I've been, very, very busy moving over the past few weeks.  I would not recommend it to anyone.  I know it's a necessity in life, but lets just say I've had many more fun and less stressful times!

When I visited Park City Utah last year I wasn't really sure what to expect and quite frankly I thought I might be bored.  As soon as the plane landed I saw the beautiful mountains all around me and that is not a sight that I see frequently being a Floridian.  I suppose I felt "at home" having grown up in Vermont.

  I was brought to my resort at the Marriott Mountainside.  I just loved the resort as well as the little village that it is set up in.  Right behind the resort is where the Winter Olympians practice each winter and where the 2002 Winter Olympics were held.  Being late November, it was cold and the fireplace in my seventh floor unit made it seem so cozy. I had a great view of the beautiful saunas and pools that were heated below as well as the little fire pits to keep people warm during the freezing temperatures.  

I had hoped to see snow during my stay but I didn't really have high expectations because it still was a little early to be expecting a big snowstorm.  Many people in the area was really hoping for any amount of snow as opening day was happening that week and the area relies heavily on tourists and skiers.  A few days after my arrival and two days prior to opening day there was quite a big snowstorm that produced about a foot of snow!  I was on my way to see the Mormon Tabernacle choir perform practice and our driver decided to turn around because there were a lot of accidents and it was nearly white out conditions.  I would have liked to see the choir but it was nice watching the snowfall and it seem to make everybody happy back at the resort.  A bunch of us made s'mores over the fire outside when we returned. 

The air was full of good energy on opening day at the resort and around the little village.  All the shops were open and everyone was out and about enjoying themselves, sitting outside and or skiing.  It really was quite a celebration.

  I loved historic Main Street.  There were very pretty and nicely kept colorful buildings.  The shops were all very charming had quality products and items that were fairly priced.  There were some nice restaurants to dine at and the views were just spectacular in town.

There are only a handful of places I've visited that I think to myself, wow, it might be nice to live here.  Park city was definitely one of them.  Maybe I won't ever lived there, but I definitely want to go back and visit someday!

The following six photos are of the Marriott Mountainside resort and my view:

The following photos are of historic Main Sreet and the trolleys that are used as ublic transportation around Park City:




Opening Day and the snow storm:

You know that I couldn't resist photographing these guys!




Thank you so much for visiting.  Have you ever visited Salt Lake or Park City?  Now that I'm seeing photos of the first snowstorms around the country, I'd love to revisit. 

 Below is a panoramic view from my balcony:

Austria is a very beautiful country.  It is just as beautiful as I thought it would be and as pretty as the pictures/postcards I had always seen.   It is a great place for nature lovers as well as sports enthusiasts to visit.  There are many very nice and well maintained biking and hiking trails especially in the small town I stayed in called St. Johann.

 I love seeing the mountains also known as the Alps because I live in Florida where it is very flat.  The only bad thing about the hills in the mountains is walking anywhere.  It gets a lot more tiring especially in the summer as Austria does get very warm.  It does cool off a little bit at night unlike Florida which stays very warm at night most of the year.  

I would like to return the Austria someday and stay in the cities of either Vienna or Salzburg as there are a lot to see and do there. Here are a few of my photos.  Pretty much everywhere I look I wanted to take a picture as everything was so pretty!  This is just a handful of the photos I took while I was there for a week.  I loved visiting the gorge I wrote a post about it here is the link:   

Visiting the Beautiful Liechtensteinklamm Gorge in St Johann, Austria  

I really did like Austria, but began to feel a little landlocked being an "island girl".  I was really looking forward to visiting Santorini toward the end of my stay.  St Johann is a great place to spend a few days to relax, view and or photo the gorgeous landscapes and of course visit the gorge mentioned above.

Here is a lovely church I visited:

There are flowers everywhere in the summer and on many window boxes.  The houses reminded me of the pretty swiss chalets I'd always seen in photos.

There is a river in town that is very scenic:

I loved the architecture and especially this pink house!
The following two photos were seen on my LONG walk to the gorge.  I loved the lush green landscape and mountains.  I think it reminded me of where I grew up in Vermont:

Many people at my hotel were simply lounging on the beautiful grounds relaxing.  I'm more of a "type B" traveler, but I decided to join them one day having severe jet lag.

It was a little boring to me so I took the above "selfie" and "toes in the sun" photo":

Here is an aerial view of Vienna taken from the plan en route to Santorini:

Miscellaneous photos taken around town:





Here are some photos of the gorge I mentioned above:

An outdoor market I found leaving the gorge:

I will leave you with a couple of panorama shots that I enjoy taking as well as one of me on my balcony.  These are of the grounds of the hotel I stayed at called the Alpenland Sporthotel. Thank you so much for stopping by as always I love to hear your comments and questions have a wonderful week my friends!

~Michelle