Best Western Tyrolean Lodge Ketchum

... professional painter and is clearly is in demand! Susie has made herself a highly respected gardening design and installing business. Please check out some of her gardens in the pix below. Andy and I were thrilled when she was able to take time to give us a tour of some of her properties. Try to imagine how these properties had so little before Susie showed up to add form, function, color and grace! Young Jake is quickly becoming a Mythical swordsman ...

We stopped right outside of Sun Valley to spend a couple days routing our next stops. First annual invitational for NADRA Western Office Golf Outing has been established! (NADRA does not yet have a Western office, but after this trip we are considering it!) Mike Beaudry and friend, Lance Meller hit up the greens of "The Big Wood".

... in the industry are saying about Sun Valley. "Known for its long, long, lo-o-ong steady-pitched jet-fueled groomers (perfect for raising World Cuppers like Picabo Street and Reggie Crist), its lack of crowds ("forgot what a liftline was!"), its opulent on-mountain lodges and its celebrity-studded history, Sun Valley has won over skiing's well-traveled visitor for decades. It has sunshine and a top-flight lift ...

... read a chilly 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Brrr! Being originally from San Diego and living in Hawaii, I had never been that cold in my life! I had four top layers on and two bottom layers on, plus a scarf, hat, gator and gloves, plus a backpack full of booze and snow shoes and poles. I had never been snowshoeing before. It took about 20 minutes to get all our gear together and at this point my fingers felt like they were going to fall off ...

Wow, what a great day! Today Jim, John and I went skiing. John, who was formally a ski instructor gave me lessons. At first I was hesitant since the last time I skied I ended up with a concusion, but I eased into it and got much better. Jim and John were thoroughly impressed and so John moved us on to the harder slopes. Eventually, Jim and John who excellent skiers sent me down the begiiner slopes ...

... my deepest, closest friend today. It's amazing how you can just pick up from where you left off even after so many years. We change and grow, but our spirits stay the same. She is familiar like family. I'm so proud to have her as my friend after all these years. Tuesday was crazy as traffic in Marin was horrific.I almost missed my plane in Oakland, and had to run through the airport. Once I arrived at the gate, the ...

... Montana towards Idaho and on to Sun Valley, where we are at at the moment. Well, not quite there - about 13 miles away in a town called Hailey. Sun Valley is the playground - one of them - of the rich and famous apparently. Hence the reason why we are here! Aaah, and we thought you knew! Anyway, we plan to have a bit of a sticky beek and not sure yet how long we want to stay here. Shall see tomorrow what we feel like and then play it by ear.

... couloir is a continuous 48 degree pitch, snaking through granite walls and exiting into a large fan and finishing through a short chute to the lake. The boot up the couloir takes approximately an hour and 15 minutes. Luckily for us the snow was soft enough to punch in hand holds and we did not need axes or crampons, although had the snow been firm without this equipment it would be very, very scary.
Watching all my friends climb up into different ...

... morning we went to a lovely church in Mammoth Hot Springs. It was quite a traditional service but very good. The preacher did an excellent sermon on Phillipians 3 v7-14. Many of you (well two in fact) have asked for photos. Here they are! Just a quick warning for when we get home. Consider the following equation before asking to see out photos. Claire + digital camera + (wild animals and great views) = a very large quantity of photos!!!!!!! Hope you are all well. Stephen and Claire xxx

Today we got up and I saw Dusty off because he had to go back to Portland, as he was finishing up a summer school class. I left with his family in the middle of the day, and had a very bumpy flight back to Sun Valley. I used this time to reflect on my short time in B.C., as well as the thoughts of being able to do more travelling like this in the future. See you soon.... Cheers