Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend Saturday is here! Several reasons to be happy today - the first is because it's the start of the weekend. The second is that it is a 3-day weekend.  The kids are completely excited that they have no school on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr, Day and I'm happy that I don't have to get up at the crack of dawn to get them there. Gianna is finally on the mend with being sick. This was a very strange virus - she never quite had bad symptoms but there was a constant low grade fever and sporadic nausea. I've heard from other people that this weird illness is going on -- and to boot, it lingered for over a week! So...here's something interesting for this holiday weekend... In celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, all 405 U.S. National Parks will feature FREE ADMISSION. Many of our national parks are already free of charge, but this Monday, many others will be waiving their fees in celebration of the holiday. These will include notable parks such as Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, and Olympic National Park. The savings will be approximately $12 per person if you're arriving by foot or bike, and about $20 to $25 per vehicle. Not to worry if you miss this weekend - the next fee-free weekend comes in February for Presidents' Day.  Yosemite National Park (courtesy Wikipedia) How about some shopping tips for Shoppin' Saturday? If you are not doing much travel this January, perhaps you may want to take advantage of some of the best things to purchase this month. According to the Huffington Post, these 6 Items are Cheaper in January: * Frozen Foods & Canned Goods: According to the Denver Post, January is the time to stock your freezer and pantry. * Cold Medicine: A study done by Living Richly on a Budget found that over the counter meds are priced better during cold & Flu season. * Carpet & Flooring: Since most people re-decorate in December for the Holidays, the demand decreases in January and so too, do the prices. * Houses: Since Winter is notoriously the slow season for Real Estate, it also happens to be the best time for buyers to make offers on houses that have been on the market for a while * Bicycles Since new models debut in the Fall, left over stock in January can be priced very favorable. * Paint With the weather generally too cold for outdoor paint jobs, January is a great time to do those interior jobs and purchase paint and painting services for much cheaper Happy Shopping & Happy Saturday!! See ya back here tomorrow!! -E  | Saturdays tend to be Spectacular!Hi there! How you doin? After a day of playing in the snow we will be checking out of the lovely Lodge at Stillwater and heading to Salt Lake City for have dinner with Manny it'll be time to say adios until the next time we see him! Jodie is gonna be hitting the slopes today without us, as the kids and I hit the gym and go play in the snow!!!  Time to say Good Bye to Park City! We'll be heading to Cedar City tonight, and right back to skiing tomorrow at Brian Head Ski Resort, where it'll be all of our first time there! I love trying new things!!! And, as you should know I tend to get quite bored of doing the "same 'ol". However when trying new things sometimes it doesn't always turn out all that well... For instance, Jodie had suggested that we make reservations for dinner last night at Shabu Shabu - which I've never tried and after looking at the menu seemed to be a decent choice with options for both the major meat eater (Jodie), and us vegans! Luckily the kids went with the coconut crusted tofu dish, but I decided to try the Vegan Shabu Shabu and... Well first off I was very confused, given a stove, a pot, and a plate of uncooked veggies and tofu. Soooo I'm at a restaurant to cook my own dinner? Don't I do this at home?!  This is what I'm paying for??? Ok, in for a penny in for a pound... I start to make this soup (and I love soups), but as soon as I taste this, it was sooooo BORING and BLAH that I couldn't imagine eating another bite! And then very uncharacteristically I began to stress over even having this contraption in front of me and I wanted it all taken away!  OMG what did I order?!  I don't low what to do... So, after not having breakfast, forgetting lunch, now the kitchen was closed and I would be skipping dinner too and all of this after a day of burning calories on the mountain!  The mountains go on forever...  Looking down at Park City Let's just say that this very picky girl, was a very annoyed girl and at that point all I wanted to do was get back to the lodge and go to bed! No skipping meals today! And no skipping fun either! On that note, I'll say bye for now to you and to Park City! -T |
