Almost on a whim, a month or so ago, the wife decided
to book a visit to her sister’s home for a mini spring break vacation for the
family.
And I am exhausted.
A little background: My sister-in-law is tremendously successful
in her field, and her company moved her out to Dallas about ten years ago. Ever
since she’s been trying to get us out here, and the Mrs. has been doing her
best to do so, but the economy and a little thing we call the Wu Flu prevented
us from joining her in the Lone Star State. Well, Mo and her husband moved again
ten months ago, this time to Idaho, two months before we were able to swing into
Texas.
Forgive me for any geographical errors as I try to
spill this out. They live on the border of Idaho and Wyoming in a north-south valley
that’s adjacent to both the Grand Teton mountain range and the Targhee National
Park. Yellowstone is an hour’s drive northeast of her home. There’s still
plenty of snow on the ground this time of year so there’s plenty of winter
activities: skiing, skating, snowboarding, sledding, and snowshoeing. Her
husband’s into the extreme end of such activities, but Aunt Mo is no slouch
herself. We thought it would be a perfect six day trip for my two daughters
during their spring break.
We had a connecting flight outbound, so I got to visit
Seattle for about 45 minutes. Then, a twin prop due east for an hour and a half. We
landed in Idaho Falls and the temperature was a finger-numbing 20 degrees. It would
get worse. For example, when we subsequently had to hike a hundred yards or so
to find the lot that held our rental car, and then spend ten minutes hunting
for it.
So after ten hours of travel we were at my
sister-in-law’s place. The next morning over a hearty breakfast we planned out
the week: a horse-drawn sleigh ride in the Elk National Preserve, a one-on-one
with an artist friend for pottery lessons for the girls, an “Eco Tour”
throughout the entire valley, a trip to see the Grand Teton in all its splendor,
a day of local shopping and eating, a second one-on-one with another artist
friend for lessons in printing monographs (also for the girls, though the Mrs.
and me also participated).
The week was capped off with two days of skiing for
the girls. Little One had skied about eight years ago with relatives on my
side, but Patch has never skied. They spent the morning of the first day doing
about ten runs on the bunny slope under the tutelage of Aunt Mo, then graduated
to the beginner slope. Thursday they warmed up with three bunny slope runs and
then hit the intermediate slopes. To say they picked it up very quick is an
understatement. We all were amazed. I was tempted to ski the second day, but I
feared inuring myself. It’s been just under 30 years since I graced a ski slope.
The return trip was a direct flight from Idaho Falls
to Dallas Fort Worth, and only took about four hours. Yeah, we had an hour
drive to the airport and a forty-five minute drive home after touchdown, so
all-in-all, we only spent about six hours traveling on the return. The Mrs.
planned it so we’d be back by supper Friday, which gave us the entire weekend
to unwind and relax and recuperate from our vacation before the work grind
resumed.
So, what did Hopper find interesting?
Turns out, a whole lot.
But that’ll be a subject for the next post.
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