Sun Valley Part 2

Wednesday morning Scott and I had massages at the Lodge Spa. After our 4 hours in the saddle the day before, we were looking forward to getting pampered a bit. After our massages, we checked out of our room. Then we drove to River Run Lodge, which sits at the bottom of Bald Mountain. We were hoping to get some good hiking in, but the trail leading up the front of the mountain was closed for some big bike tournament they had going on. So, we rode the gondola up the mountain.







We had lunch at the Roundhouse Restaurant half way up the mountain.



Then we took the lift the rest of the way up the mountain.





Once we got to the top of the mountain, the trails were open at the top and down the back side of the mountain. We hiked 2.2 miles over to the Seattle Ridge Lodge.




The plan was to then take the Cold Springs Trail down the back side of the mountain and back around to River Run where we had parked. That whole trail was going to be 8 or 9 miles. But, I made the mistake of drinking way too much water at lunch, and I really needed to go to the bathroom. I was planning on there being bathrooms at the Seattle Ridge Lodge, but it was closed and had no bathrooms. So, instead of doing the 9 mile hike down the mountain, we hiked back along the trail we had just come (2.2 miles) and rode the lift back down. The first picture here is taken from the top of the lift looking over at Seattle Ridge (we hiked around the back of the mountain over to it).


As we rode the lift down, I decided I was glad we had cut the hike short. I was starting to get very eager to get home and see our kids. Scott's mom had stayed with them for the first two days we were gone, and Collette (a girl in our ward) stayed with them the last day. I knew they had been well cared for, but I really missed them. On the drive home, we stopped in Mountain Home for dinner, then arrived home around 7 in the evening. As we were just getting outside of Boise, Savannah called us to see how much longer we were going to be. She was so excited to hear that we were just 45 minutes away, and she stayed on the phone with us the whole rest of the drive. Savannah told us that Owen was getting sleepy, but Collette was keeping him awake so we could see him when we got home. When we pulled up, all the kids were waiting in the driveway jumping up and down with excitement. I scooped up Owen and didn't put him down for hours afterward. After we took Collette home and got our luggage carried in, we gave the kids their presents (t-shirts and candy). It was a wonderful get-away vacation, but it was so wonderful to get back home to my 6 little kids.