GTotN Day 5: Jackson to Big Sky

i was a little apprehensive at first. The final part of the drive from Sun Valley to Jackson Hole, the Tetons, had been steep and fraught with danger. What would the drive to Big Sky look like? I knew there was a canyon involved, but how steep would it be?

The weather was nice, and as I point out in the previous post, I felt Confident. First, the crossing of the Tetons. Not a problem, except for this lady in the Forester ahead of me that slowed down to a crawl (20 mph) whenever there was water on the road or a turn. Given that it was 37 and we were crossing the mountains, there were lots of turns and lots of water!

GTotN Day 4/5: Jackson Hole

Sometimes, you experience something as wonderful and you realize it might not be as good next time around. You were euphoric with the excitement of the discoverer, and there is no way next time you’ll have as good a time.

Turns out that may be true in general, but not in this case. I remembered Jackson Hole as a wonderful, amazing place. The second time around, it was the same thing, but better.

GTotN Day 4: Lexington Inn and Jackson, WY

As the brochures ask, is it called Jackson, Jackson Hole, or Teton Village?

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the Arctic wind. Jackson, WY is the town. A very nice town, indeed. The low-lying valley of the Snake river around the Tetons is called Jackson Hole. So Jackson (the city) is located in Jackson Hole the area. Teton Village is the name of the base area of the ski resort, which is named after the area, Jackson Hole.

GTotN Day 3: Sun Valley to Jackson Hole

The drive from Sun Valley to Jackson Hole was 4.5 hours planned. Leaving the first resort at closing time would have gotten me into Jackson after 8, which is something I didn’t want, since the last part of the drive involved crossing the Tetons.

I left early (sue me), after lunch. As usual, I had packed the car and checked out, and since the lot was so close to the hotel, I just moved everything to the lot.

GTotN Day 2: Sun Valley Resort

From the hotel to the entrance to River Run Lodge I had a 9 minute walk. In fact, getting from the Lodge to the parking lot was shorter than from the end of the lot to the resort.

Sun Valley is incredibly friendly. It advertises it won “Best of” awards in a number of categories, like speed of the lifts, kid friendliness, etc. None of them are technical wins. There is no, “Best lift” award, or “Most difficult terrain.” Sun Valley wins the heart, not the muscles.

GTotN Day 2: Best Western Tyrolean Lodge and Ketchum, ID

I didn’t really get a chance to connect to the place when I checked in. I just picked up the room keys and walked up the stairs, then dropped dead tired into bed.

It was in the morning that I activated my snow sense. I got the coffee maker out and started my day by brewing a 12 cup batch and checking email. The hotel WiFi was pretty crappy, and the LTE gizmo turned out to be on AT&T, not Verizon as I wished.

GTotN Day 1: San Diego to Sun Valley

The Alaska flight to Boise leaves San Diego at 3:40p from Terminal 1. It was a Sunday, so the late afternoon was a perfect time to go. What do you know, it was also the first day of a heating trend and I found myself leaving town with the first long stretch of beach weather arriving. It’s been a cold winter, this year, with barely a day making it to average temperature.

GTotN: Planning

Why did I pick the three resorts on the list? Why Sun Valley, Jackson Hole, and Big Sky?

Mountain Collective had added Sun Valley this year, with Lake Louise and Thredbo. I dreamed of going to Lake Louise, but an international trip comes with its complications: if you rent a car, you cannot cross borders. You need to bring your passport, and that makes things a lot more complicated in case stuff (including the passport) is lost or stolen.

The Big Island

{moszoomimglink:Waipi’o – tiny Hi’ilawe falls} I am writing this fresh from a one week vacation to Kona, spent mostly exploring and marveling at the miracles of this biggest of the Hawaiian islands. It is so big, indeed, that it would easily fit all other islands combined.

{moszoomimglink:All of Mauna Loa} Like all other islands in the chain, Hawai’i is formed by volcanoes that rise up all the way from the bottom of the sea. While underwater, the lava cools very quickly, generating a mountain that is very steep. Once the ocean surface is passed, the lava turns out to be very fluid, so that the aerial part of the islands is quite flat. Don’t expect the volcanoes to look like Mount St. Helens or Vesuvius: they are gentle in slope, and the only really steep grade is where erosion has eaten away a chunk of mountain.

Kauai

Oh, what a surprise! You won’t know what you missed in life until you got to Kauai.

{moszoomimglink:Wailua falls}The Northernmost major island of the chain, Kauai is the one that gets the most water. It is the oldest, too, so that the flanks of the volcano that makes up the bulk of its mass are eroded into deep valleys with sharp razor-edged mountain ridges to separate them. There is, as usual, a wet side and a dry side to it. The wet side is so wet, it is famous for being the wettest spot on Earth. Mount Waialeale is not the highest point on Kauai, but surely the wettest. I am positive that Waialeale must be Hawaiian for “watch out, it’s slippery!”