Sun Valley, ID - Jan 15 to 19 Jan , 23

 By virtue of Mary’s ‘good standing’ status as an employee of Aspen Skiing Co. we got our annual 4 night freebie in the Limelight Hotel, Ketchum, Idaho the location of the famous Sun Valley ski resort and home of the very first ski lift in the world, believe it or not. And all as phenomenal an experience as ever. But back to reality (and bus driving / guest services ) later today. What a treat though.

Looking north from Baldy Mtn down to the lovely old authentic western town of Ketchum 

A Yurt accessible only on skis for overnight stays

Baldy Mtn From the Cold Springs lift showing the huge skiable terrain - 3,700 ft verticle descent

The view from our Limelight Hotel room. Met lots of interesting people in hot tub after skiing each day incl one of the Directors of Manchester City FC - Simon Pearce.

Looking south across Main St with Limelight Hotel on left.

X-country skiing at the beautiful Galena Lodge center 25 miles north of Ketchum 

Ditto

Ditto

Back to Baldy mountain and the Seattle Ridge lodge at the top. Lunch beckons.

Looking down to Ketchum 

The very first ski lift in world built 1936 on Proctor Mtn a mile from Ketchum . The movie Sun Valley Serenade worth watching .

Enjoying coffee break ( and thawing out ) at Warm Springs Lodge. These becoming longer and more frequent.

From main lodge at bottom of Baldy Mtn

A favorite watering hole apparently of Ernest Hemingway in early days of the ski resort.

Equipped for v cold temps on Baldy

Galena Lodge X-country center. A huge area with Millie’s and miles of groomed track through gorgeous wooded and deserted country.

……. and the Audi electric courtesy car lent to us for the day for trip to Galena Lodge. First time driving an e car. Impressed! Note Aspen Skico logo.

2022/23 Early season snow

 

Fall colors in Snowmass

 Back home after some disrupted travel arrangements. Southwest canceled our flight Eugene - Denver and we flew from Portland 2 days later, with bikes to follow by FedEx. Then failed to put our clocks forward an hour at Union Station Denver resulting in missing Bustang to Glenwood springs. Disaster averted by getting Lyft to catch the bus at Idaho springs . A costly mistake. 

Fall colors and mountain biking spectacular .

Part time bus driving starts tomorrow. Will work the odd day till Thanksgiving when full time jobs recommence for us both. 

Decision made to rent Meadow Ranch with Agustin in downstairs appt acting as caretaker. Will be in UK and Europe end April till end Sept. 

Corvallis and Eugene

Duncan and Katy gave me a birthday present of a picnic at a winetasting vineyard a two hour cycle ride from the house. D&K were working and the kids at school so Mary and I had a day on our own. Stunning weather, a wonderful bike ride, coffee and croissant in Philomath, And then a ride to  Lumos . Winery. Delicious picnic provided by Duncan which we had carried in our panniers.

We’ve been busy a lot of the week helping to clear up their garden and yard. Colossal amount of garden refuge to the Corvallis dump in a U-Haul truck. Like 1200 pounds of it!

Today we found, having been driven to Eugene Airport by Duncan and kids ( Katy  in Portland overnight )  that the Southwest airlines flight to Denver has been canceled  So now at a climbing wall in Eugene (one of the very first in US) and Oli and Maggie taking full advantage of it.

Back this afternoon to Corvallis with the family before making another attempt to fly home on Monday, but from Portland instead. No explanation for cancelled flight at last minute except to say that it is weather related. Extraordinary that they can do this with no notice. A bonus though to be with the family for another day.

Corvallis - a day with the family

 The last blog post for a bit. Still a cycling related one so just relevant to what has preceded.

We had a tour of Corvallis extending.to visits to an old pig barn, a historic covered bridge site, a swimming spot on the Willamette River, lunch at the Laughing Planet,  and a

ride through the OSU campus. 35 miles or so . A good effort by Oli, and Maggie on the 3rd wheel. Duncan fresh from the Pyrannees had no trouble.

Marysville, WA to Seattle and on to Albany and Corvallis

 A fun but relatively unexciting day. Breakfast in the motel and we were cycling by 7.15. Found a good route as recommended by Kevin which followed the Interurban bike trail for much of the way. Got to Kevin and Sun Young’s house by 4.30 and enjoyed fun evening with them on their back deck . 

Left there before 7am and an easy largely traffic free 45 minute ride into downtown Seattle and the Amtrak station. A poor breakfast on a nearby cafe, and train left punctually at 9.50. Now writing this up while enjoying the gorgeous scenery to the west including fine views of Mt Rainier, Mt St Helen’s and Mt Hood. We get to Albany just after 4 and will ride the 12 odd miles to D&K’s house in Corvallis hopefully in time for dinner.