Last week we got back from an amazing trip to Idaho with our friends, The Petersons. Their family has a ranch in Sun Valley and we have been talking about going out there for a ski trip for probably as many years as we have known them. Well, we finally did it!! We booked our trip in December and we had all been eagerly anticipating this trip!! So here is our trip documented in way too many pictures, however, they don’t truly capture all of the fun we had!! Here goes…
Travel Day:
Our adventure began at 3:45AM on Tuesday morning. We were smart enough to have bags packed and outfits picked out the night before. We had everything ready to go. The plan was to leave the house by 5:30 for our flight at 8:50. We commented about how nonstressful our morning was. I woke the girls up at 5:30, a little late, but hey, we had time! We hopped in the car and headed out at about 5:50. A little late, but no big deal right? WRONG!!!! Rush hour traffic in LA put us at the parking garage at 8:15. The bus seemed to never show up as the time quickly slipped by. We found out right before we arrived that our flight was an hour delayed. Lucky for us because we didn’t get to the airport until AFTER 8:50. I won’t mention that Scotty left his phone on the bus on the way to the airport from the parking garage! He blames the banana he was holding for why he was sitting on his phone and not holding it. Ugh! Thank God for technology, because we set his phone alarm off so that the driver could find it in the bus and rush to return it to us. Tiff was NOT a happy traveler at this point! Once we got on the plane, I’d like to say I calmed down. Nope! Not when I realized we had to walk ONTO the runway and board a TINY airplane. I was a little apprehensive when I saw we were sitting two by two on the plane that seemed to carry only 10 people. Luckily, they had complimentary wine and everything got better REALLY quickly!
Avalanche Ranch:
When we got to the ranch everyone quickly threw on their snow gear and headed out to play. The girls had fun making snowmen, riding the snowmobile, and playing in the snow. I was impressed with how well they did in the snow. No one ever complained of being cold, even when snow got in their bibs and Uggs. It was just too much fun to stop!
Sledding:
One day we went into town and went sledding. Everyone had a really good time climbing up the hills and hitting the slopes! Even me!!
Outings:
Each day we went out into town and did something fun. We usually went to lunch and then did an activity. One day we went sledding, one day we hunted for natural hot springs, and one day we took a Gondola up a mountain and had a fancy lunch. We stayed busy doing some pretty cool stuff!
Hot Springs:
There are several places where we were staying that you could find natural hot springs. Kris had heard of this one that he wanted to find. There are no signs for it. No off ramps. No parking lots. It’s pretty much something you know about by word of mouth and a little help from Google Earth. After some research, we found one. Now this hot springs is obviously not right off the road. It takes some commitment if you want to get to it. And a lot of planning if you want to take your kids! I’m talking towels, a change of clothes, bathing suits, etc. I had the hardest time, I should admit, in this “hike” to the hot springs. I started off jumping into the powder snow and sinking to my waste. How was I to know that the smooth white, untouched snow, was in fact not a good choice to go run on! It was just so pretty, I didn’t understand why everyone was following one tiny trail when we had vast amounts of room to go run. I figured that one out REAL quickly!! Brrr!! All throughout the hike I kept falling in the snow and it was fun for everyone to see poor ‘ol city girl try to navigate her way around the snow. And one more point about the hot springs, buy “hot” they mean luke warm. So stripping off my snow gear to don a bikini in the middle of the snow was hard for this city girl. The kids, surprisingly, handled it really well!! It was such a cool experience, all complaining aside!! 😉
Sightings:
One of the neatest things about going to a place like Idaho is seeing wildlife. There is just something about driving down the road, looking up, and seeing elk or moose. Apparently moose is really rare to spot, so when we did, it was pretty cool!
Thank you Petersons!! From the beautiful ranch to the amazing adventures, we truly had the time of our lives. We hope to be invited back again. Next time, we hit the slopes!!
