Central Idaho

With our kids out of the country (Kelsey - Istanbul, Brian - Oaxaca), we jumped on the opportunity to do some exploring. We thought the mountains in Idaho shed their winter snow earlier than the Cascades, so we headed east. Specifically, we spend a few days in the Stanley area, with easy access to the Sawtooth Mountains. Then we explored around Sun Valley for a couple of days. This was our first trip with mountain bikes ... we weren't very good, nor confident. But we had fun combining the biking with some hiking. The snow wasn't really as gone as we had hoped, which kept us from going very deep into the mountains. On our way home (much to Karen's chagrin) we went a bit out of our way (maybe 20 miles) to hit the Craters of the Moon National Monument. Pretty desolate. It's where they practiced for the Apollo landings!

Random Scenes

On our drive from Stanley to Sun Valley, we stopped to take in the commanding view from the overlook at Galena Summit. Well, I locked the keys in the car! No cell reception, and just not sure what the heck to do. We tried some coat hangers that someone had. Then, a couple with Missouri plates drove up in a Tbird convertible, and Karen asked where in Missouri they were from. In fact, they went to the same church as Karen's mom. They were kind enough to haul me down to the nearest phone so I could call for some help. While I was gone, some guy showed up with a Slim Jim (or something ... nominally he used it for work), and popped it open. But we did the right thing and stayed until the tow-truck guy got there, and told him we'd already solved the problem. We had to pay him, but ...
Writing bad poetry for Brian in Mexico!

"Oh Wow!" Moments