Spring Break 2022

 

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 Grand Teton mountain range, taken with my humble iPhone 8. Grand Teton is the largest peak at 13,775 feet. The two mountains to the right are the Middle Teton and South Teton, while Owen Mountain sits to its left. Or so as I understand it.

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.