Friends in high places: Sun Valley

I don’t know if it was the altitude or the company or something in the water. Whatever it was, I’ll have more, please: our week in Sun Valley positively glowed.

Maybe it was all the flowers. Everywhere we looked! Or perhaps the ghost of Hemingway…

Or the iconic Sun Valley Lodge.

Had the Gary Cooper suite. Katherine, this one is for you (should we call it a Cooper’s Hawk?)

Let it be known that we did not starve in the wilds of Idaho.  There was the signature Poitrine de Poulet Aux Morilles (that’s chicken breast with morels for us philistines) at Michel’s; one lovely lunch at The Vintage, another with the stunning views up the hill at The Roundhouse and a perfect evening on the deck at the Ketchum Grill. I know, I know, the list is not complete without the Pioneer Saloon which we’ll have to save until the next visit, but we did have dinner at Enoteca one evening with Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Guest seated nearby.

Mark and Jean were consummate tour guides, treating us to highlights like the gondola run up Mt. Baldy (I know there’s a joke re baldies atop Mt. Baldy but I just can’t come up with it…)

They took us to a rousing performance by Irish rock band Swagger in Ketchum Park and to a not-to-be-missed Dockdogs competition:

Best of all, we were there for the 4th of July Sun Valley On Ice performance. Mark, being that in-the-know guy, made sure we were at the rink for the noon rehearsal, where we saw all the performers, including Olympic bronze winners Alex and Maia Shibutani rehearse for the evening performance.

That night, they put on a terrific show, and of course, fireworks after!

We checked out some art galleries and found a favorite theme:

And then suddenly it was time to move on down the road. Many many thanks to Mark and Jean for a fabulous week!

Pencil us in for a return visit!