We are in the midst of another frigid, flurry-filled, Utah winter. We have been pounded by a seemingly endless stream of snow storms over the last month. These massive storms have already depleted many cities’ plowing budgets and left scores of Utahans very weary of the current season. While others dream longingly of the distant spring with each falling flake, Jas and I decided on a different cure for the winter blues-taking a little retreat.

I know the words “winter retreat” usually conjure up visions of warm sandy beaches and palm trees swaying in delicate breezes, but Jas and I had something else in mind. Our retreat was a bit like going from the frying pan into the ice box.

We decided to spend a weekend in Midway and Park City. We went tubing at Soldier’s Hollow accompanied by my brother Drew’s family and the Rowleys, who were visiting from New Jersey.

Most of the little kids in our group had a blast tubing, except for Jadon, my brother’s three year old. He refused to even sit in a tube and spent nearly the entire time taking a nap on his mom’s lap instead.

Although the weather that day turned out to be sunny, a rare occurrence as of late, as soon as the sun started going down the temperature dropped very quickly.

After tubing we headed up to Park city to eat and shop. We ate at a tiny Mexican restaurant called El Chubasco. The salsa bar there was delish! Then we found some good deals at the Tanger outlet stores. While we were in Park City the temperature plunged to a glacial -2 degrees. Man, I haven’t been that cold in a long time! But we warmed up nicely afterwards back at our Midway condo as we played hours and hours of geeky board games.

Despite the ridiculously cold weather, we had a lot of fun on our little break. I’m glad we got a chance to actually enjoy our heaping snow instead of just cursing it as we slip and slide through it on the roads.

After all, if you can’t beat the snow, you might as well jump in it!