The whole world seems to know about Utah's ski slopes and our matchless snow.
But far fewer know how glorious those same slopes are in the summertime and what wonderful things go on there.
We went to the Deer Valley Music Festival last week to see the Utah Symphony with Diana Krall, and it was glorious — both the music and the setting. We have long loved our great symphony. I (Richard) served on the board years ago, and we go to Abravanel Hall every chance we get.
But seeing the orchestra outdoors, with 5,000 or 6,000 fans sitting on the grass of the ski slope, was a new kind of thrill. And Krall? Well, there is no one quite like her to carry you away with her incredible combination of sultry voice and keyboard virtuosity.
But Deer Valley is not the only place where our mountains take on music. A couple of weeks ago, we went with a bunch of our kids and grandkids to the Sundance production of "The Wizard of Oz." Again, the only problem is that your attention is divided between the incomparable beauty of the surroundings (is there anything like the back of Mount Timpanogos?) and the enjoyment of the performance itself. It’s a nice problem to have, though. You just give in and enjoy them both together.
And the list goes on. Park City and the Canyons have concerts, as do some of the Ogden mountain resorts. And, of course, there is always something happening at Snowbird and in the Heber Valley.
The fact is that we are surrounded with picture-perfect ski resorts and mountain venues that have discovered that beautiful music and performing fits wonderfully with majestic mountain settings.
And it's not just the mountains. The valleys aren’t bad, either. There are free concerts at the Gallivan Center and at Brigham Young Historic Park right in downtown Salt Lake City. I (Linda) had a great time at the Shumway Family Band performance recently. I went because our daughter Saydi married into the Shumway family, and these bluegrass performers made me even happier that she did.
Actually, the music is just the beginning of the joy of summer in Utah. We’ve lived so close to the Hogle Zoo for so many years that we used to joke that our family was part of the zoo. I (Richard) managed a bond election decades ago to save and fund the zoo, so I feel a certain stewardship. And we have had grandparent season passes (one of the greatest deals of all time) for years so we can take the grandkids every time they are in town. It’s one of the best zoos in the country, and it just keeps improving.
And while you are in the neighborhood, how about This Is the Place Monument? Our friends Ellis and Katie Ivory have done such an incredible job with the pioneer village. Our grandkids love to walk down the old streets and visit each house, store and school and have hands-on experiences that make their pioneer ancestors more real to them.
Getting up early on a clear summer morning and just going for a walk, preferably with a child or other family member, is a thrill in itself. The fresh, fragrant air of a Utah sunrise never gets old. And the long, extended-light summer evenings we have here surpass those of any other place we have ever been.
When you live here, these outdoor joys are too easy to get used to or take for granted. But there is no place else in the world where the mountains are so close and accessible to the city, where the four seasons each present those mountains in such a new and unique light, and where there is so much to do and see, and where so much of it is free.
Indeed, the best things in life are free.
Brigham Young said it this way: “The Rocky Mountains are the marrow of the earth.”
As our state hymn says, "Land of the mountains high, Utah, we love thee!"
Richard and Linda Eyre are N.Y. Times No. 1 best-selling authors and founders of JoySchools.com who speak worldwide on marriage and parenting issues. Their new books are "The Turning" and "Life in Full." Visit them at valuesparenting.com.