Ketchum, ID

Need I mention that it was another 80 degree sunny day?

Ketchum / Sun Valley, Idaho is a great place. It's very pretty, clean, and the people are unbelievably nice; there are a few shops most of them are bike or ski shops intermingled with a few boutiques and cafes. We had breakfast and then wandered around the town remarking over how nice it was - it is also a very dog-friendly town in that every shop has a water bowl outside and dogs are even allowed in most of the shops.

We took a bit of an accidental detour back to the hotel but it was a good excuse to look at some of the houses nearby, most of them seemed to be condos near the mountain. A majority must be holiday rentals or second homes as they were very quiet but well maintained.

After eventually finding our way back to the hotel we made a quick turn-around and drove up to Sun Valley which is actually not the ski resort; from what we could work out Sun Valley is a separate town/valley with a very smart hotel, a golf course and even it's own clay pigeon shooting range and gun club, it even had its own Post Office. The nearest mountain (at which the hotel sits at the base) is Dollar Mountain a series beginner slopes but not called Sun Valley... the Sun Valley ski area actually takes place at Bald Mountain... confusing? we thought so too.

We stopped back in to Ketchum, went to Bald Mountain/Sun Valley and walked around the base area, like the town it was very nice but surprisingly small. We found a small section of the river for Ollie to swim in and he splashed around for a bit, then we went back in to Ketchum and had some lunch. I stayed in the town whilst Steve went back to hotel for a bit then we took Ollie for another swim and met Maggie, a dog and her owner - who was a Real Estate Broker in Florida with a condo here that she said we were welcome to rent over the winter!

Once Ollie had eaten, we shot in to Ketchum for a tea and coffee where a man heard me order and asked: 'Brit?' his niece married a 'Brit' and lived in Weybridge, now they live in the South of France, he and his wife had just seen a Noel Coward play - probably the same one Mum and Dad saw in Windsor; they had seen it at the Performing Arts Centre, he highly recommended it.

The lady we met earlier was also very in to Mountain Biking and told Steve of some great trails near the hotel that he is exploring tomorrow - incidentally, we have decided to stay here one extra day, can you blame us?!

As described by locals, Sun Valley is:

Heaven on Earth

I wouldn't live anywhere else

A Wonderful Place to Live

Always Sunny