I’m feeling a number of emotions as I sit to write a goodbye letter. First, Thank you PC for all the wonderful people we have called friends. The list would be too long and would require extra pages in the record to print. When we arrived in November of ’79, the first morning we woke to a foot of new snow. Voila, we have arrived. Little did I know that my mother had been born here. We skied Park City and Park West and got both daughters, Stacy and Ashley, on skis as soon as possible. Both girls loved the sport and skied like the Mahres.

Stein was our first Mountain guide for Kids Day at PCMR and we marvelled at his prowess. Jonesy was the PC boss and then the Badamis came along. Craig loved the Corner Store, which Glenn Artist and I owned and when the Snow Hut became available, CB gave us the lease. After that our lives changed—for the wonderful best. We were happiest greeting new snow and new guests at the restaurant…and I’m kinda proud to say we introduced real, edible On-Mountain food at both The Snow Hut and Summit House. Edgar Stern was a valued customer and when DV opened, hisfood was a wonderment to everybody. I recall the polished wooden floors which proved way to hard to stroll in plastic shoes…and the sound of trays and people hitting the floor only halted when they put the cloth runners in place.

Marty Polychronis, (RIP) was the head of our kitchen and we introduced the Hot Turkey, Ham and Roast Beef sandwiches which almost rivaled Burgers for Ski Food. At one time the Summit even featured Frody Volger, the super Austrian, at the kitchen stove.

Summers we worked for first Doug and Denise Vilven at PC Golf Club. Mike Kutcher replaced Doug, then Greg Cunningham took over. I went to Park Meadows with Kutch…and then Mike Kahler and Jerry Brewer and  John Beesley, each headed the place. Membership when it became a Club was $32,500. Try today’s $300k plus membership price. The City blew the chance to buy the Meadows for $3.3 M…and we are all paying the price today.

In those days everyone was worried about the Aspenization of PC…well, that didn’t happen. It has been Vailized instead. The personal touch is gone but the $5 cup of coffee is here to stay.

Luckily, my Realtor wife, Chris, found us a house in Park Meadows for $88 thousand dollars. We sold a Racquet Club at a $3000 dollar loss to buy the house…but needless to say, it is the best investment we ever made. Chris was one of the founding members of the Keller Williams Real Estate store here and worked for many years in the business. I’d like to think she introduced some order and ethics into what was in the 80’s a pretty loose business. She made hundreds of friends and many more friends— out of clients.

We are travelling to Georgia to put our little family together again. It is with some sorrow we leave. I’m hoping PC survives this crazy weather pattern we are part of and that some day We will celebrate its return to greatness, which all of us Old-timers recall.

Goodbye from all the Eberleins, y’all, Mike.

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