This is my 2nd weekend in Cincinnati in 2011 so far. It's noon on a Saturday and I am refusing to get out of my pj's for now. I think laziness is deserved ;) 3 destinations in 1 month... I'm certainly upping my track record. Although this is abnormal and ridiculous and I am doing a TERRIBLE job at the whole "save money a LOT this year" plan.
So last weekend was Park City, Utah for some skiing and some Sundance film festival. Flew in Thursday night (only slightly delayed due to planes having to get de-iced and software problems) and got to the house around midnight. There were 12 of us total in that house, but we separated ourselves into a group of 5: Sally, Steve, Matt, Mike, and myself. Everyone else was asleep already so we decided to start the night off with some drinks and trying out the hot tub. Combining drinks and a hot tub in icy cold weather sometimes leads to ridiculous decisions and dares.
We leisurely woke up Friday to go ski and got a good first look at Park City. So eclectic, yet quaint, but hustle and bustle all around (not sure how much this was to attribute to Sundance... probably a lot). Why are there so many people with fancy cameras? Paparazzi! They were EVERYWHERE hoping to get that one shot that would end up on some gossip site or magazine. The only celeb we saw was Ryan Seacrest (yeah, not too exciting. that guy is SHORT btw) and I *think* I might have seen Adrien Grenier at the ski resort. Apparently people that come to Sundance don't come to ski -- the slopes were EMPTY. The guy at the rental place said Sundance is the best time to come and ski because of how empty it is. Interesting. I figured the two coupled together.
The slopes were great. The mountains were beautiful. Everyone boarded, I skied (WAY cooler ;). We knew the mountain was open til 9pm, but what we didn't know is that all but 3 slopes closed at 4pm -- so, sadly, I missed out on some runs that I wanted to get to. Oh well, there's always next time. Definitely got my work out and soreness for the next few days. After a day of skiing, headed back to the house, made another use of the hot tub, then hit up the town. Ate some delicious pizza ("WHO GETS THE 16"???"), found a bar that actually had NO cover (all other places were $20 and up), and found out that bars close at 1pm in Utah (apparently Mormon influenced law).
Saturday was Sundance day. Sally and I woke first and headed to the box office to pick up our (what we thought were) film tickets and try to get some more tickets -- no dice, everything's sold out and you have to waitlist. At the Egyptian Theater, we ended up getting in the waitlist line and getting in! First movie: Abraxas -- a Japanese movie about a monk who used to be a rocker and yearned for one more show. A very indy Sundance-ey movie, I liked it.
We were wondering why the movie we had bought tickets to ("A machine to see with") was not listed in the program. Turns out, it's not a movie but an "interactive adventure". We give our cell phone numbers and we each get automated messages informing us we're part of a bank robbery story and telling us what to do and where to go. So each person is told different "parts" of the plot, as deigned by the character they're playing -- kind of like a scavenger hunt, but with a bigger adrenaline rush. The automated messages allow you to make choices ("press 1 if you trust this person, 2 if you don't") and formats the story accordingly.
It tells me to go to the old firehouse, to scan my surroundings, make sure I'm not being watched. Today you are going to rob a bank. Tells me to walk up certain streets, I should see the boarded up house on my right, the fire hydrant on my left, walk into this building, walk straight past the receptionist, don't look suspicious. Go into the restroom, put all the money that you have on your body somewhere in case they search you (at this point, I'm awkwardly stuffing my $7 into my bra as someone walks into the restroom... should have gone into the stall). Leave the building, go through the "no trespassing" building corridor and get into the car with this license plate in that parking lot. It's open. This car is part of the story. You're waiting for your partner. (My partner ends up being Mike, also on his phone, being directed what to do). We lay out the plans on how to rob the bank. We get there. Have your hand on the door handle in 10 seconds. 3...2..1...ABORT! ABORT! RUN! Something went wrong! Is your partner a cop? (At this point the adrenaline is rushing so much I forget to pay attention where the message is telling me to go and I got lost... back on track like 10 min later, ha). The story ends with leading me to a Rite Aid in the birthday card aisle and hugging someone. We all end up outside of the Rite Aid and share our adventures :) Not what we expected, but definitely fun and exciting.
We wait in the waitlist line for a movie at 10, but don't get in. We decide to just stay in the same line for the next movie at midnight (now we're at least at the very front of the line). Once we get our waitlist numbers (1-5), we get some late dinner (mmm lobster bisque) and head back to the line. Our last movie: Cataclysm Catechism -- a comedy about a priest going on a canoe with a long lost friend. Again, very Sundance-y (lots of "haha wtf?" moments). Good times and the director and cast gave a little FAQ session at the end. Back to the house after for a chill time.
Our check out time is around 10 and our shuttle comes at 11:30 -- back to the airport, back to Cincy.
I didn't feel like I quite got in my ski fix... so I'm going to Whistler over Presidents Day weekend in February... :-X
After my Austin recruiting trip, flying to Seattle out of Austin Thursday night, meeting up with Pete, Jackie, and Jacob, then Jonathon's picking us up. The plan is to spend a day in Seattle & Vancouver, a day in Whistler, a day skiing at one of the other resorts in the area, then a chill last day before flying back Monday night.
But THEN I will start saving. I promise...
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