Thursday, March 15, 2012

Winter Sports, Summer Sun

Last week, Sean headed out to Sun Valley, Idaho for a conference with work.  In addition to being home of the Power Engineers headquarters, it's also one of America's premier ski resorts, so I flew out later in the week to meet Sean for the recreational part of the trip.  I can honestly say that, randomly, this was one of the most fun vacations that I've ever been on (and I consider myself a beach person...with an appreciation of the mountains).  In Idaho.

Sun Valley Club, where we had dinner with Sean's company on Thursday night

 Dollar Mountain.  This is the beginner mountain, a build up to Bald Mountain.  This one is 1000 vertical feet and proved difficult enough for both of us.  Neither of us even managed to be able to safely ski all of the green slopes.  There's like, 30 slopes on this mountain and over 2 days we couldn't even attempt all of them.


 Bald Mountain in the background of the top of Dollar.  That one is 3000 vertical feet, but other than eating on it, we stayed on this safer choice :)
 River Run Lodge, at the base of Baldy where we had an amazing breakfast Saturday morning

 We rode a gondola midway up Baldy for lunch at the roundhouse

The Roundhouse.  One of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.

 The level of talent that skis here is unlike any I've ever seen.  This mountain is covered in almost straight vertical moguls.  But even little kids were zipping down these and into the trees, no problem.  Unbelievable.

 Natural hot springs in the west are pretty cool.  We drove almost 7 miles down a tiny snow covered dirt road to get here, to this isolated little hot spring in the river.  It's a little weird to strip down to a bathing suit in the middle of the snow and maneuver down a hill into hot water, but it's one of the cooler experiences I've ever been privy to.

 Brunch in the lodge dining room.  While we look pretty beat here, this was so relaxing.  We spent a couple of hours eating an unbelievable breakfast and drinking coffee in this cozy dining room while watching it snow outside.

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