Places I long to be...

Park City, Utah.  Vancouver, British Columbia.  Otis, Massachusetts.

What do these three places have in common?  They are all places where people can ski and snowboard.  Whistler Mountain in Vancouver is where the Winter Olympics will be in February.  Otis is the first place I ever snowboarded, and Park City Utah is where I have had my most memorable riding experiences.

What you see below is a bowl I shredded called McConkey's at Park City Resort. Pretty steep huh?

One of the unique things about Park City, Utah is that the ski mountain has the same name as the town.  This demonstrates how the city feels about skiing and snowboarding.  The culture of the mountain is so ingrained in the town, that even though the base area is a couple miles away, they have a chair lift that comes right into the center of Main St.  Appropriately, it is called the Town Lift.  It is a little easier to see how it goes right into the heart of town in the summer time picture on the left.

I would say this should be your first stop if you are visiting, but you need to have your ski/snowboard gear on before you hop on the lift.  If you want to have lunch first, there are some great restaurants right on Main Street as well.  One place right next to the Town Lift, sells cheeseburgers that has grilled cheese sandwiches for each bun!! Wow!!

Wow, indeed!

 Vocabulary: 

1. Vancouver (proper noun): a large city in British Columbia, Canada.

2. hop (verb): to jump, especially on one foot only.  To get on something quickly.

3. gear (noun): equipment used to do something, especially specific equipment for a sport or hobby

4. appropriately (adverb): an action that is expected, normal and/or acceptable for the situation.

5. chair lift (noun): a large machine that has chairs hanging from a moving cable to bring you up a mountain.

6. unique (adjective): belongs to only one person, place or category; special.

Vocabulary Exercise:

1. One of the ___________ things about Park City, Utah is the Town Lift.

2. If I am going to drive you to school you better ________ in the car before I have to leave for work!

3. The coldest part of skiing is when you ride the _____________ up to the top of the mountain.

4. I try to get one new piece of  ________ before snowbaoridng season, even if it is a helmet or gloves.

5. I _____________ wear a helmet when I snowboard becuase it is easy to hurt your head.

6. The Winter Olympics are in ___________ in February 2010, a city in Canada near Whislter Mountain.

Grammar point - another use of commas

When we write about a place within a place we have to use commas to separate the place names.  Usually the smaller place is written first, then a comma and then the bigger place.  Here are some examples:

Long Island, New York

Rockville Centre, New York

Park City, Utah

Vancouver, British Columbia

Can you write the name of the town and state you live in following this method?

What would you do if you want to inclue the country?