A Trip of a Life Time- Part II- Idaho and Utah

Part 4- Sun Valley, ID

The drive from Missoula to Sun Valley was amazing!  It wasn't quick, but John and I both agreed that it was one of the most picturesque drives in the United States.  We drove south down the Bitterroot Valley, over Lost Trail Pass, and  along the middle fork of the Salmon River. Just before leaving, John gashed his hand on the big chain ring of Stephanie's bike (trying to get my pedals off), narrowly avoided a trip to the ER and we almost ran out of gas, but it was worth it because we LOVE our visits to Sun Valley.

Sara Gilman is the best kind of friend anyone could ask for!  She is always eager to open her home to my family and does what ever it takes to make our stay easy. She was my roommate junior and senior year of college and I love her like a sister.  She's unflappable and strong and we just adore her husband and kids.  

Cally hardly remembers meeting Anna (age 7) and Josephine (age 10) when we visited three years ago, but she was quickly taken in by the big girls and happy as could be.  We hoped that Hazey and Cam (both 4) would become fast friends, but it didn't exactly work out like that, yet.  Mike, jokingly, tried to keep score of which families kids had more fits...... and it pretty much would have been even!  That said, the kids had some fun relay races, played a lot of the Game of Life, and "School". 

Because John brings so many students to Sun Valley Trekking's yurts in the winter, his dear friends Joe and Francie offered to let us use one of their yurts while we were in Idaho.  Sara and Mike were excited and so were Bo and Brady (two of our dear friends who live in Boise, but also went to Middlebury). 

Coyote Yurt is in the Smoky Mountains and look out on the Boulder Range (all near the Saw Tooth Mountains).  It involves an hour long drive up almost 4000 feet in elevation and a 15 minute hike (with way too much gear).  We had 7 adults and 9 children and we had such a great time!

Our Sherpas

The load"

Home Sweet Home

Old Friends are the BEST!

Fast Friends

Kids Meal

Tres Amigos

Future Friends

"And these are a few of my favorite things"

Monkeying Around

Me, Brady & Gretchen

         

Smores

Marshmellow Bellas

Morning Sunshine

Story Time

The Whole Crew!

 There really isn't anything like old friends! It's really amazing what an impact your college friends can have on your life.  It was so great to not catch up with my friends, but to see the friendships grow with the spouses and kids. Over the years of John going to Idaho, he has come to love my friends and they love him.  And the kids!  Oh my was that cute to see!  And John deserves huge props for doing all the shopping and almost all the cooking for the crew. He was right in his element and we all so appreciated his motivation and help.

Sherpa's on the outbound!

And one of the best parts about driving that 4000 vertical feet was that we got to bike down! Sara and Mike were kind enough to drive our kids and the Bo and Gretchen's kids down to Galena Pass while we had an amazing mountain bike ride down.  In fact, John and I actually rode the single track down twice..... just because we could!

Since the yurt was not available for Saturday night, Mike and Sara decided to drive their RV up to Galena Pass to camp with some friends.  Galena Pass is gorgeous and has miles and miles of lovely single track for more riding. 

Sadly, Bo and Gretchen had to leave, but the rest of us joined a big group of the Gilman's Hailey friends for a really fun night of camping.  We were even visited by sheep and sheep herders who let the kids ride the horses. 

Nerf Sword wars between Cam and Hazey

Brady in her happy place

Cally chatting it up with Monique-- her new friend

    

Sparkler Fun

On Saturday afternoon, I encouraged Sara to borrow my bike and get out for a ride on her beautiful trails.  It was so cool to see how fired up she got about mountain biking!  On Sunday, John  and I got out for one last ride together.  It was epic!

Oh Idaho!  How we love thee!  And how we love the Gilmans!  You guys are the absolute best.  I am so glad that Sara decided to be my friend many years ago, even though she had reservations based on my Freshman Facebook picture.  Apparently, Jamey was in a class with Sara during the fall of her freshman year.  I was on a NOLS course and Jamey said, "Oh, my sister is coming to Middlebury as a Feb Freshman and I think you guys will be great friends".  She went home and looked at my picture in the famous "book".  I was wearing a Laura Ashley dress with a string of pearls around my neck and she said, "really?".  Well, Jamey was right.  Sara has been there through thick and thin.  She has offered such great advice over the years and I just love spending time with her.  I am so glad that we have an excuse to hang out with her and her lovely family.

Part V- Park City, UT

John has been telling me stories of his climbing buddy, Geoff Tabin for years.  I have met him, briefly at a bar, but he lives in Park City and we've never been there together.  Geoff is an opthamologist who started the Himalayan Cataract Project. He's climbed all the continents highest summits and he worked for the University of Vermont Hospital before moving to Utah so he and John spent a lot of time climbing. He is a brilliant, but quirky guy, who does amazing things for the world and clearly admires John.  He opened his home to us and even took John climbing for a morning. 

While John went climbing, I took the kids on a drive.  We weren't sure where we were going or what we were doing, but we knew we needed to pick John up in Salt Lake City around noon.

Cally at Emerald Pass

One of 3 Moose at Guardsman Pass

        

        

On top of Knob 10,420!

For an improptu hike with no food or water (and I wore flip flops?!?!), the kids did great.  We ended up driving down Guardsman Pass, by Brighton and Solitude ski areas to pick John up in Salt Lake City.  Big Cottonwood Canyon is gorgeous and undeveloped (and the water source for the city).  Considering all these beautiful mountains are within a half hour of the city, is pretty amazing.

John had a great morning climbing in Little Cottonwood Canyon and when he got back we explored Park City and utilized the municipal pool before meeting up with another old Outing Club student of John's for dinner in Salt Lake.

When I purchased our tickets for this trip, I looked for the "best deal", not the best flying schedule.  It turns out, Jet Blue only has one flight a day in and out of Salt Lake City.  Our flight home left Salt Lake at 10:40 pm and arrived in JFK at 4:45 am. The kids were total troopers.  They love airports and are so helpful.  

The kicker was that we had a 4+ hour layover in JFK....... however, the kids and John has no problem sleeping through most of that layover!

This was an amazing trip.  It could not have worked out better!  It was so wonderful to see so many old friends, meet so many of their partners and children, do so much and show off our family.    We put 1700 miles on our little Nissan rental car, but we broke up the drive in such a way that car ended up being a good break from the action.  It was the only time that we all hung out together (most of the other times the kids were off doing kid things with their new friends) and we never had more than a half of a day on the road (and it usually ensured that Hazey would take a nap).

It was definitely a trip, and not a vacation.  We didn't read any books and John was never fully able to disengage from work, but we did and saw so much.  As I coordinated the trip over the course of the past few months, I wondered how it all would turn out, hoped everyone would have fun, but mostly got butterflies in my belly because of the excitement I had about being in the mountain west.  My expectations were exceeded.  Now we just have to figure out what our next great adventure out there will be-- rafting, backpacking, horse packing.........

Here are the quotes fro the family about the the trip:

Hazey-  "I liked everything about it."

Cally- "I liked it because it was different."

John- "The west in the winter is the kiss, the west in the summer is the full embrace."

A Trip of a Lifetime! Part I-- Wyoming and Montana

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I've been wanting to take my family to Montana for a long time.  John has never been!?!?!?  Seeing Deb and Gray in November (and meeting their beautiful girls who are so close in age to Cal and Hazey) inspired me to pull the trigger and by tickets for a two week visit back in December.  Over the course of the next six months, I tried to put together a fun trip for the me, John and the kids.  Just thinking about the trip got me so excited!  However, it did take some coordinating/planning.  We decided to fly in and out of Salt Lake City (it was cheapest), rent a car, and do a loop around Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.  We are so fortunate to have friends (and students) to visit along the way. Even so, I was still a little nervous about how it would all turn out.

First Stop:  Jackson, WY 

We had a hectic flight out to Salt Lake (three hour delay out of Burlington and a sprint to our gate at JFK), but we arrived and to our surprise, so did our luggage.  We stayed the night at a cheap hotel and then got on our way to Jackson, WY the next morning.  Town was busy and it was rainy, so we went straight up to Moose (a town at the southern end of Teton National Park).  I've backcountry skied around there and was excited to show John and the kids Dornan's (a great resort/bar).  We got some obscured, but clear views of the Grand Teton and it got me fired up to someday climb that with the family.

On our way to our hotel up at the Jackson Hole Ski Resort, we drove through Teton National Park and saw this beautiful owl. It wasn't cheap, but nothing is in this town and it was the only real hotel we had to stay in for our whole trip. It was fun to be right on the mountain.  I got to go for a gorgeous run on the mountain with wildflowers everywhere-- indian paint brush, lupin, asters, arnaca, forget-me-nots, and even columbine.  It made me so nostalgic for the west (even though it was cold and a bit rainy)

Hazen standing in front of the Jackson Hole Inn

Fortunately, the pool was heated!  It was cold!

Hanging at the Snake River Brewery in Jackson

Columbine

 We woke up all fired up to go out for our "free" breakfast and Hazey quickly made it clear that he was not well.  Apparently, he had been guzzling the hot tub water the day before (and there was an odd sign that said, "Please do not swim in this hot tub if you've had diarrhea in the past two weeks").  In any case, he proceeded to barf (ughh!).  John, had conveniently arranged to go for a mountain bike ride with two of his old students, so I was left with the barfer for a few hours.

Fortunately, he rebounded pretty quickly (he only barfed four times) and we were able to proceed to Bozeman.

2nd Stop- BOZEMAN, MT

The drive to Bozeman from Jackson was about five hours .  We got rerouted because of a tractor trailer accident along the Gallatin River, but it was a beautiful drive, so it wasn't a big deal. Plus, the earth science geek in me was fascinated to drive by Earthquake Lake which was created by the Hebgen Lake earthquake in 1959 (a 7.5 magnitude).  

I met Deb and Gray when I as in graduate school in Montana almost twenty years ago.  They were college sweethearts.  Deb was in my EVST program and Gray was working as a carpenter.  They are both east coasters, but Deb's parents bought a ranch in White Sulfur Springs, MT right around the time we started graduate school.  My entry to Montana was rather abrupt and they were a wonderful warm couple who helped make my landing smooth.  We ended up living very near each other, getting dogs around the same time, watering each others gardens, and skiing and hiking together a bunch.  Upon graduation, they moved to Bozeman and I ended up moving to Vermont.  We did stay in touch, but hadn't seen each other in at least ten years.  That said, they opened their home and hearts to us as if no time had elapsed.  We were treated to an amazing four days in their beautiful home.

 When Deb, Gray, Lucy and Rosie came to visit us last November, it was like no time had elapsed.  Our kids got along great and their was an immediate mutual friendship with John.

Fast friends

They have an amazing home in Kelly Canyon-- about 5 minutes outside of town on 40 acres.  Gray is a builder and he built an incredible garage/in-law apartment and did a major renovation on the house that they bought years and years ago.

the view from their house

The "littles" and the lupine

We spent the first day exploring their property and taking visiting Fairy Lake

Hikers

Looking for fish at Fairy Lake

Fairy Lake

Too cold to jump!

All loaded up in the Suburban!

After our adventure to Fairy Lake (and narrowly escaping a thunderstorm), we hit Bozeman's "Art Hop".  Bozeman is a super fun/hip town and we got to catch up with a few of John's past Outing Club Students. 

Hip Food Truck

 

Deb is an amazing homesteaders!  Ever since I met her, when she was 25 years old, she was canning and processing home grown food, cooking, and eating well.  She's continued to do that and some.  She has a beautiful garden with vegetables and fruit and chickens.  All the food she prepares is amazing and fresh.  She's an inspiration. 

Friends!

 We spent Saturday at Chico Hot springs and playing along the Yellowstone River. Our old babysitter, Erin (who now occasionally babysit's Deb's kids) joined us with her boyfriend for the day and we all had so much fun!

the water is 95 degrees

Playing Manatee with Thompson

Lunch at Chico

Lounging by the Yellowstone

Cute Tubers

Rope Tubing

We even got to do a little hike with views of the Paradise Valley.

Loving the Paradise Valley!

The Paradise Valley with Erin and Thompson

 On Sunday, the boys went for a mountain bike ride while Deb and I explored Bozeman with the kids.  And it turns out, Deb is good friends with my old friend Sid Williamson who grew up sailing with me in CT and went to Middlebury with me. He's an ER doc and has two cute kids so we got to have dinner with them.

Deb and Gray's "hot tub"-- a new horse watering trough with hot water!

Stop 3- Missoula, MT

 I haven't been to Missoula in over 10 years.  I loved the three years I spent there while I was in graduate school.  It was an amazing place to be--- I moved to Missoula with so much of my life up in the air and I was immediately welcomed and enveloped with a sense of community.  In 1997, my wonderful dad drove out with me and I really didn't have a plan.  I was fresh off of a break up and I needed somewhere to go and something to do.  I was hoping that I could take some classes towards a Master's in Environmental Studies (EVST), but I'd applied really late in the summer and no one could guarantee anything.  Fortunately, everything worked out.  I got into the EVST program within days of starting classes, made some of the best friends I have to this day, and got involved in some really cool activities.

My dear friend, Stephanie, stayed in touch over the years.  She spent a year in the Connecticut River Valley, so we were able to reconnect years ago.  She is now a doctor in Missoula, married to a cool ultra marathoner/lawyer, and has an absolutely adorable little son named Colt (he's 18 months old).  The kids took to Colt like pigs to mud! Steph let us camp out in her basement and as soon as the kids heard Colt's little footsteps up stairs, they would ask if they could go play with him. We also got to get my favorite pizza at Bridge Street Pizza.  So fun that some things  never change!

While I went on a great mountain bike ride with my old friend, Dave Morris, John introduced himself to the University of Montana's Director of Outdoor Programs (who is a friend of Stephanie's) and got all sorts of jealous about their facilities.  And we all got to go for a swim in the Rattlesnake River.

And my dear friends Kristie and Jon offered to have a barbecue with a bunch of old friends and their families. Turns out, Kristie was one of John's first Outing Club students at UVM when he first got his job!  It was as if no time had passed and so fun to introduce all our kids!

Before hitting the road to Sun Valley, I had the kids walk around campus with me-- below they are in front of the building where I spent so much of my time while a student in the EVST program.  

 Being in Missoula certainly made me nostalgic, but it also made me so happy to be able to share this special place with my family.  My years in Missoula were pivotal.  I needed to live in the west and this was the perfect town for me.  I loved it, but I always felt a little bit like an outsider-- like I'd never really be a Montanan.  It's so cool to see so many friends that have made it work for them.  I'm glad we still have friends to visit.... and who knows?  Maybe Cal or Hazey will end up there some day!