Mark My Words: Labor Day Adventure

Since I had some extra time today and it's too smoky to go outside, I thought I would provide a midweek update.

I wanted to do something appropriate for Labor Day. I had a mission companion who said Labor Day was his favorite holiday because you don't have to do anything. And most Labor Day activities have nothing to do with labor. There are various festivals throughout the state, but they just happen to take place on a day that people have off.

Park City, however, has Miners Day (also spelled Miner's Day), and mining is an important part of labor history, so it seemed like a totally appropriate thing to do for the holiday.

(Labor Day started with labor unions, but today they say it honors "the American worker." But isn't that, like, everyone? "Here's a holiday for all the people! But not you slackers over in the corner.")

Anyway, I went up to the festivities by myself, because I didn't think anyone else would enjoy themselves. I parked at Richardson Flat, a park-and-ride in a random place, and took the shuttle into Park City. It was fun to be there again after working for the Sundance Film Festival five years ago.

The shuttle took me right to Main Street. The first thing I did before the festivities began was to go to Sock City, which has fun but expensive socks. I had to buy some autumnal socks.

The first event was the Running of the Balls. You can pay money to sponsor a golf ball, and then they roll the balls down a chute on Main Street. The winners get prizes. It's a fundraising event for the Rotary Club, who put on the parade. I didn't participate, but it was a very popular event.

After that was over, I found a curb to sit on in the shade to watch the parade. I was surprised when a couple and their young boy sat on the curb next to me, even though there was lots of empty space on the curb. (It did fill in later.)

It was a typical small-town parade, with a left-leaning element that was fitting for Park City. There were no real floats. There were various businesses, old cars, and lots of political candidates. One very Mormon-looking group was encouraging people to sign up for service projects via JustServe, the Church-owned service initiative.

I'm not that interested in parades per se, but I have kind of an intellectual/anthropological interest in them. And I like to make memories.

I didn't know how long I wanted to stay in Park City. But I got a text from KSL saying that westbound I-80 was closed at the mouth of Parleys Canyon. Yikes. I wasn't getting out of Park City anytime soon, so I decided to take my time.

I walked down the paved trail that I enjoyed running on back in 2019.

Fall has started!

The Park City Library was holding a used-book sale, so I decided to check it out. Most of the books were fiction, but I don't read fiction, so I gravitated to the history section. I was surprised to see a book called The Bald Eagle, a cultural and environmental history. Of course, I am very interested in cultural histories, especially as they relate to holiday icons, so I wanted to get it. And then, as I looked through the other books, I found another cultural history called The Turkey! I couldn't believe that I found not one but two cultural histories about iconic American holiday birds! And I was also surprised that the turkey book (2006) came before the eagle book (2022). And the turkey book is especially fitting, because our fall issue of Utah Historical Quarterly, which is at the publisher right now, has an article about turkeys. I had to take these books to work the next day to show my supervisor.

Then I headed over to Miners Hospital, which they had open to the public for the day. It was built in 1904 and operated as a hospital into the 1960s. Then they actually moved the structure in the 1980s. I had been in there before, because it was one of the office spaces for Sundance back in 2019, but it was still fun to see inside (even though the inside is all renovated and not that interesting).

I walked back up the paved trail. They did have a dirt trail called Boo Radley's Woods, but it was so tiny that I don't know why they bothered.

I also didn't know that there were Banksy artworks in Park City.

I was in no hurry to leave Park City, so I treated myself to lunch. Since I'm never in Park City at St. Patrick's Day, I went to an Irish restaurant called Flanagan's.

I didn't really like my reuben sandwich, probably because of the Swiss cheese. I like the Arby's version better.

But since fall is apple season, I let myself have an apple cake. It was an expensive meal, but I'm worth it.

But I did have to leave eventually, so I got back on the shuttle and back to my car.

And the traffic on I-80 was horrendous. Google Maps wanted me to go via Emigration Canyon. It took me an hour from Park City to the exit off of I-80.

And the turn into Emigration Canyon was very much backed up. After all that time in traffic, I didn't want to spend more time crawling. I decided I would rather go on a scenic drive, even if I got home later.

So instead, I passed Emigration Canyon and drove past East Canyon State Park. It was a nice, fun drive, and I was able to see some trees changing their leaves.

I stopped at a grocery store in Morgan, because I like going to random grocery stores.

And then I got on I-84 out of Morgan—which was also really backed up. But I think it was going slightly faster than I-80 had been. It took me forty minutes to get from Morgan to Highway 89. All in all, it took me three and a half hours to get home.

But it was a satisfying Labor Day. It's always nice to make new memories.

Then yesterday, I received the CD of the latest installment of the newly released Peanuts soundtracks. (I like getting the CDs, because then I get liner notes, but I can still upload the digital tracks.) This one is You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown, which was originally entitled You're Elected, Charlie Brown, but they changed it at the last minute because it was an inaccurate description. This special was from 1972, and it parodies all things political during an election campaign. Earlier this year, they released the soundtrack of It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown, which is absolutely amazing. This soundtrack isn't as good (even though I think the special is better), but it's still nice.

And September is grape season, so tonight I made grape-peanut muffins from our own grapes. They're OK. I usually make grape-peanut quick bread, and I like that better.