Starling Travel

Look at me in my new green cowboy hat! I bought it in West Yellowstone on Tuesday. We took a break from Yellowstone Park and went shopping. Shopping is one of the joys of travel because I can find so many things that I wouldn’t be able to find at home. We looked at chainsaw bears, smelly candles and homemade soap. I finally decided on this lime green hat.

This hat just might be my new token. I’ll be the girl in the green cowboy hat. If I have to live in Utah, I might as well look a little like a cowboy, right?

One thing I noticed about my new cowboy hat, though…

It was made in China…

Whenever you shop in little shops, make sure you check where the products were made. A lot of times, the leather key chain that looks so western was actually made in China, India, or Korea. What’s the point of buying a souvenir that looks exactly like the souvenir from your hometown? I was checking, so my cowboy hat from China wasn’t a surprise. Neither was my lip balm from Vermont and my Native American Style flute from Utah. I drove all the way to West Yellowstone, Montana to buy a flute from Utah.

At least the huckleberries are from Montana… right?

Not too long ago, I did a story about Pottery World just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Starling Travel » Small Pleasures Week: Pottery and Patio World

At the time, I took some video of this fountain. Unfortunately, it was filmed “sideways” and I didn’t have the correct software to rotate it. Thanks to what I learned at SXSW, I have finally been able to remaster this 29 second video for your viewing pleasure.

When I filmed this video, it felt like light itself was spilling over the sides of the fountain. The chilly wind whipped around my hair, smelling like dirt and rain. In the background, the owners of Pottery World were playing Mexican music and I felt so at peace. Pottery World was truly a visit of small pleasures that week in Las Vegas.

Where: Google Local – Sloan, Nevada

So, you decided to extend your stay in Park City after the Sundance Film Festival? If you didn’t plan on staying, you might not have brought your skiing or snowboarding gear with you, but you can rent it at Jans Mountain Outfitters.

• Jans Mountain Outfitters, Park City Utah

Mike and I don’t ski, so we can’t tell you if the prices were good or not on ski equipment, but when we went in there for some green goo to fix a mountain bike flat tire, they were more than helpful. Not only did we get the green goo, we got a free map of trails of the area and friendly advice from the employees. We were really impressed with them and there was none of that elitist attitude that some mountain bike stores can have.

Jans Mountain Outfitters have two locations:

540 Main Street Park City, Utah Google Map Phone: (435) 655-3032

This location is on the main strip in Park City, so it’s easily accessible, but it is a small store and didn’t have what we were looking for.

1600 Park Avenue Park City, Utah (pictured above) Google Map Phone: (435) 649-4949

This location is huge, but it’s a little further from the Park City action. It had everything that we needed to equip our mountain bikes and be on the way.

Park City is filled with upscale clothing stores, ski equipment shops and galleries. If you go to the outskirts of the city, however, you’ll find the Tanger Outlet Mall. It seems that every major metropolitan area has outlet shopping, this is the one for the Greater Salt Lake Area.

These factory stores, however have the Park City feel to them. The design of the buildings conforms with the codes of the city, so it feels a little more rustic than a generic outlet mall plopped onto the landscape. It seems to fit in with the atmosphere. It sports its own Park City Moose, complete with shopping bags and colorful regalia.

Click here to see the store listings and directory:

• Tanger Outlet Center – Park City, Utah

Location: 6699 North Landmark Dr. Park City, UT. Right before the I-15 freeway entrance.

Link to the site on Google Maps:

• Tanger Outlet Center – Park City, Utah

When To Shop: Avoid “Back To School” time and Christmas if you dislike crowds. It does get a little busier in the winter and during the Sundance Film Festival, but not as bad as right before the school year starts. They are open Monday – Saturday 10:00 am to 9:00 pm and Sunday 11:00 am to 6:00 pm.

At the Sloan Exit just 12 miles South of Las Vegas, sits three and a half acres of pottery called Pottery and Patio World. You can see it from the I-15 Freeway. The colorful pottery beckons to me every time we drive past it. I don’t actually need any pottery or statuary, but it looked so beautiful from the freeway that we stopped this time. It was even more impressive close-up.

We talked to the manager, Missy, and she said that all their pottery is Asian. They purchase it from China, Malaysia and Vietnam. One of the benefits of this pottery is that it’s fired instead of baked, which makes it last far longer. Their fountains and some of their statuary are concrete. Most importantly, their prices were very reasonable.

Here is a slideshow of the beauty that we saw when we visited Pottery & Patio World a couple of days ago:

I found this place to be incredibly relaxing. The color-coded pots were lined up in military rows. The fountains gurgled and bubbled at me. The wind was strong that day and kept whipping my hair into the photographs. Missy said she loves it here when the temperature is 100° F, but the day we were there, it was a cool 55° F day. I contemplated spending the day there, among the fired pots, writing and watching the random tourist drop by. Instead, I ran off to do other things in Las Vegas, but I was calmer and happier because of my time I spent there.

Here is a link to Pottery & Patio World on Google Maps:

• Google Local – Sloan, Nevada