RE-DISCOVERING KETCHUM AND SUN VALLEY
Ketchum has some familiar stores and streets but it, too, has morphed into a bustling community. We find a convenient parking spot in Ketchum and start walking around. We spot a sign for a Visitor Center and set off in search of it, hoping to get info on campgrounds for tonight. Once found, we load up with maps, some elegant local magazines, and other fun info of this area. Around the corner we discover a health food store, small with a nice energy and a variety of items from herbs to foods, to incense, to books, etc. The owner is friendly and chatty, so we ask her for a recommendation of a healthy restaurant and without hesitation, she states “Ananda” which is located in the Chapter One bookstore –right where we are parked! We hadn’t recognized the sign as being an eatery inside the bookstore. Not early for lunch yet, we drive out to visit Sun Valley
We aren’t sure where to go. Everything seems to be discreetly tucked in off the road. We meander through a metropolis of condos dwarfing and almost hiding the main area. Our second time around, and FINALLY we see a small sign that leads us to the parking lot for the Village at Sun Valley. Once ‘inside’, we walk around, and decide it hasn’t changed much. It has been years since we were here but it has always seemed as quiet and ‘off season’ as it does today; and always a bit elegant and high class, but not much in the way shops or eateries. We wander through the only gift shop that appears at all interesting. The grounds are lovely with colorful flowers planted along walkways and in pots and planter boxes. The weather is a perfect temp with warm sunshine and a slight breeze. We need an excuse to linger a bit longer so decide to share a cup of tea and an oatmeal cookie from the Konditorei. We enjoy sitting on their patio overlooking a pond where several swans are lazily gliding through the calm water. We are tempted to linger a while longer, but the cookie is really too sweet and we decide it is best to go back to Ketchum for lunch and some real food before heading over Galena Summit and into the Salmon River Valley.