Sun Valley, ID

Sun Valley has long been a hangout of the rich and famous, attracting the Likes of Ernest Hemingway, Gary Cooper and Clarke Gable back in the day.

Sun Valley Lodge, built in the 30’s, has concrete walls stained to look like wood, nicely done.  Behind the hotel is a huge, all-season ice skating rink.  It’s open to the public, has professional shows several times a year.

Adjacent to the lodge is this music pavilion which has big name entertainment in the summer.  The pavilion is about 7 years old and is an architectural masterpiece.  There’s big money here.  Both Sun Valley and Ketchum are chock full of attractive, unique structures: lodges, homes, hotels, businesses, you name it. 

River Run Lodge, at the base of Bald Mountain, is right at the edge of town.  This ski area has both chair lifts and gondolas.  There are several other ski lifts in the area, catering to all skill levels.

A big thank you goes to Nancy for hauling us around, showing us the above sites and many others. 

North Fork

Our campground is in the Sawtooth National Forest, a few miles north of Ketchum/Sun Valley, ID.  We camped here in ’07; T’s been here several times.  This time our visit is much enhanced by friends Gary and Nancy, long term residents who winter in LHC; they’re members of our potluck group.  Also, Nancy and T are in the same book club, and Nancy plays Pickleball.  We met them for cocktails one night and had an excellent dinner at their home another night.

Gary owned and operated Grumpy’s, a funky, quaint tavern/restaurant in Ketchum, for many years.  He sold it awhile back but it’s still going strong and doing well.

The Big Wood River flows by our campsite, playing nature’s fine background music.  There are no other campers in sight and we love it.  No cell phone signal here but we’re only 10 minutes from town so no biggie.  Big Wood combines with Little Wood to form the Malad which flows into the Snake which flows into the Columbia which flows into the Pacific.

Utah Lake State Park

We changed our route.  The trip planning software had us heading north through NV on US-93.  Trish pointed out that I-84 was a better road with better scenery so we made the change and spent the night in Provo, UT rather than Wells, NV.  We’ll be back on the road this AM, destination Ketchum, ID.

Yesterday. 

We did an overnight here in ’07 when we had the Chalet A-frame pop-up trailer; we toured Mesa Verde, Grand Canyon North Rim, Monument Valley and so on.  It’s a nice park with electric and water hookups, at a reasonable price.  Utah Lake, the largest fresh water lake in the state, is in a broad valley between the Wasatch Mts to the east and the Cedar Valley Mts to the west. 

2007

When we were here in ’07, we noticed terracing way up high on some of the Wasatch Mountain peaks.  I’d never seen anything like it, hadn’t a clue: why was extensive terracing done way up there, at about 10,000’ altitude?

Turns out, it was a Civilian Conservation Corps erosion control project done in the 1930s.  Gee, what great fun, hauling all the tools, supplies, food, water, etc way up there.  And, once you’re there, even more fun: you get to pound rocks with a sledge hammer for weeks at a time.  Oh boy!  Still, given the choice – pound rocks or starve – I’d be right up there, merrily (?) pounding the hell out of those rocks.

Saint George Pickleball

Pickleball is big in Saint George.  They have a very nice outside 12-court venue, plus a separate 6-court play area.  Nearby is a smaller town, Hurricane, which has another 8 public courts.  Don’t know if there are any inside courts.

I played at the 12-court place this AM, got there about 7:30 AM and there were already 40 players.  When I left 2 hours later, there were about a 100 players and still more drifting in.

Saint George, UT

Lee's Ferry, above, is where we crossed the Colorado River en route to 

Saint George, UT from Williams, AZ. 

This is where we (Patty, John, Mollie and I) started our 7-day white-water adventure 

through the Grand Canyon 20 years ago.  

Trish and I camped here in the Chalet a few years back.

The pix above and below are of Pioneer Park, just north of SG.  

Magnificent red rock scenery.

Trish and the dogs are sitting in the shelter in top pix; Trish is waving.

Resembles an ant farm viewed through the glass.

Really big ants with really tough jaws.

Quail Creek State Park, 10 miles north of SG, beautiful setting.

Trish is searching for out next campground, which will be near Provo.

Trish just pumped her bike tires, is locking it up for the night.

Ranger and Artie are supervising.  They're very good at that.

Grand Canyon Railway

Williams, AZ, 3K population, is one of many southwest towns that capitalize on Route 66 themes.  This is where you turn off of I-40 to access the Grand Canyon’s South Rim, 65 miles north.  The Grand Canyon Railway is based here.  It’s a period piece tourist train that makes daily round trips to the Canyon; we spent 3 nights here to do the train ride and hang out.

On the Rim with Bright Angel Trail in center background.  The Trail goes to Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Canyon.  The Ranch has dormitories and a restaurant.  My brother Pat, his son Bill, and I, stayed there when we did the rim to rim hike several years ago. 

Hopi dancer with traditional footwear - at South Rim

Choreographed by our car waitress, passengers throw up their hands in dismay upon hearing the train is being robbed.

One of the 4 train robbers.  His gang and the sheriff had a shootout prior to train boarding; the sheriff gunned them all down but those doggone outlaws are tough: 7 hours later they’re back doing dastardly deeds, none the worse for wear.

We Have Liftoff!

The Ram is pawing the ground, ready to charge and butt heads.

 

 

The Cougar is crouching, muscles tensed, about to spring.

 

 

We're sooooo outta here!