Angela, Fitz, and I recently returned from a road trip to Park City, Utah; a return after our successful trip at the beginning of June. While we had fun, we ran into some unexpected difficulties on this trip and had to cut our activities short by a couple of days. We were certainly disappointed by this change in plans, but we still made the most of our time in Utah and continue to recommend it as an active destination.

Bookings

The only booking required for this trip was the hotel for our stay. Based on previous experience, I knew exactly where we’d want to be and booked it as soon as we settled on some dates that would work for us.

• One room for five nights at the Waldorf Astoria Park City for 380,000 Hilton Honors Points

In advance of our stay, I reached out to the concierge team at the hotel and politely asked for an upgrade. While they couldn’t guarantee anything ahead of time, I was told they’d keep an eye on the reservation and do what they could.

August 25, 2022

As with our last visit, we packed the day before departure, loaded the car the morning of, and left the house for Utah early in the morning.

On this particular trip, we stopped at the superchargers in Mesquite, NV and Beaver, Fort Hamilton, Nephi, and Draper, UT.

The most fun part of our drive up was when I gobbled at some turkeys to amuse Angela and Fitz.

It was very hot at most of our charging stops so we spent a minimal amount of time at each, kept our walks short, and stopped more often than we would have otherwise. When we got close to Park City, we decided to stop to get a bite to eat and make sure we were charged up in case we wanted to venture out the following day.

Based on a quick perusal of Google Maps and associated reviews, I decided we’d eat at Astro Burgers, a local Salt Lake City burger place. I didn’t know what to expect, but the reviews were overwhelmingly positive, so my hopes were high.

Angela ordered the Astro Burger with fries. I opted for the Big Tex Burger. We were both left wondering why so many people left superfluous reviews. The food wasn’t bad, but it certainly wasn’t special.

We arrived at our hotel about an hour after leaving our final charging stop and left our car with the valet, requesting they unload our trunk and deliver our bags to the room. When we checked in, I was informed we were upgraded into the same room that we’d occupied on our last visit.

It was so amusing to watch Fitz at check-in as he definitely remembered where we were and that he could get treats from the desk agent. In fact, he was extremely insistent, peaking his little snout around the desk until his demands were satisfied.

When we arrived at the room, we were greeted with a very generous gift from the property’s concierge team. They provided us with a couple of drinking glasses and a bag of treats for Fitz alongside a personalized letter.

After unpacking, Fitz settled right into his familiar surroundings before we all headed to bed in preparation for the next day’s adventures.

August 26

Our morning started with Fitz admiring the beauty of the Park City landscape before we set out for breakfast. On every day of our stay, we ordered a green smoothie to split and a large carafe of brewed coffee from in-room dining in order to use up our Hilton Honors Food & Beverage Credit.

Angela and I took breakfast at five5eeds because we enjoyed it so much on our last visit. I ordered the avocado toast with poached egg and Angela chose the breakfast sandwich. I also ordered a flat white. The dishes and drink were delicious.

After breakfast, we grabbed Fitz from the car and set off on McLeod Creek Trail, a six-mile out and back walk along mostly paved surfaces that terminates at Willow Creek Park, which we visited on our last trip. It was still early in the day and the temperature was extremely pleasant as we set out.

The second half of the trail winds along a creek and is surrounded by beautiful foliage.

Once we reached the park, we decided to continue on the East 224 Trail towards Kimball Junction. It was another three miles to our next stop and Fitz was carried for a short part of it. We, of course, made sure that he stayed hydrated along the way.

When we reached Kimball Junction, we decided to stop at Park City Coffee Roaster for a couple of drinks.

After caffeinating, we set off back to our origin. By this point, the sun was high in the air and the heat was rising. Our walk felt much longer on the return than it had on our outbound journey. After a couple of hours, though, we made it back to the car.

Angela and I were hungry, so we stopped at El Chubasco for a couple of delicious burritos.

We returned to the hotel and, while Angela and I alternated turns in the fitness room, Fitz napped the afternoon and evening away.

August 27

We decided to take it a little easy on Fitz during our second day in Park City because we planned on heading into the mountains on the following day and didn’t want to push him through three high-activity periods in a row. As such, we walked a bit around the hotel grounds and let Fitz do a bit of exploration.

We headed to Saltbox for lunch as it is highly rated with very complimentary reviews. I initially ordered the deconstructed lamb gyro but was informed it had just sold out for the day, so Angela and I both ended up getting the burger with parmesan fries. The burger was tasty and cooked well. The fries were the star of the meal, as they were delicious. Service was a little disjointed to start as I believe we came in right at the beginning of the mid-afternoon rush. I wouldn’t hurry back to eat here again, but I was happy we tried it.

After lunch, we walked to the N40 Fields to relax for the afternoon. Fitz was displaying a slight hitch in his gait during the relatively short walk to the fields and I carried him part of the way, but he didn’t seem overly tired so we were a little confused what was going on.

We had a pleasant afternoon in the shade of a beautiful tree, relaxing on a blanket we’d carried and generally soaking in the beautiful day.

When returning to the car, Fitz accidentally came nose-to-nose with a little fawn. They were both very startled and, while Fitz intensely sniffed the spot the fawn had been laying, his counterpart trotted away into the meadow that adjoined the fence he was laying against.

After our drive back to the hotel, Fitz seemed totally fine and was happy to relax in front of the fire while Angela and I enjoyed some frozen pizza for dinner.

August 28

I woke up to take Fitz out to the bathroom and could immediately tell something was wrong because he was incessantly scratching his underarms with his hind paws on both sides. I sprayed him with moisturizing spray before Angela woke up and, unfortunately, that wasn’t sufficient.

Upon closer inspection, we saw that Fitz had a rash that extended from his lower belly all the way to his underarms. The area was bright red and was obviously causing him a lot of discomfort. We started by giving him a bath, spraying him with antiseptic spray, and giving him a Benadryl. We then called his veterinarian and asked if there was anything else we should be doing.

The veterinarian’s office told us we were doing everything right and advised us to keep up the treatment and try to get an appointment when we were back in town.

After some reflection, we realized that Fitz’s small limp was due to irritation and discomfort from his harness and the rash, not muscular soreness. That was a bit of a relief but given the extent of his reaction (to a still unknown trigger) we spent most of the day in the hotel room with Fitz, ensuring he was well-medicated to alleviate his symptoms and allow him to rest.

We did head out for lunch at El Chubasco, but Fitz was so sleepy from his medication that he happily slept the entire car ride and lunch stop.

We were worried about Fitz and anxious about his recovery and, as the day wore on, we decided it was appropriate to end our trip early, checking out the following morning. Angela and I took turns packing up that evening in preparation for our departure the next morning. I ate another frozen pizza for dinner and Angela polished off her leftover burrito before we tucked Fitz in and headed to bed.

August 29

After a few cups of coffee, we called the front desk and asked them to have the valet pull our car around and send a bellman to pick up our bags. Help arrived shortly, I checked out, and we departed for home after taking one last picture.

The drive home was peaceful with Fitz sleeping almost the entire way due to the Benadryl.

By the time we arrived home, Fitz’s rash was showing some signs of clearing up. We decided to stay the course in terms of treatment and not take him to the veterinarian unless his condition worsened. Luckily, he was almost complete healed two days after starting treatment and we were able to discontinue medication and fall back to moisturizing spray only.

In the end, we had a great trip while we were able to be active but were very disappointed that Fitz had a reaction and we had to cut our stay short. We continue to love the area in and around Park City and have some specific trails bookmarked to try in the future, but we likely won’t head back for some time as there are other places we want to explore with Fitz.

I will reiterate my impressions of the Waldorf Astoria Park City from our last visit. The property is an excellent retreat for those looking for an active vacation. The rooms are comfortable and well-appointed, and the service is phenomenal. I wholeheartedly recommend it.