Last week we took our trip to Idaho to deliver snowbunny’s furniture to her and to enjoy a few days in the mountains in the process. It was a complicated maneuver – we had packed her stuff into a moving cube, which was then taken to Boise. We then had to go to Ketchum, pick up SIL’s truck, and return to Boise to get the stuff from the cube. Papa Tigs insisted that her truck would be ample for the move.
So we flew into Boise and went to pick up our rental car. We had reserved a compact car. They were entirely out, but for the same price gave us this, as we called it, compact minivan. 
Needless to say, we weren’t too thrilled with the prospect of burning a bunch of gas, but hey, for $107 for a week, we decided we’d deal with it.
So after a beautiful drive up US 20 through the Camas Prairie, where the snow gets so deep the snow poles alongside the road are extra tall and the only restaurant the whole way has an interesting menu item, we got to Ketchum, where we discovered that SIL’s truck had a camper shell on it that meant it couldn’t hold anything like all the stuff. So we took the compact minivan as well as the truck and drove back to Boise, once again playing spot-the-antelope (I cannot tell you how many antelope we saw during our week in Idaho, but it numbered in the many dozens) as well as other wildlife – snowbunny and I saw a herd of elk, and we also saw lots of smaller wildlife plus birds galore. That drive, incidentally, followed the Goodale Cutoff, part of the Oregon Trail. I honestly don’t know how those pioneers did it!
As it turned out, Someone was keeping an eye on us. When we got to the moving company site, not only did we need all the available space in both vehicles, but the nice young people who were going to be filling the cube with their stuff as soon we got our stuff out of it were so extra-nice they unloaded all our stuff and packed the vehicles for us! So what we expected would take us at least a couple hours took a grand total of about 15 minutes. Which gave us time to visit the World Center for Birds of Prey and take a fascinating and informative tour, including seeing No. 9, a California condor – that’s the only place in the world where California condors are being bred. It’s quite a place; I highly recommend a visit if you have a chance.
After collecting snowbunny’s things and delivering them to her insanely cute little log cabin, we then had several days just to relax and sightsee. Ketchum/Sun Valley is located in the Wood River Valley, and to call it beautiful is truly an understatement. We drove north 60 miles to Stanley in the Salmon River valley on Friday with SIL, across the Galena Summit, with a spectacular view of the Sawtooth Range, not to mention lots of other mountains. We stopped off at Redfish Lake; the road to the lake had just opened that day, and 3/4 of the lake was still covered by ice. Since snowbunny had to work that day, we drove back up to Stanley again on Monday and stopped by Redfish Lake again, and what a difference three days makes – every speck of ice had melted off the lake! So snowbunny and I, feeling crazy, dipped our feet in the lake water – brrrrr! It was definitely the coldest water I’ve ever felt outside of a beverage glass!
Anyway, we also had lots of fun playing with SIL’s dogs, both the ones that are hers and the ones she boards (she runs a dog grooming shop plus does daycare, so almost never has fewer than half a dozen dogs underfoot). SIL has two champion Clumber spaniels, Ruthie and Blanche. Blanche is a typically mellow Clumber, but Ruthie is a very silly girl indeed! She also keeps a beautiful Samoyed, Kaya, for months at a time since her humans live in a very warm climate and she obviously can’t take the heat with that incredible coat. Then there’s some of the rest of the crew – Huckleberry the Vizsla, cute little Charlie the half poodle/half King Charles spaniel, Emily the very cute bulldog, and two sweet elderly Jack Russells, Lily and Rosie the mad licker. And since we were staying in a small house at the back of the yard behind her shop, we also got doggie roommates our first few nights, Rambo and Delia, two silly Basset hounds. Needless to say, we brought home a whole new and different batch of dog hair!
And, lest we forget, we also met the angry swan who hates snowbunny – but he is a beauty!
All in all, we had a very successful and very fun trip. Met lots of canine critters, saw lots of wild ones, and most of all, got to spend a week breathing fresh, clean mountain air. It was very hard to come home – we’ll be going back every chance we get, now that we have not just one but two good excuses to visit!
And to the rest of us - Happy Memorial Day!
! Even with an angry swan!
Good MMP vibes for him and his family, please!
