Wheelin'

Holly and I went out Sunday for what is likely to be our last Idaho 4WD outing. We drove about 130 miles... It took 7 hours. Awesome.

My lovely wife picking wildflowers at our supper stop


The view from our supper stop - it's amazing how good Ramen off a camp stove can taste up in places like this.


Wut?


We found these neat old abandoned cabins at a mine site. It would have been a long trip on horseback, incredibly long if you were hauling a wagon full of stuff, and the winters would have been fierce!


Holly took this photo of some wildflowers


A sweet little stream that crosses the trail


Noticing a theme here? :)


Another beautiful evening. You can't see it in the photo, but the sky was starting to turn a really pretty pink color.


After sunset, still very pretty!

MTB fun

We went and rode the lift assisted MTB trails at Sun Valley today. It was fun, and very pretty. Holly wasn't feeling great, so she didn't have the best time (especially on the last run of the day) but she did great!




Wildflowers are still blooming! We rode through a few fields of beautiful lupine like this


Tom, you'll be happy to know that the riding we'll do at Keystone is much better than the SV resort. If you were coming out here and wanted to climb for our downhills I could show you some incredible trails, but if we're gonna take a chair lift I'd rather be there than here.

Update to "Update", Parents, and Oregon trip

Be warned, we're going to make up for the last three weeks of not posting on this one post. Get comfy...

In our post titled "Update" we forgot to post up pictures from our time at McCall, just southeast of Hell's Canyon, where we spent our fourth anniversary (and also Chopper's hometown)... so here they are :)

Payette Lake; McCall is right on this lake. We took this from Ponderosa State Park.



The marina


Mom and Dad Grootveld came to visit the weekend of the 12-13, and we did a little of everything. Mom and Dad took the truck wheelin' and by some miracle didn't run out of gas... it had about 2 gallons, maybe three TOPS in the tank when they left, as I hadn't filled it back up after putting a new tank in. They drove up north of Ketchum to do some hiking at Adams Gulch (about 10 miles each way), then wheeling!

Saturday we showed them around Hailey and then went up to Ketchum to check out the high-roller crowd and see how the other half lives, then had supper at the Spud.

Sunday we went to Redfish (It is to the locals around here what Red Rock or Big Creek are to the central IA folks).


Peyton had a blast.


Then we went on a hike.


We came home and grilled some steak and ate on the patio.


On to Oregon!

Holly and I took a trip to Oregon this past weekend. Four nights of camping, driving the Oregon Coast and general Cascade Mountain and Ocean fun. We took off Wednesday, drove until 1:00, then stopped for the night. We got up nice and early and drove on west. Saw some wildlife. Nice little buck in velvet.


We stopped for lunch in Bend. It's Holly's new favorite town. There's a great park in the middle of town,


Peyton was very interested in the local fauna,


He had a great trip... saw the sights


and sawed some logs


The Coast!


The dunes were neat.


On to Highway 101! The Pacific Coast Highway is absolutely gorgeous, and is truly a blast to drive. The car definitely spent some time between 4000 and 6500 RPM on this trip. I highly recommend it.


It was cold, windy, and cloudy though... it was in the 40's at night, and it was in the low 50's all day.


Saw some lighthouses


Sea lions with pups


Reasons for the lighthouses


Great name for a store


Newport, OR


Home of Rogue Brewery


mmmmm... beeeeer... also some awesome seafood. We had some great clam chowder, and split some fantastic fish and chips.


It took Dog a bit of time to figure out ocean waves...


Probably the highlight of the trip... a little town called Oceanside, near Tillamook (which, incedentally, has the BEST ice cream either of us had ever tasted). Surfers, sand dollars, and a great sunset. We walked on the beach together, hand in hand, had a great time.


Here's the town


Sunset on the Pacific




All in all, it was a blast. A little chilly, but beautiful.

Funny story from before the trip... Wednesday, I came home for lunch and Peyton didn't greet me at the door. I looked around and called, but he didn't come. We've been feeding him outside so he makes less of a mess, and I thought maybe I forgot to let him in after feeding him and he went exploring. Holly and I went looking in the places we thought him most likely to have gone, and couldn't find him. Holly was starting to panic at this point. We came back home, and she opened Brian's bedroom door and there he was. She had taken some clothes out of the dryer and brought them into his room, he followed her in there, and she didn't notice and closed the door behind herself. Much excitement over nothing!

Are you still reading this? You really should develop some hobbies or something! :)

random

I smell like gasoline, PB Blaster, and Fast Orange right now. Good times.

Links

Here are a couple of websites I found that tell about Ketchum/ Sun Valley. They are really one in the same. This is where Brian works. It is 11 miles north of Hailey.
http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/sunvalley.asp
http://www.forbes.com/2000/12/12/ppsunvalley.html

Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone back had a great 4th! We pretty much relaxed most of the day. We did a little tidying up of the house in the morning, then went to the parade and 4th of July Criterium. They closed off Main St for the afternoon for the parade and race. Pretty cool.


A group off the front of the 3-4-5 race


Holly's boss Cameron in the Women's race. She would go on to take 3rd.


Another photo of the women's race. It was a beautiful day!


Here's a local in the Pro-1-2 race. He held off the field by himself for about 35 minutes of the 50 minute race.


Here's the kid who won. I think I heard them say he's 17 years old.


Then we went to the pool and cooled off for a bit. We came home and grilled out, then walked over to the field near our house and waited for the fireworks. Peyton and Brian and I tossed a frisbee for a while,


Holly read a book,


and then we watched the fireworks.


All in all a great day (aside from a little sunburn).


By the way, we do enjoy hearing from everyone back home, so if you feel like sending an email or leaving comments to let us know what you're up to, we'd love to hear from you (yes, you.)

~Eric

Last Night

Last night we went to the Hailey Rodeo. I was extremely excited, because the rodeo is a 4th tradition for me and because horses were a huge part of my childhood. I feel like the rodeo brings me closer to home. The rodeo was a little on the disappointing side. Biking is the culture out here, not rodeos (which I guess is more the culture in Lake City, Iowa). If that makes any sense at all :). After the rodeo Eric and I decided to take a drive to an area north a Ketchum to see the stars. We almost got into a head on with a drunk driver. It was a little scary afterward thinking of what might have happened if we hadn't have swerved. Basically a car veered into our lane on highway 75 south of Ketchum the car in front of us swerved and then we swerved and honked. The car looked like it had already been a smaller accident because the hood had a big dent in it. We called the fuzz and gave them information about the description and direction of the car. CRAZY. Lesson: DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE!

Holly

I love Hailey.

Ames is a lot bigger than I always thought. I love the size of Hailey. When I go to the coffee shop the person at the check out already knows my name and face. I see people I recognize everywhere. I run into neighbors at the market. Strangers wave and say "Hi" all the time. Everyone is smiling. Last night we had trouble finding a place to park our bikes outside of the Wicked Spud (the beer and burger joint), because thirty-forty people rode. There is a huge bike community. Locals call themselves 5B'ers because all the Hailey license plates are 5B XXXX. Boise is A1XXXX, etc. 5B'ers pride themselves in being super pedestrian friendly. If you're standing on the sidewalk even thinking about crossing the road, all five lanes of State Highway 75 (which is Main St. through Hailey) come to a stop so that you can start crossing. So cool.

They are environmentally friendly too. Atkinson's (the market) encourages you to bring your own bag. Milk costs 5.00, and comes in a glass container, they give you 2.50 back when you return the container. Everyone has recycling bins they put out on garbage days. We recycle at the pool. There are even recycling bins at the post office, and everyone goes to the post office almost daily because mail is delivered to the PO Box instead of to the houses.

They are extremely dog friendly too. There are more dogs in Blaine County then there are children. Everyone is extremely conscientious of dogs being in the roads and paths. People pick up after their dogs. Dogs are everywhere and they are so well mannered and mellow.

Everyone loves the outdoors and are into being fit and active. They are not as much into dieting... but they run, hike, bike, swim, kayak, raft, on and on. The frame of mind people have is awesome. They travel and have lived many places. They are care free and enjoy the simplicity of life. They love other people and don't hold a lot of value on job titles or salary's. They are happy with their old pick up truck and mountain bike and just being. Towns in Idaho are like Summit County Colorado towns only less touristy. It is exhilarating and inspiring.

I'm not sure I want to hitch hike the country and back pack for months in Europe like some of the people we have met out here have. But I do want to be more of a traveler, to be adventurous, a little more spontanioius. I would like our kids to grow up in this kind of environment, with these kind of ideals, a little less tied to stuff, and willing to accept change.

Holly with Eric's help

Update Time

Hi everyone!

We had a bit of a scare today... I took Peyton for a mountain bike ride, and I apparently misunderestimated the temperature. I'm not sure if maybe he was a bit dehydrated to begin with or what, but partway through the ride he kind of just shut down. He was doing great, and all of a sudden he just laid down. We walked the rest of the way home, and put him in the shower with cool water and got him some water to drink. He yacked in the shower, but then seemed to be OK. About an hour later (I'm at a P&Z meeting at this point) he lost bowel control and hurled again. (sorry for the unappetizing nature of the story.) He laid down in the yard, drooling, and then started dry heaving. Holly and Brian took him to a vet's office in Bellevue that had after-hours service, and they pumped him full of fluids and sent him home. $280.36 later, we have a dog who is very tired but not in danger. Painful, but well worth the peace of mind.

Also, Brian had a close encounter of the ursis kind. He was out for a mountain bike ride on Sunday and rounded a bend to find a large, brown, furry bear in the trail about ten yards away. The bear wandered off his own direction, and Brian headed back down the mountain with a little bit of blood in his adrenaline stream.

We were in McCall this weekend for our fourth wedding anniversary. We have a crappy work schedule this week because of a combination of my meetings and Holly covering shifts for a coworker, so we celebrated early. It was tons of fun, and a beautiful drive!


The hotel was really nice, including a jetted Jacuzzi tub in the room, and a nice indoor pool. We made a nice dinner of wood-grilled steak and roasted vegetables in the park by the lake, we waded in the water, watched sailboats, and just relaxed. On our way home, we witnessed a low-speed police chase. A white Suburban almost sideswiped us going down the interstate, and was tailgating, weaving, and just being unsafe. We were commenting that he really should get pulled over for driving like that, when a State Trooper tore out of the median after him. The trooper turned on his lights, and the Suburban just kept going. We were behind this whole thing, and it took literally 10 minutes for the Suburban driver to pull over. He was doing between 5 under and 5 over the whole time. Wierd. We were watching in the rearview mirror as the officer stepped out. He did not appear to be a happy camper as he slammed the door to his patrol car as hard he could and approached the Suburban with his hand on his sidearm. Two minutes later, four Sheriff and Statie cars came flying by in the opposite direction going toward the stop.

We stopped at a couple of gorges, one in the middle of nowhere,


and one in Twin Falls.


We saw two people jump off the bridge and land on the ground below.


If they hadn't had parachutes, they would definitely have been goners.


Sunset was beautiful.


Oh, Steve, if you check the blog this is for you... bring back any memories? It's even cooler in person than in the photo... click the image for a bigger version.