Funicular!

Personally, I think the word "funicular" sounds like 80s surfer slang.  It should be right up there with "gnarly" and "tubular."

I didn't even know what a funicular was until a few years ago when I read the second book in the Fever Crumb series!  And it was after that that I found out they were real and not just something steampunk!

It was only recently that I learned we had a funicular in Utah.  There's one in Deer Valley, an Aspen-wannabe ski resort for the über-rich.  (Let me assure you that one does not live there on a school teacher's salary.)

Anyway, this year some extended family finally convinced my mom that she didn't have to cook Thanksgiving dinner (she still won't let me cook; that would make her feel too guilty or out of control), and we all went out to (an expensive) dinner at St. Regis Hotel, home of the funicular.

Basically, this funicular works like an elevator (you push a button and wait for it to arrive), functions like a tram on a track, and feels like a very, very slow-moving rollercoaster.

Still, it was a first for me!