Park City, Utah is always a great place to visit…winter offers excellent skiing at the Park City Ski Resort, Deer Valley or the Canyons Ski resort.  An added benefit is that the entire town, three major ski resorts and the urban town as well as expanded suburban shopping and dining areas are connected by a wonderful bus system…making a car unnecessary in the  winter. Allowing you to keep it “Green” while you enjoy the mountain atmosphere and eliminate the hassle of looking for parking in an old mountain town with limited options is definitely worth it. If you are headed there for the wonderful summer activities though, I would advise bringing  a car as summer bus routes are curtailed.

Park City…home of the Sundance Film Festival not only offers great skiing but sophisticated dining. The Deer Valley and Canyons resort home developments support mega sized ski home placed strategically around the mountains and these “poor people” have to eat somewhere, so Park City has responded with amazing array of fine dining spots in a concentrated area on the Main Street in town…easily walked to going down hill…and not too bad even if you go the other direction.

But before dining…our thoughts turned to Alpaca….Last year my traveling companion, Colleen and I stopped in the conveniently located, as in just across the street, Alpaca International, and after each making some major purchases of coats, bomber jacket and scarves, all in soft alpaca… at an end of season discount, we had  to try our luck again this year.

Not to be disappointed, the shop owner Zia-Boccaccio-Cotgreave, was in the store and after reacquainting ourselves to Zia…Colleen was off looking for some new exotic alpaca treasure. You can learn more about Zia’s fashions by checking out Alpaca International at www.TheGoldOfTheAndes.com .  Colleen scored a good find…a very stylized Alpaca jacket and I bought baby alpaca gloves and matching hat for my daughter.

Alpaca fleece is often described as the gold of the Andes, which makes a great marketing line. Zia’s post card mailer describes her operation as follows, “ Introducing the finest Peruvian Alpaca Wool garments and accessories masterfully crafted in Peru. Luxurious soft feel and unsurpassed hand finishing in the most vibrant and exciting colors”

Colleen and Zia out on the town

The Park City location is easy to find towards the bottom on Main Street and Zia has other store locations in the east as well.  And the best news yet…no Alpaca were harmed in the writing of this blog…as Alpaca are shorn of their fleece like sheep, so they can re-grow it year after year.

What’s Not to Love about Alpaca??

Alpaca International

614 Main Street
Park City, UT 84060-5141
(435) 658-0155