Our First Family Ski Trip || Deer Valley Utah

No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you! I am actually writing a post about our family ski trip in the middle of summer which I agree feels very strange- but stay with me!  The reality is that our spring break ski trip happened right before the pandemic. We arrived home and a few weeks later our worlds were flipped upside down. I don’t think any of us could even fathom ever traveling again back in March so it didn’t feel right to share this post then. However, it was such a great family trip that I wanted to share the details with you in case you plan a family ski trip…

someday… sigh…

So think of this post as some sort of Christmas in July and maybe these photos will even help cool you off! 

This was the boys first time skiing – and it was something that we really wanted to start doing with them at a young age. I shared it as part of my 45 x 45 Bucket List (you can see the full list here) and I am so glad that we were able to make it a reality! The boys loved skiing and we all loved Deer Valley. I am sharing lots of snapshots and a few thoughts and recommendations at the bottom of the post. 

Here are our daily family selfies walking home from our day of skiing- so many smiles! 

 

Check out the views! We had a great time exploring the mountain together…

The Apres Ski Lounge at the Montage…

I never did find my ski clothes – we think I must have left them in the closet on our last ski trip or accidentally donated them during the move (read more about that saga here). Quite the mystery!  I ordered a bunch of new gear, but then I ended up returning it since thankfully my friend let me borrow her gear.

Ski school time! 

Apres ski with Sweet B and a Shirley Temple while we waited for Sweet P to finish Ski School. 

 

STAY  ||

We stayed at the Red Stag Lodge which is a condo building that has individually owned/rented units. The location cannot be beat as it is right at the base of the mountain near the Deer Valley Resort Snow Park Lodge (where ski school takes place). The unit was perfect for our family of four and we loved having a kitchen for meals and a hot tub for relaxing. 

We stayed in this unit and our friends stayed in this neighboring unit. 

 

EAT  ||

• Deer Valley Grocery Cafe- great for takeaway prepared foods to eat at home
• St. Regis Dinner – we took the kids
• Montage Hotel – best for adults only (make a reservation) 
• Stein Lodge – great for lunch while skiing (make a reservation)
• Park City is a bus ride away so we did that for dinner the day we arrived (we did not rent a car)

 

MUST DO’S  || 

• We made it a tradition to snap a picture of us leaving the mountain every afternoon. It was fun to see the happy faces! 
• Park City is next door so you must check out the downtown area. We didn’t rent a car and actually used the free city bus that picked us up right in front of our condo and dropped us in the heart of downtown Park City. 
• Deer Valley Ski School-  Our kids LOVED it! It books up so be sure to reserve in advance.
• Stein Lodge Champions Club- there were lots of friends from Atlanta out in Deer Valley also on spring break and we all met up one night at this fun restaurant. It was perfect for the kids to have lots of space to play on the arcade games (and the games were free!) with a great casual menu.
• The St. Regis was very close to where we stayed so we walked over for dinner one night with the kids and another family. In order to get from the street up to the resort- they have a funicular- which is a cable car ride. The kids loved it! Even if you don’t go for dinner, just go to grab a drink for the adults and hot chocolate for the kids.
• Montage Hotel for Lunch- When both boys were in ski school,  we took advantage of some adult time and worked our way across the mountain to the Montage for an early lunch (make a reservation!). We got lucky and were seated right in front of the large fireplace. 

 

Let me know if you have any questions! 

xoxo-

Heather