Idaho meanderings

The Seminar on Academic Computing sessions were great--it was perfect to plunge into two days of intensive talks and discussions on all matters IT after the two very different musical encounters of the weekend. Somehow the music seemed to open up our brains to soak in the intelligence, wisdom, and creativity of the SAC crowd, sadly for the last time at Snowmass. Tuesday night there was a heartfelt tribute to the many years of SAC at Snowmass (30+ years). Lots of folks made it an annual tradition, meeting up with old friends and colleagues, so there was a definite sense of melancholy in the air. Next year will be in Broomfield, CO. We'll hope for new traditions and adventures.


Wednesday morning we headed out to meet up with Alan's sister Suzy in Sun Valley, Idaho. While in the airport, I called into work to check in with Nancy; she asked where I was and I said, "I'm at the Aspen airport headed for Sun Valley." "You suck," was her rejoinder. :-) En route to Sun Valley on a prop plane, I took this photo looking out at the engine--weird how the light refraction produced this image.


Suzy rented her usual awesome house, this one with a beautiful pool and hot tub that we enjoyed thoroughly Wednesday afternoon and into the evening. The pool and hot tub are separated only by a wall so you can hop into the hot water and then back into the cool water, a strategy our niece Avery apparently mastered while she was here. I'm told deer wander through the yard although I haven't seen it myself.


Today, we got up and went to Silver Creek to arrange for Alan to have a fishing adventure tomorrow morning on, you guessed it, Silver Creek. I bagged out because of too much sun -- the sun is so strong out here that even with SPF 45, I'm getting burned. For lunch, we took the chair lift up Mt Baldy to the summit. Unfortunately for us, there was a party of 22 ahead of us in line for hamburgers. In time, and after being 'helped' by an incredibly rude server, we got our lunch which was tasty, as were the views. I had perfect connectivity with my iPhone and seeing that the weather in Atlanta was 100 degrees was just icing on the cake. Heading down on the chairlift, both Alan and I lost our hats to a gust of wind -- his only about 2 hours into his possession, mine a beloved Patagonia hat that had been on many adventures. I will miss it. :-(