Idaho 2007

This year’s short vacation was in Idaho, home of Famous Potatoes. We planned this to coincide with the chamber music series at the Sun Valley Lodge in which Jon was playing. We rarely get to see Jon so we decided to tag along. We flew into Boise and drove 2½ hours to Sun Valley. Now I lived in Idaho for two years while stationed at Mountain Home Air Force Base in the early 80’s so it was a bit nostalgic. I had to pull over a couple times to cry.

Tuesday, July 24 – We arrived at our hotel with just enough time to change clothes and hurry on over to the concert. As we made our way to the venue, a thunderstorm brought buckets of rain that soaked us, which is a problem because you know how particular I am about my hair. The concert was great as it always is with Jon’s performances.

What do you do after such a performance… go out to the Bald Mountain Pizza and enjoy a Vendetta Bianca pizza! We had a few after dinner drinks at the lodge, then we were treated to a behind the scene peek of Thursday’s concert. And I mean treat. To watch as the musicians work out the Jazz/Latin arrangements was quite an experience.

Wednesday, July 25 – We met for breakfast at the Kneadery for what I will now call the Idaho mountain portions. What do you do after eating 6 lbs. of food? Go for a hike what else.

On Misha’s suggestion, we went to the River Run Lodge where we started on a 5.2 mi hike but had to stop short of the summit as Jon had a early rehearsal. Actually I was glad as I’m in no shape to hike that far and at that altitude.

After dropping Jon off, we drove out to Red Fish Lake. It was at this time I found out that our rental car was equipped with satellite radio, so we were able to listen to everything from talk radio to Korean Hip-Hop. As fate would have it, it rained on us the whole way to Red Fish Lake so I wasn’t too enthusiastic at first. Shortly after arriving however, the rain stopped and the sun broke through. We had lunch at the lodge, snapped a few photos at the lake then headed to Stanley Lake.

On the way back to the hotel, a sign that said Billy’s Bridge caught our eye and we had to make a quick U turn. Like a moron I expected to see domesticated goats 20 ft off the road in a small fenced in area. What we found was a small benched area with two high power telescopes to view Mountain Goats halfway up the mountain. We waited and waited but the goats never revealed themselves. They were probably 20 ft away hiding behind a tree.

Dinner was at Globus, another great recommendation from Misha. The roasted halibut special was excellent.

Thursday, July 26 – We had the day to ourselves, I guess everyone was getting tired of us. Regardless, we started out with breakfast at the Rustic Moose, once again in Idaho mountain portions. Next, we drove out to Craters of the Moon National Monument. This was the strangest National Park I’ve ever seen. Right in the middle of nowhere lies a dead volcanic graveyard. My photos do not do it justice.

Later that evening, we attended Jon’s last concert of the series. The arrangements by Jeremy Cohen included pieces by: Chick Corea, Astor Paizzolla, Carlos Gardel, Mariano Mores, Dave Brubeck and more. Not the usual JN music.

To make the evening complete, we were invited to a lovely dinner at the home of Norm and Carol Nie. The meal and conversation were top notch, along with the hosts’ warm hospitality. Oh and they had a couple of cool dogs too, Daisy and Gus.

Friday, July 26 – We headed back home but not before a breakfast at Shorty’s Diner in Hailey. With time to spare before our flight, the gurlz had to go shopping at the outlet factory.

See the rest of the photos

Here’s Sandy’s photos. She shoots with a Canon SD800IS.