Sun Valley

 We have made it to our rental house near Hailey, Idaho and just down the road from Ketchum and Sun Valley. We have driven 3,196.6 miles and used 155.8 gallons of gas (20.5 mpg...I need a hybrid). Our mileage is generally around 21.5 in flat areas but the average gets dragged down on mountain roads. Gas prices have generally been dropping during our trip except in more remote places where delivery costs are high. The highest we paid the entire trip was today in Hailey where supreme is $6.15 per gallon.

The house is lovely and very remote. We should have spectacular views of the stars on clear nights, but it doesn't get dark until around 10 pm here and last night we crashed pretty early after the trip. The weather is hot with a high today of 90 and a low tonight of 59. We do not have air conditioning but it is mostly tolerable except for late afternoon. That appears to be the time to find some shade and sit outside with a glass of wine.

We loved visiting Jackson Hole. We had three great dinners at places recommended by friends. It was also nice to spend a few days without lengthy drives. The highlight was renting ebikes for a 22-mile ride from our hotel up to Teton Village ski area for lunch. I had never ridden an ebike before and I found it to be a great invention, both to have help on hills and just to cruise very fast.

We had another beautiful drive yesterday from Jackson, up and over Teton Pass, and then through grasslands along more two-lane straight roads with 70 mph speed limits. Our weirdest encounter of the trip was a brief visit to the Craters of the Moon National Monument see video here. According to the National Park Service: "Volcanic activity occurred on the Snake River Plain for many millions of years. But Craters of the Moon was formed by eruptions that started only 15,000 years ago and represents the last period of active volcanism in this area. The most recent activity occurred 2,100 years ago...The Craters of the Moon volcanic field will erupt again, probably within the next few centuries if the recurrence interval of about 2,000 years is sustained. It is likely that the eruption will last several years or decades and possibly several centuries."

Lava Rock Piles at Craters of the Moon

We will be here in the Sun Valley area for four weeks. I will not be posting daily but on occasion if there is something to write about. Thanks for following our journey.