Sun Valley is the start of our summer 2021 trip — we’re traveling as a family of 4 initially and then for the last week of the trip, meeting with the extended Tunstill family in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We really enjoyed our stay in Sun Valley — we stayed right in the town of Ketchum, Idaho in a great hotel for walking to any restaurant or bar option – The Limelight. The first evening we arrived fairly late after driving over from Boise and grabbed an easy dinner at Warfield Distillery & Brewery. We sat out on their roof deck and enjoyed grilled octopus, trout and burgers. After the travel day, we went to bed early to enjoy a full day!

After breakfast @ Limelight, we made our way to the chair lift on Baldy (Bald Mountain) — we were hoping to hike up to the Roundtable for lunch, but the access trail was closed for maintenance. Instead we ended up taking the lift to the very top of Baldy (>9k feet!), hiked down a good ways and then took a nicer switchback trail back up to the top.

At the end of the hike, we made our way to Roundhouse (halfway up Baldy) for lunch. The boys were pumped for massive pretzels and William and I both enjoyed our lunches. Very pretty village area and then back to chill at the hotel for a bit (and check out the pool!)

During the afternoon, we walked around the town of Ketchum – the boys spotted gourmet popsicles (Strawberry Lemonade for Rawls and chocolate marshmallow for Shepherd). We walked out to an arts festival that seemed to bring together many local artists and artisans. Shepherd and Rawlings are still talking about the chair hammock (Happy Place Hammocks – keeping a note here to remember). We walked through the Ketchum cemetery on the way back to Limelight and paid our respects to Ernest Hemingway at his grave site.

We ended the day with a perfect family meal at the Christy (Michel’s Christiana) — a classic French spot that has been a mainstay in Sun Valley for a very long while. The boys loved their Chicken and Beef Burgundy dinners and were slightly less thrilled with the escargot (not seasoned well – ha!). William and I enjoyed all the morels and a beautiful halibut entree.

It was a full day – we slept well!

The next morning, after another nice breakfast @ Limelight, we made our way to the Proctor trail – the site of the first chair lift in the world. The hike was beautiful, lots of wildflowers and beautiful landscape. Instead of beginning at the trailhead, we visited the Hemingway memorial and started the hike down from there. Slight addition to the hike, but much easier parking. We did run into a tricky situation at the very top of the hike where we were swarmed by bugs — we all moved as quickly as possible to start our descent and get away. Rawlings is still talking about all the bugs. A pretty creek at the bottom was a great spot to rest briefly on the way out.

We came back to town and had an easy lunch – KB’s Burrito – many places are closed on Sunday. We shopped around the downtown area, enjoyed a happy hour at Limelight and then made our way to our last destination restaurant, the Pioneer Saloon. It was hard to tell if this place was going to be more kitschy distraction vs. decent food, but it ended up being a perfect pick. The boys very much wanted to enjoy an Idaho potato, William was looking forward to their Prime Rib and I was hoping the seafood wasn’t an after thought (it wasn’t!). My shrimp were more like langoustines – massive and perfectly cooked. The menu was simple, but all very well done. The ambiance captures the history of the area including Hemingway’s personal gun mounted at the entryway. This was a perfect way to end our stay in Sun Valley!