Our usual Lincln MKT car
service
arrived at 5:15 AM while it was still dark out to take us to SMF.
I liked the blurry picture.
Our driver had the usual
bottled water for us as we departed for the short ride to the airport.
Liquor was back on Southwest! I ordered my usual Wild Turkey & diet soda on the second leg of our flight which was from LAS to BOI.
After we arrived in Hailey from Boise, we had dinner at Zou 75, a great Asian fusion restaurant.
Our hotel in Hailey upgraded us to a nice suite with a fireplace. I enjoyed my hot beverage by the fireplace before we departed for Sun Valley!
After arriving at the Sun Valley Lodge and having them store our luggage and park the car, we spotted this cool Bentley!
Joy and I walked over to the Sun Valley Village to get some coffee at Konditorei, the Austrian style bakery.
The South American students were back working at the resort this year. This cute Argentine girl took our order!
I love the coffee drinks at Konditorei. Of course there are no masks in use in Idaho or in most of the US! Covid is done!
After getting our drinks, we had them to drive us from the Sun Valley Inn over to the Sun Valley Club for our lunch reservations in their SUV.
We love Sun Valley! the staff is always so nice and courteous!
I ordered the Wagyu Beef Stew from Snake River Farms at the Sun Valley Club.
I got a glimpse of the usual horse drawn sleigh from our table.
I am getting ready to go cross country skiing here!
They groom the nordic trails daily at Sun Valley!
Joy and I are enjoying our usual apres ski at the Sun Valley Club bar.
The fresh baked Sun Valley Club cookie pairs well with Pendleton Whiskey since Pendleton has caramel notes! LOL.
We had a premium king room at the Sun Valley Lodge this year.
The $500 a night room was great!
They upgraded us to a room with a HUGE balcony overlooking the mountains!
The front desk guy said the management must love us since we got this amazing balcony room!
I used all that snow on the balcony as a cup holder for my water here. The snow chilled it too!
Joy is showing off the new jacket she got at the Sun Valley Club Store. It was not cheap, but it was nice. We had a pool view!
I had a pool reservation that evening. The water was very warm. Joy got me a pina colada also!
The pool area looked amazing at night!
Lots of celebrities have stayed at the Sun Valley Lodge. Pictures like this captured all the famous people who enjoyed Sun Valley!
Joy and I headed over to the Ram at the Sun Valley Inn for dinner, but first we decided to get a drink at the bar. They had Old Rip Van Winkle 10!
I enjoyed my drink from the bottle which goes for around $1,300!
Our hostess found us at the bar and took us to our table at the Ram.
They had a pianist there at the Ram. I asked him to play La Triviata's Drinking Song, but I settled for NY NY by Sinatra. LOL.
I got the braised venison that was cooked sous vide!
The driver at the Sun Valley Inn drove us back the short distance to the Sun Valley Lodge since it was so cold!
The room was pretty big! We watched the woke bull shit liberal Olympics. The 2022 games were a joke in a communist land!
We enjoyed breakfast at Konditorei the next morning!
I checked into the Spa at Sun Valley for my 50 minute Signature massage after breakfast.
The relaxation room at the spa was warm and inviting!
Warm beverages and crystal infused water was available in the Relaxation Room.
I was very satisfied with my massage! My company paid for it too since I am allowed to expense a certain amount of massages or golf fees to help us relax!
I loved chilling in the Relaxation Room after my massage and taking in the views of the mountain!
It was hard to leave the relaxation room, but I went off to use the steam room and the experience shower which had like 17 jets!
While I had my massage, Joy was ice skating at the rink at the Lodge.
I ordered the usual Elk Chili to warm up at Gretchen's at the Sun Valley Lodge for lunch after my massage.
When we got back to Boise, we went to one of our favorite restaurants called Barbacoa!
The bar at Barbacoa was amazing! They had bottles of Pappy and Old Van Winkle as well as the only bottle of Mitchers 20 in Idaho! I got a Yamazaki 12!
The inside of Barbacoa is really cool!
We started out with the grilled octopus with chimichurri!
Joy and I shared the paella with a Canadian cold water lobster tail!
Joy did not want share the half tree of their signature fried ice cream lollipops so I only got one for me!
Our waiter even got us the cotton candy lantern which is used to celebrate special occasions. We told him our special occasion was being out of California! LOL.
Joy and I enjoyed lunch at Twin Peaks the next day before we had to head to the airport.
Since it was so cold in Boise, they had to de ice our plane!
Joy and I continued our annual tradition to go to Sun Valley, ID in
2022 once again. This year, we decided to stay at the Sun
Valley Lodge as well. Our car service got us bright and early
on the Saturday morning before President's Day for our flight to Boise
via Las Vegas. Joy and I have found a reliable car service
that uses Lincoln MKT cars with professional and courteous drivers to
take us to and from the airport. It is a little more pricey
than using a ride share service, but it is well worth it. The
driver usually has bottles of water for us too to hydrate pre flight or
after.
Once we arrived in Las Vegas, we had a brief layover so we enjoyed breakfast in the Club & LAS with my Priority Pass membership. Masks were slowly becoming a thing of the past as the lounge staff did not care not that they really cared much the last year too, but the liberals were finally coming to their senses on this madness. We departed for Boise around 11:00 AM. Southwest Airlines brought back liquor sales a few days before we departed for this trip! I had lots of expired coupons which the airline said they would honor still until the end of this year! So, I ordered my usual Wild Turkey & Coke Zero.
After arriving into Boise, we got our rental SUV and departed for Hailey, where we spent the first night. We got upgraded to a nice fireplace suite at the Woods River Inn there. For dinner, we went to Zou 75 which is a great sushi place tucked away in the interior mountain valley of Idaho! Their fish is surprisingly fresh for being so far in land.
The next morning, we pulled into the Sun Valley Lodge and had the valet take the SUV. The bell staff stored our luggage since our Premium King Room was not available yet. We walked over to the Sun Valley Village and got drinks at Konditorei, the Austrian pastry shop. Afterwards, the Sun Valley Inn arranged for a driver to take us over to the Sun Valley Club via luxury SUV for our lunch reservations. I love being part of the elite, the conservative elite that is! LOL. I won't make you mask like the liberal elite does! :)
When I saw they had Wagyu beef stew from Snake River Farms, I knew that was going to be my choice for lunch. The beef was quite tender as expected for the wagyu beef. After lunch, I enjoyed nordic skiing all afternoon at the Sun Valley Nordic Center. I went on three of the groomed trails, and I was getting better and better at going down the hills too. The tip I can share with everyone is to keep your body forward instead of trying to lean back to slow down. A kind older lady showed me how to go up the steeper hills too without going backwards. The people in Sun Valley are very nice and of a higher class in society. Also, there is no theft issues there for the most part. One can leave their stuff in a cubby with no door or lock. The people who go to Sun Valley are wealthy executives who fly in on private jets or are celebrities. One can see luxury SUV transfers all over the area for these people. We even saw a Bentley at the Sun Valley Lodge when we checked in! Joy and I love to get out of shitty Sacramento and hang out with a more refined class of people who are similiar to us in socio-economic background!
After nordic skiing, I got my usual Pendleton whiskey paired with a freshly baked cookie at the Sun Valley Club bar from our usual bartender. This guy knows us well since we come every year.
The Sun Valley Lodge called and said our room was ready so we headed over after our drinks at the bar. A shuttle was sent over from the lodge to get us at the club. Upon arrival at the lodge, the front desk person said the management must love you since we got upgraded to one of their rooms with the huge balcony overlooking the mountain! Our luggage was already in the room when we got up there. I was very impressed with the accomodations, and the balcony was HUGE! We had a dining set for four people and two large loungers. I cracked open one of the Smart Water bottles in the room and just chilled on a lounger taking in the amazing view of the mountain. We also had a nice view of the pool and spa. There was a lot of snow on our balcony too so I made a snowman too! Life is good!
After working out, I had a reservation for the pool in the evening. They limited the number of guests to make the experience more enjoyable. The water was super heated! It felt good to jump in the hot water from the freezing cold! Joy got me a pina colada as I was swimming and relaxing in the pool. The other guests are so respectful and well mannered in Sun Valley. I did notice the younger children of the elite with their nice phones in the water "instagramming" and documenting their amazing lives to others. Life is good! I say that again since last year around the time of this trip, I was in the process of being invited to join my current biotech company. It was a tough decision as I was an Executive level employee at the largest privately held pharmaceutical company in the world and had over six weeks of vacation each year! However, my company was able to bring me over with a huge pay increase, signing bonus, and a large mix of stock options and RSUs. I am very happy at the decision I made to come over here!
We had dinner reservations at 8:30 at the Ram which is located at the Sun Valley Inn, a short walk from the lodge, but Joy did not want to walk since it was so cold. One of the valet parking attendants took us ove there in a golf cart. Upon arrival at the Ram bar, I noticed they had Old Rip Van Winkle 10! So, I had to get some of that! I was surprised at how cheap it was there since this bottle goes for around $1,300. The hostess from the Ram found us at the bar and escorted us to our table. Sun Valley is a very high class place with great customer service. There is no pagers or texts to tell one when the table is ready. The staff walk around and find the guests like in the good old days! I ordered the braised venision for my dinner which was cooked sous vide after having some scallops for our appetizer. There was a piano player there too so I made a request to see if he could play the drinking song from La Triaviata, but since he did not know that, I asked for New York, New York. Life is good!
The next morning, we enjoyed breakfast at Konditorei. I got my usual nutella crepe! Afterwards, I had a massage scheduled for 11:00 AM at the Sun Valley Spa. A spa attendant came and got me downstairs in the spa shop to take me upstairs to the spa. I was given my robe and slippers and shown my locker. Afterwards, I enjoyed some time in the relaxation room before my therapist came and got me for the Signature fifty minute massage. She did an aromatherapy treatment before we began. The massage was great since I was a little sore from the nordic skiing. My company also allowed me to expense this massage since I get a large allowance for massage fees, golf fees, or anything else that makes me relax. Biotech is amazing!
Joy was ice skating at the Sun Valley Lodge as I was relaxing. After my massage, I was able to chill in the relaxation room before taking a steam in the men's locker room. They had this Experience Shower also which had a lot of jets from all over the shower hitting one's body. Premium skin care products were available afterwards too.
We enjoyed our usual lunch at Gretchen's at the Sun Valley Lodge before we departed Sun Valley for Boise. After getting into Boise and checking into the Hyatt Place, we had some time to go shopping for clothes before dinner. We had dinner reservations at the popular Barbacoa in Boise. Since we got there early, we went to the bar to enjoy a drink first. The bar was amazing! Our bartender told us about their amazing collection of bourbon and whiskey. They had the only bottle of Mitcher's 20 in Idaho! I ended up doing the Yamazaki 12 Japanese whiskey. For dinner, we enjoyed the grilled Spanish octopus. We also ordered a paella with a large Canadian lobster tail for our entree. Their signature fried ice cream lollipop is a great way to end such a great meal! Also, the waiter got us a cotton candy lantern!
The next day, we had lunch at Twin Peaks in Boise before our flight back home. Boise Airport has a nice art gallery where one can buy different forms of art from local artists. Joy and I got two nice pieces from there. Before we took off for Sacramento, they had to de ice our plane since it was flurrying in Boise!
Once we arrived in Las Vegas, we had a brief layover so we enjoyed breakfast in the Club & LAS with my Priority Pass membership. Masks were slowly becoming a thing of the past as the lounge staff did not care not that they really cared much the last year too, but the liberals were finally coming to their senses on this madness. We departed for Boise around 11:00 AM. Southwest Airlines brought back liquor sales a few days before we departed for this trip! I had lots of expired coupons which the airline said they would honor still until the end of this year! So, I ordered my usual Wild Turkey & Coke Zero.
After arriving into Boise, we got our rental SUV and departed for Hailey, where we spent the first night. We got upgraded to a nice fireplace suite at the Woods River Inn there. For dinner, we went to Zou 75 which is a great sushi place tucked away in the interior mountain valley of Idaho! Their fish is surprisingly fresh for being so far in land.
The next morning, we pulled into the Sun Valley Lodge and had the valet take the SUV. The bell staff stored our luggage since our Premium King Room was not available yet. We walked over to the Sun Valley Village and got drinks at Konditorei, the Austrian pastry shop. Afterwards, the Sun Valley Inn arranged for a driver to take us over to the Sun Valley Club via luxury SUV for our lunch reservations. I love being part of the elite, the conservative elite that is! LOL. I won't make you mask like the liberal elite does! :)
When I saw they had Wagyu beef stew from Snake River Farms, I knew that was going to be my choice for lunch. The beef was quite tender as expected for the wagyu beef. After lunch, I enjoyed nordic skiing all afternoon at the Sun Valley Nordic Center. I went on three of the groomed trails, and I was getting better and better at going down the hills too. The tip I can share with everyone is to keep your body forward instead of trying to lean back to slow down. A kind older lady showed me how to go up the steeper hills too without going backwards. The people in Sun Valley are very nice and of a higher class in society. Also, there is no theft issues there for the most part. One can leave their stuff in a cubby with no door or lock. The people who go to Sun Valley are wealthy executives who fly in on private jets or are celebrities. One can see luxury SUV transfers all over the area for these people. We even saw a Bentley at the Sun Valley Lodge when we checked in! Joy and I love to get out of shitty Sacramento and hang out with a more refined class of people who are similiar to us in socio-economic background!
After nordic skiing, I got my usual Pendleton whiskey paired with a freshly baked cookie at the Sun Valley Club bar from our usual bartender. This guy knows us well since we come every year.
The Sun Valley Lodge called and said our room was ready so we headed over after our drinks at the bar. A shuttle was sent over from the lodge to get us at the club. Upon arrival at the lodge, the front desk person said the management must love you since we got upgraded to one of their rooms with the huge balcony overlooking the mountain! Our luggage was already in the room when we got up there. I was very impressed with the accomodations, and the balcony was HUGE! We had a dining set for four people and two large loungers. I cracked open one of the Smart Water bottles in the room and just chilled on a lounger taking in the amazing view of the mountain. We also had a nice view of the pool and spa. There was a lot of snow on our balcony too so I made a snowman too! Life is good!
After working out, I had a reservation for the pool in the evening. They limited the number of guests to make the experience more enjoyable. The water was super heated! It felt good to jump in the hot water from the freezing cold! Joy got me a pina colada as I was swimming and relaxing in the pool. The other guests are so respectful and well mannered in Sun Valley. I did notice the younger children of the elite with their nice phones in the water "instagramming" and documenting their amazing lives to others. Life is good! I say that again since last year around the time of this trip, I was in the process of being invited to join my current biotech company. It was a tough decision as I was an Executive level employee at the largest privately held pharmaceutical company in the world and had over six weeks of vacation each year! However, my company was able to bring me over with a huge pay increase, signing bonus, and a large mix of stock options and RSUs. I am very happy at the decision I made to come over here!
We had dinner reservations at 8:30 at the Ram which is located at the Sun Valley Inn, a short walk from the lodge, but Joy did not want to walk since it was so cold. One of the valet parking attendants took us ove there in a golf cart. Upon arrival at the Ram bar, I noticed they had Old Rip Van Winkle 10! So, I had to get some of that! I was surprised at how cheap it was there since this bottle goes for around $1,300. The hostess from the Ram found us at the bar and escorted us to our table. Sun Valley is a very high class place with great customer service. There is no pagers or texts to tell one when the table is ready. The staff walk around and find the guests like in the good old days! I ordered the braised venision for my dinner which was cooked sous vide after having some scallops for our appetizer. There was a piano player there too so I made a request to see if he could play the drinking song from La Triaviata, but since he did not know that, I asked for New York, New York. Life is good!
The next morning, we enjoyed breakfast at Konditorei. I got my usual nutella crepe! Afterwards, I had a massage scheduled for 11:00 AM at the Sun Valley Spa. A spa attendant came and got me downstairs in the spa shop to take me upstairs to the spa. I was given my robe and slippers and shown my locker. Afterwards, I enjoyed some time in the relaxation room before my therapist came and got me for the Signature fifty minute massage. She did an aromatherapy treatment before we began. The massage was great since I was a little sore from the nordic skiing. My company also allowed me to expense this massage since I get a large allowance for massage fees, golf fees, or anything else that makes me relax. Biotech is amazing!
Joy was ice skating at the Sun Valley Lodge as I was relaxing. After my massage, I was able to chill in the relaxation room before taking a steam in the men's locker room. They had this Experience Shower also which had a lot of jets from all over the shower hitting one's body. Premium skin care products were available afterwards too.
We enjoyed our usual lunch at Gretchen's at the Sun Valley Lodge before we departed Sun Valley for Boise. After getting into Boise and checking into the Hyatt Place, we had some time to go shopping for clothes before dinner. We had dinner reservations at the popular Barbacoa in Boise. Since we got there early, we went to the bar to enjoy a drink first. The bar was amazing! Our bartender told us about their amazing collection of bourbon and whiskey. They had the only bottle of Mitcher's 20 in Idaho! I ended up doing the Yamazaki 12 Japanese whiskey. For dinner, we enjoyed the grilled Spanish octopus. We also ordered a paella with a large Canadian lobster tail for our entree. Their signature fried ice cream lollipop is a great way to end such a great meal! Also, the waiter got us a cotton candy lantern!
The next day, we had lunch at Twin Peaks in Boise before our flight back home. Boise Airport has a nice art gallery where one can buy different forms of art from local artists. Joy and I got two nice pieces from there. Before we took off for Sacramento, they had to de ice our plane since it was flurrying in Boise!