Ketchum and The Wedding

July 9,2012: we spent two great weeks in Ketchum. The first week we lived with Jon & Melissa and the second week was in a condo when the entire Duval Family arrived for vacation together. We joined the YMCA where they have an incredible pool with a water slide, lazy river, and fountains. We did a lot of swimming with the kids as the weather was sunny and hot every day. We took them to the top of the ski mountain one day which was great. The kids loved riding on the gondola and chair lift. We ate at the restaurant up on the mountain for lunch. It had a very European feel as we sat on the balcony at a big picnic bench in the sunshine to eat. It was a great day. We did some running, hiking, biking, shooting and visited a few playgrounds. The kids got a full service tour of the fire department thanks to our friend Eric. We celebrated Molly's 2nd birthday with all of the cousins. The kids had a blast hanging out together and the grown ups even got to go out to eat alone a few nights. We had a really fun sushi dinner in one of those private rooms and a large group dinner where we had our first chance to meet Melissa's family. We drank a lot of beers just sitting around the pool or even in the town square while the kids ran around playing together in the fountains. One night in town they had a criterium where bike racers rode fast laps through a course right in the center of town. It was a really fun atmosphere with lots of people out to spectate, beer gardens and food stands set up everywhere. The culmination of all the fun in Ketchum was when we moved an hour north to Stanley, ID to the Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch for the wedding. I have never seen such a beautiful location for a wedding. The sawtooth mountains are the backdrop and the ranch itself is simple but amazing. We had a two bedroom cabin that was gorgeous. They have a swimming pool that is entirely heated from the hot springs. The water comes in from the mountain at 107 degrees and runs in a pipe through the Salmon River to be cooled and spills into the pool at around 103. It was awesome and the kids loved dunking in the cold shower then into the pool. You can ride horses, bikes, paddle boats, fish. We had babysitters up there so we were able to enjoy the evening activities a bit more. Everything about the weekend was very special and centered around Melissa & Jon. It was a fantastic wedding.