It's the end of 2021 and we are still in the mountains transitioning between "the new normal" of a lingering (and hopefully winding down) pandemic and building our new lives in Park City. We've spent the year making friends and getting into routines. We left Texas with the intention of having an adventure and keeping our minds open. We found that we fell in love with a more laid-back lifestyle, friends who value adventure and the outdoors like we do, and a built in playground for hiking, biking, skiing, golfing, and tennis. This little spot of paradise makes it hard to reimagine our lives anywhere else for the moment, so we've decided to stay put for now.
With vaccinations underfoot and new procedures in place, we were able to travel a bit this year and maximized our closer proximity to Hawaii with a trip to the Big Island in April. In true Jordan fashion, we combined a little bit of adventure, hiking, and volcano hunting for the first part of the trip and then basked in the sun and had some pool, golf, and snorkeling time for the latter part of the week. Grace has decided she is going to the University of Hawaii and tells us she will never get island fever!
Rick and I also snuck away for some fun adult tennis time at the US Open, a new tradition with Dallas friends, and to Newport Beach, California with already dear Park City friends. Thanks to all the grandparents for helping us make that happen!
This summer, we nearly evacuated due to a nearby wildfire and saw firsthand the perilous effects of a stubborn drought. We are hoping for much needed snow this winter!
Palmer switched schools in Park City and is so happy at a charter school that focuses on outdoor education. He has made some really nice friends, loves his teacher who regularly tells old war tales from his Marine days, and enjoys walking a block down the street after school to a giant indoor extreme sport gym/outdoor ski and mountain bike park. He is gearing up to try out for an alpine ski racing team and looking forward to training and competing in regional ski races. He enjoyed a junior city golf league this summer, but Rick and I mostly think it was because he was dropped off for nine holes with buddies where they snuck sodas and candy bars before teeing off. Park City is a small enough town to be able to give Palmer independence to ride the local bus and he is enjoying a new level of freedom that we wouldn't be able to provide in a big city. It's not a bad childhood!
Grace is thriving in the dual language program at her same school as last year. She spends half of her days in English and half of her days in Spanish and is blossoming with a new love for linguistics. She will happily sing Spanish songs to anyone who will listen. In her free time, she does cartwheels at all of the appropriate and inappropriate times and is working her way thru gymnastics levels and skills at a local gym. She has a wonderful group of friends and is looking forward to her own recreational ski team and nordic jumping in the next few weeks. Grace is feisty, daring, and prefers to do everything herself, never mind the risk profile of the situation.
Rick is happy as a clam from his deep dark basement office. In truth, he's actually back to traveling a few days a week, but loving that when he's home, he's working at home and with family. Golf is back in our lives in the mountains and he's been happy to play in the months without snow on the ground. And having biking and ski trails in the front yard make a long day of work worthwhile for quick evening bike rides up the mountain.
In this new town, I've acquired a great group of friends with similar interests, passions, and personalities. As official manager of the Jordan family social calendar, I quickly found us go from a quiet pandemic quarantine life to wall-to-wall plans many evenings with new friends. Although fun, we are striving towards maintaining that balance of not over-scheduling our lives and keeping some days open - a lesson we learned while stuck at home for months. I've found pals with whom I can play tennis and hike and am looking forward to ski touring with some ladies this winter, an early morning hike up the mountain and ski down as the sun rises. I'm also working full-time for the next few months managing the press office for Sundance Film Festival. The job is fast-paced and a lovely challenge and then it will nicely wrap up after the festival, a dream of a schedule. I'm also, of course, doing what I do and remodeling the house room by room. It's a slow process, but we are putting that Jordan stamp on things as we go!
We love living in a place where so many of you choose to visit and we love seeing familiar and old faces as you pass thru. Happy new year. Things are looking up!
