1,700 mile Journey from Danville to Sun Valley

I have never driven out of the state of California until this road trip and what a great adventure it was. We left on Sunday the 25th and drove all day, out of California and through Nevada, which was quite beautiful, into Idaho and stopped in Burley to rest. We got up Monday and drove the rest of the way to Ketchum which is the town where my friend Sharon lives and who we went to visit. I have heard about Sun Valley for years as Ben used to fly there often, years ago, when he worked for Thomas Wiesel. He has always wanted to show it to me so it was wonderful to finally see what all the hoopla was about. Idaho is charming, with it's lush countryside, quaint towns and mellow pace. Sharon lives there part time and she has a beautiful cabin/house and her husband has a condo which they generously offered for us to stay. We explored the downtown on Monday and had dinner at the "Pio" our first night. This is a real steak house, with cows, buffaloes, and moose heads adorning the walls. Good thing we weren't vegetarian, everyone had steak!

Tuesday Ben and I went for a mild hike looking for wildflowers and we took pictures with the tutu in the hollyhock fields. There was a large fire in Sun Valley a couple years ago and the forest was charred but in between the burnt trees were thousands of beautiful hollyhocks. Perfect for picture taking and frolicking in! Tuesday night was dinner at Tonga Lodge (Sharon's house) and we feasted on salmon, salad and homemade peach cobbler and met friends Norma and Kathleen. After dinner we sat outside near the open pit fire while Harry lite fireworks for our amusement.

Wednesday was our last full day and we planned to hike up Baldy Mountain, it's about 8,000 ft and the altitude was obvious as I went huffin and puffin on up to the top. We made it and took more tutu pics to celebrate. Off in the distance we saw dark clouds and before we knew it they were right on top of us, spewing lighting all over the place. The gondola and chair life were immediately closed (our way down the mtn) so we were offered rides down in trucks, very unusual. By this time it was pouring and cracking so we piled in and started our descent. As we were driving down there was a lighting bolt basically on top of us, I screamed and scared everyone in the truck, and even Ben said that's the closest he's ever been to lightening. I was ready for this adventure to be over and happily it cleared up as we got down to the bottom. I felt like we were in the movie Jurassic park for awhile there, geez, the weather sure does change quickly in the mountains!!

Thursday we wanted to get a bike ride in before we started driving and I borrowed a bike from Sharon and Ben and I rode to the town of Hailey (Demi Moore's ole stompin grounds). Hailey is a charmer and had a shop called "Vintage gypsy" much like a Hip Chick's with cute shabby chic furniture and accessories. It was 50% off so I was excited and purchased a few treasures to bring back to the studio....Then we rode back, packed up and said goodbye to beautiful Sharon and Sun Valley. We drove to lovely Reno (not) and stayed the night, setting off to Tahoe the next day.

Friday was great, we only had a short drive to Tahoe which is gorgeous this time of year and we stopped at the Sand Dollar beach to swim and lay out. Now I was in MY element, the beach and water are my favorite place to be, and the crystal blue water of Tahoe is breathtaking. I sat and painted the scene with my watercolors, while taking dips in the lake to cool off. We packed up and drove home in time for Ben to do his laundry, he had a trip on Saturday for a week so he didn't even have a day to relax. Good thing he likes to travel!

So here it is Saturday and I am getting back to business as usual. Posting pictures and then I will head on down to the studio and see if there is any business. I am only home for a week and then I get to go on another trip, this time to my favorite place, the tropics!!! ALOHA! Hawaii with the whole family and more fun and tropical tutu pics to follow....Thanks for checking in on hip chick's goings ons, and stay tuned for more adventures!!!