar Harbor, ME; Brattleboro, VT; Cold Spring, NY; East Stoudsburg, PA; Elmira, NY; Lake Placid, NY; Lebanon, NH; Middlebury, VT; New Haven, CT; Northampton, MA; Pittsburgh, PA; Portsmouth, NH; Providence, RI; Red Bank, NJ; New York, NY

SOUTH

Alpine, TX; Athens, GA; Beaufort, SC; Bentonville, AR; Birmingham, AL; Boone, NC; Charlottesville, VA; Chattanooga, TN; Fayetteville, WV; Houston, TX; Ocala, FL; Oxford, MS; Raleigh-Durham, NC; Savannah, GA; Tampa, FL; Roanoke, VA

MIDWEST

Bellaire, MI; Berea, KY; Columbus, OH; Detroit, MI; Eau Claire, WI; Ely, MN; Evanston, IL; Indianapolis, IN; Iowa City, IA; Kansas City, MO; Milwaukee, WI; Rapid City, SD; Rochester, MN; Spearfish, SD; Yellow Springs, OH; Saugatuck, MI

WEST

Ashland, OR; Bainbridge Island, WA; Flagstaff, AZ; FT. Bragg, CA; Glenwood Springs, CO; Hilo, HI; Juneau, AK; Las Vegas, NV; Ogden, UT; Pagosa Springs, CO; Santa Barbara, CA; Santa Fe, NM; Sheridan, WY; Victor, ID; Whitefish, MT; Port Angeles, WA

View the Best Towns bracket here.

Outdoor News

Paris By Way of the Seine

Jill Adler Leave a comment

We were Parisians today; languishing in the morning bustle of the hotel pre-checkout with a buffet breakfast of omelettes, croissants and café.

When we did check out we headed straight for the Metro and over to the Tuileries for a stroll.

It struck me as odd that there were people seated around the central fountain just staring in; watching ducks skim the green water. We Americans usually stand a bit, toss a coin and move on.

The standing must happen on the bridges over the Seine where lovers snap on locks and toss the key overboard. Judging from the number of passersby compared to the number of locks on the metal grates, I seriously doubt they leave those locks up “forever” anymore. Part of the Pont de Arts bridge near the Louvre Museum actually collapsed last year. Reports say something like 700,000 locks were placed along the Seine bridges last summer.

The trend started around 2007 in Rome when a couple mimicked a practice they read in a book called I Want You by Federico Moccia. When Italy banned the locks, tourists scooted over to Paris and the Seine. Locals apparently think it’s graffiti at its worst and have been protesting to get them removed before it does some serious damage.

Needless to say, Ryan and I skipped the locks. We also skipped the famous Louvre. We ignored the HUGE line, crossed the Bridge to the Musee d’Orsay for a quick tour. Like a cathedral, this museum’s structure is really the centerpiece. It’s hard to believe it was a railway station in the late 1800s and later housing for released prisoners during WWII but was rescued from the demolition block in 1978 and turned into a museum.

The amount of original impressionist and neo-impressionist paintings and sculptures is mesmerizing.

Oh, gee, look at the time! We hustled back to the hotel to meet Mom and Dad for our 30 minute drive to Disneyland Paris.

As we pulled into the reception for the Marriott’s Village d’lle-de-France our driver chuckled. It had the façade of a little French village. Our “cottage” was in Giverny. The place is actually great. Like any solid Marriott timeshare, it is a full-townhouse with kitchen, washer/dryer, two bathrooms and two bedrooms, a kids club, pool, market and surprisingly decent restaurant. We chilled some more. Tomorrow, it’s an early start for Disneyland Park, aka Euro Disney.

Family

Bandits Branches Out To The Cottonwoods

Jill Adler Leave a comment

Whether you’re a ‘ribman’ or just into large heaping plates of smoked meats, Bandits on Park City’s Main Street will satisfy any hearty appetite. And now there are two!

Debuting this winter was Bandits American Grill in Cottonwood Heights at 3176 East 6200 South. But let’s call the Bandits near Big Cottonwood Canyon Park City’s more sophisticated sister. Instead of crammed into an historic building, this Bandits has plenty of elbow room; enough for a separate bar area divided by a double-sided fireplace. The restaurant is still family friendly with heaping plates of pork baby backs, wood-fired tri-tip sirloin, and spicy jerk chicken breasts.

They all come double sized with your choice of two sides- like the hulking baked potato, coleslaw or corn on the cob. You’ll be entering a hungry-man’s hall of fame if you can finish what’s on your plate.

If you’re not much of a barbecue eater there are tasty salads like the quinoa harvest with kale, pecans, apples, cranberries, goat cheese, citrus vinaigrette or the tri-tip steak salad. They also have burgers, veggie sandwiches and seafood.

Bandits American Grill is also a stellar spot for drinks and dessert like cheesecake and mud pie. But just so you know, if you’re dropping in for hot apps only, you might be sad over the selections and portion sizes.

The menu is a bit pricey for barbecue so just think of it as a restaurant from Park City and you’ll begin to see value. If you do want less expensive, traditional pub food, there’s always my favorite post-climbing/skiing spot- The Porcupine Pub – but it’s nice to see there are other options in the neighborhood.

Dining

Paris Arrival; What Time Is It?

Jill Adler Leave a comment

It’s a good thing a picture’s worth a thousand words because I can barely type tonight. My computer says 3:45 p.m. but it’s more like 1 a.m. in Paris, France.

We left Salt Lake at 5 p.m. on May 5 for a 10-hour, uneventful, direct flight to Paris. No one smelled bad, the food was decent, I had one cocktail and there were soooo many great things to watch on the behind-the-seat TV.

The only issue was that I flew coach and felt like a moth in a hard-shell cocoon. None of us got any sleep. Everything aches now and I’m desperate for zzzzzs. So here are my “words” from our first (short) day in the City of Lights.

Family

Twist and Save With Efficient LEDs

Jill Adler Leave a comment

Sage came home the other day DEMANDING that we change out all of our lightbulbs. Never try to argue with a third grader after they just had an assembly on saving energy. I had my excuses- we just replaced most of our bulbs; just turn off the lights when you leave a room; those energy efficient LEDs you want are ridiculously expensive.

Now I can’t put my money where my mouth is. Rocky Mountain Power is making it difficult to say, “No.” For a limited time, pick up LED three-pack bulbs at Home Depot for $5. No more excuses not to make the switch to long-lasting bulbs. But we only have until May 17.

Qualified LEDs may last as long as 25 brilliant years and use 75 percent less energy than traditional bulbs. That means fewer trips to the store and less time climbing the ladder to switch them out. Plus, the savings help lower your energy costs.

This special offer from Rocky Mountain Power is limited to eight, $5 LED three-packs per purchase, per customer. The transition to super-efficient LEDs is cheaper than a meal from McD’s and will generate years of savings. The positive impact doesn’t end with your wallet either. According to ENERGY STAR, if every home in America replaced even a single bulb, it would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gas emissions equal to taking more than 800,000 cars off the road.

To find participating stores near you, visit rockymountainpower.net/ut-bulbs.

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