Wood River: Ski the Rails

Totally by luck, we stumbled upon a nordic festival in Hailey and Sun Valley, Idaho. The Blaine County Nordic Trails (no relation) put on a great party, starting at Ketchum , and ending at the Sun Valley Brewhouse in Hailey.

Chance loved the bus. A gorgeous day, free busses, dog-friendly (in fact, we'd even say a little dog-crazy), cookies for both man and beast, and, of course, porters and ales at the end. THIS WAS A DREAM SKI!!

We though ski-joring was cool, but we were outclassed by this kiddo in downhill skis, helmet, goggles, and waterski rope parent-joring.

Did we mention there was a pub at the end. Great way to put the spin on at 10:30am.

I recommend the ales. The porter was still a little young. But the band was good.

Moon Craters and Atomic Cities

While skiing across Atomic Lake, this submarine surfaced right underneath us, and Mo barely had time to jump out of the way. Chance wasn't as quick, and ended up on top of the conning tower, where some nice sailors popped out and fed him a cookie.

More on this theme later.

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A few shots around West Yellowstone. They have some great ski trails, but no connector trails. Here's Mo making her own.

The microwave chef shows off his stuff. Who says hotel food has to be boring?

One wonders why snowmachines have such a bad rap. It looks like they are going for the kinder/gentler thing here. Darth Vader vs Herbie. You decide...

Alaskan huskies are sometimes useful for stuff other than just eating dog food and holding down the back of the car. Here he helps pull the luggage load checking out of the hotel.

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On to Craters of the Moon National Monument.

Craters of the Moon was created by the same hotspot that is now under Yellowstone. Lava poured out in great quantities and filled the Snake River Valley. Some was in recent time and is told of in Shoshone legends.

Skiing among aa, pohoehoe, bombs, and cinder cones was a bit surreal.

The park is doing a nice job grooming the road for skate skiing, and it should be on every skiers list. Thanks NPS!

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Finally, on to Arco - the Atomic City. The first city lit by Atomic power. They're still glowing about it...

Not to be outdone by Slim Pickens (not Carl Perkins - as an alert reader pointed out, even though Perkins did a show on animals...), Blain takes the bull by the horns.

We were glad to see this disclaimer...