Saturday, July 21, 2007

Ward & Elynor's 2007 Wandering: Visit with the Fehr's

Tim Fehr was hired into the Boeing group in which Grumpy worked (I may have even had a hand in selecting him to be an employee), and the Grand Mother and Grumpy became good friends with Tim and his lovely wife, Jackie. Subsequently, Tim rose in the Boeing leadership to the level of a vice president, but he and Jackie never lost their down-to-earth manner and hospitality to old friends.

After retiring from Boeing, Tim and Jackie became active in the important volunteer work of safety patrol and rescue on the ski slopes. Consequently, they became full-time residents of Park City UT where we found them in their beautiful lodge-style home.Their handsome Golden Retriever, "Tracker", also greeted us politely and insisted on being in the "family picture"!

Park City originated as a silver mining town and some of the old mine buildings are still present, fixed up (or being fixed up) to function as another purpose, but preserving their character as a part of Park City's past as a mining town. Totally gone are the vestiges of the City's shameful past as a segregated (Chinese, mostly) town where the less fortunate lived in shanty's perched on the steep, less desirable hillsides on either side of the main town center. Now some of those same hillsides feature houses belonging to the very wealthy (note that I did not say "homes", as many of these multi-million-dollar houses are occupied only during part of the skiing season!)

The Fehr's showed us around Park City and then took us to lunch in one of the fine dining establishments in the center of town. Park City is an attractive city comprising million- and multi-million-dollar homes built around the central theme of a ski resort. The ski lifts (I forgot how many Tim told me, but it is "lots and lots"!) originate right in the downtown area. The streets were narrow, reflecting the character of a mining town (reminded us of Deadwood or Lead SD), and they were crowded with tourists; Park City is a destination town for entertainment year around. There are various gravity-powered rides, including one with flume-like tracks coming down the ski slope in which roller-equipped "sleds" can be ridden in the summer time. What a clever way to utilize the expensive ski lifts and other facilities during the off-season for skiing. But Tim and Jackie apparently did not need to function in their winter role as safety and rescue patrol! Ha! ha! Fortunate for us as we got a fine visit with them.

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